Hainesville gearing up for Civil War activities

Hainesville Trustee George Duberstein said he hopes the village is building a tradition with a Civil War encampment and battle planned for next weekend.

Large-scale Civil War activities are planned Sept. 10 and 11 in the 169-year-old town named after Elijah Haines, who was acquainted with President Abraham Lincoln. The village's official history states that it's believed Lincoln stayed overnight in Hainesville a few times.

Duberstein, who's helping to organize the re-enactment, said hopes least 1,000 spectators will attend the free event at the sprawling Northbrook Sports Club. Free parking and shuttle bus service will be to the east at Prairieview Elementary School on Route 120.

"We want to see what type of response we get from the public," Duberstein said. "We think this will be an annual event."

After receiving positive feedback from a small Civil War skirmish event at Union Square Park in 2014, Hainesville officials decided to go all in for this year.

Roughly 100 acres owned by the sports club will be used for military battles with infantry, calvary and artillery. There also will be food vendors, lectures from a Grayslake Heritage Center and Museum representative, American cricket, 1800s music and Civil War-era medical demonstrations.

Up to 250 Civil War re-enactors are expected to participate during the weekend. Hainesville officials got into the Civil War loop through a relationship with Steven Fratt, a history professor at Trinity International University in Bannockburn.

Fratt, a former Hainesville resident, is an expert in 19th-century military tactics and will be in the village in his typical role as the colonel commanding the 1st Brigade Illinois Volunteers. He said the property acquired by the Northbrook Sports Club this year will provide plenty of room for the Civil War activities.

"We're starting an event that we hope will grow into one of the premier (Civil War) events in the Chicago area," Fratt said.