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The grounds of Thompson-Brown House in Maryville will be transformed Saturday into a Civil War camp, giving both young and old a peek into the past and that rebellious part of our nation's history.

Soldiers donning the Blue and Gray will gather on the grounds Friday morning to establish their tent sites, tell stories to those in attendance and cook over open flames like they did back in the 1860s. Women will also be present in period dress to give their perspective.

The camp reenactment is being done to celebrate the Civil War exhibit currently at the Blount County Historical Museum, said Ken Cornett, board chairman. The exhibit has been on display at the museum since the museum's opening day in September 2007 and will only remain through Monday. Museum hours on Sunday are 2 to 4 p.m., with Monday hours set from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The camp reenactment will be presented both Friday and Saturday, and admission is free. Three reenacting groups -- the 29th Confederate, 63rd Confederate and the 8th Union Regiment -- will all make history come alive. The soldiers will remain in character throughout the two-day event and will perform rifle drills and fire a cannon or two.

Blount's place in history

Thousands of the 25,000 to 30,000 men Gen. William Sherman brought with him to come to General Ambrose Burnside's rescue camped in the fields around the Thompson-Brown farm and near Brown's Creek. Sherman himself was headquartered at the site of the Maryville Municipal Building in Dr. Pride's mansion. Confederate soldiers camped all through Blount County and used the Porter-Brakebill House in Rockford as a hospital.

Over 75 percent of local Blount countians were Union sympathizers, however.

Specific details regarding this area's role in the Civil War are part of the museum's exhibit, entitled "Civil War Comes to Blount County." Much of the collection is on loan from Dr. Robert Paddleford and from Tom Davis, president of the Civil War Roundtable. One piece in the exhibit is an extremely rare sharpshooter's bench-rest rifle, called "the General Killer."

Down the road in Townsend

In addition, the Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center in Townsend is featuring a traveling exhibit on loan from the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville: "Hoofbeats in the Heartland: Civil War Calvary in Tennessee." These two museums have become partners in order to be eligible for the traveling exhibit because there must be a local exhibit on the same topic.

Cornett said several museum curators from Nashville, Knoxville and other states have visited the Civil War exhibit at the Blount County Historical Museum. Many have stated it is one of the best Civil War exhibits they have ever seen.

The Heritage Center in Townsend, open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, will feature three special presentations Saturday:

• The first, "Hoop Skirts and Underpinnings," gets underway at 10:30 a.m., with Sandra Augustus as presenter. She will demonstrate the trials and tribulations of a woman simply getting properly dressed in the days of the Civil War.



• The second, at 11:30 a.m., will be "Language of the Fans." Presenter is Ellen Renshaw. She will demonstrate the messages that a proper lady of the day could send via movements of her fan.



• Bill Fowler will then give his presentation "The Civil War in East Tennessee and Blount County," at noon. All three take place at the Heritage Center. Admission there is $6 for adults and $4 for children and seniors.

Fascination with the past

Cornett said months worth of work has gone into Saturday's events. This is one more way to put the spotlight on both the Blount County Historical Museum in Maryville and the Heritage Center in Townsend.

Teresa Cutshaw, one of the reenactors, said she attended her first meeting of the Civil War Roundtable about three years ago and knew right away she wanted to be involved in activities like this. She will be at Thompson-Brown House Saturday wearing a period dress she made herself. Gary Heath, also a reenactor, said for him, it's all about sharing his lifelong interest in this period of American history. The war, the deadliest in U.S. History, claimed over 600,000 lives.

There will be, Cornett said, something for all ages to discover Saturday.

"This event will be fun as well as educational for adults and children alike," he said.