Come out to Fort Ontario State Historic Site to witness garrison life during the American Civil War. The Union Army Living History Weekend runs from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 26 and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 27 at Fort Ontario, 1 E. Fourth St., Oswego. Regular fort admission will be charged.

The event features laundresses of the Civil War, uniforms of the regular army, children’s musters and drills, female soldiers of the Civil War, optical amusements and inventions, army medicine and garrison life in a Civil War fort. Camp cooking, weapons drills and children’s games will also be offered. Civil War-era sutlery, or civilian merchants, will also be present and there will be a display of Civil War and other weapons.

During the American Civil War (1861-1865), Fort Ontario served as a recruit depot and training camp for the Union Army. Due to the threat of Great Britain coming into the war on the side of the Confederacy and a build-up of their troops in Canada, regular U.S. Army troops occupied Fort Ontario during the Civil War.

In 1863, work began to replace the fort’s deteriorating timber covered earth walls with stone. Also that year, draft records from New York City were brought to Fort Ontario for safekeeping in response to violent riots against the draft in the city. Confederate soldiers apprehended after escaping from trains and northern prison camps are also believed to have been brought to Fort Ontario for temporary incarceration during the war. 

Regular fort admission is $4 for adults, $3 for seniors and students, and free for children aged 12 and younger. Pre-registration is not required.

Event updates will be posted on the Friends of Fort Ontario’s Facebook page. For more information, call 315-343-4711, go to www.historicfortontario.com or www.nysparks.com or find Fort Ontario on Facebook.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 parks, historic sites, recreational trails, golf courses, boat launches, and more, which are visited by 78 million people annually. 

For more information on any of these recreation areas, visit www.parks.ny.gov, download the free NYS Park Explorer mobile app or call 518-474-0456.  Visitors can also connect on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

DRUMS AND DRILLS – Living history interpreters get ready to start military drills at Fort Ontario State Historic Site in Oswego. The Fort hosts a Union Army Living History Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 26 and 27. Regular fort admission will be charged. For details, call 315-343-4711.

IN THE ARMY – Visit Fort Ontario State Historic Site, 1 E. Fourth St., Oswego to learn about army life at a Civil War-era post. The Union Army Living History Weekend runs from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 26 and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 27. Regular fort admission will be charged. For details, call 315-343-4711.