Re-enactors bring Revolutionary War to Cantigny

Not many people know that military action in America’s War for Independence took place right here in Illinois.

Visitors to the 25th annual Revolutionary War Re-enactment at Cantigny Park in Wheaton can learn that and much more about life and war in the 18th century from 10 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 10-11.

Laura Evans, Cantigny’s director of visitor services, said the popular event draws 10,000 visitors on the weekend, many of them families with children.

“It’s a good way to learn about the Revolutionary War that you can’t get from a textbook,” she said. “The re-enactors love to tell the story.”

Evans expects about 400 re-enactors from the North West Territory Alliance who will stage battles, parade their uniforms, show women’s and children’s fashions, play fife and drum, re-create an 18th century wedding, stage an apple peeling contest, and gladly answer questions.

“People have all types of questions,” said Bill Hess, a past commander of the North West Territory Alliance. “I think people in general have a thirst for history.”

While Civil War re-enactments tend to be much more common, the colonial period and the War for Independence offer much to learn, Hess said. Back then, the northern and southern boundaries of Virginia stretched to the Mississippi — taking in parts of states that include Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio. Some skirmishes in the war occurred in southern Illinois, Hess said.

Cantigny itself, with its First Division Museum, has its own connection to the Revolutionary War. The U.S. Army’s 1st Division, known as the Big Red One, can trace its beginnings back to a New York unit led by Alexander Hamilton.

“It’s the only unit that traces its history from the Revolutionary War,” Hess said.

The 52 units of re-enactors coming from five states represent British, hired German mercenaries who fought with the British, colonial Americans, French who supported the Americans, and a few Native Americans.

“There were whole units of French that came over,” Hess said. “There were a lot of Native Americans that fought for the British.”

The artillery demonstrations and the battles are among the most popular part of the event, Evans said. A parade of uniforms also takes place at 1 p.m. Sunday and children fight their own battle at 2 p.m.

Hess said the battles don’t represent any particular battles but, rather, how fighting was done during the Revolutionary War.

“We try to portray everything as accurately as possible,” Hess said.

That includes a doctor giving inoculations. During a school day program the re-enactors presented at Cantigny last year, a girl and her mother passed out, but that’s unusual, Hess said.

“Most people can handle what we do without a problem,” he said.

For information on the North West Territory Alliance, see nwta.com. For details on events at Cantigny, visit cantigny.org.

If you go

What: Revolutionary War Re-enactment

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 10-11

Where: Cantigny Park, 1S151 Winfield Road, Wheaton

Cost: Free with $5 parking

Info: (630) 668-5161 or cantigny.org