Visitors can get taste of Civil War camp life

By Liz McMahan

Nearly 150 years ago, members of the 2nd Colorado Infantry Regiment fought in what was to become known as the Battle of Honey Springs near Checotah.

This weekend, a re-enactment group that has taken the name of the Colorado unit will be walking in their forebears’ footsteps as they practice drills and, on Saturday afternoon, demonstrate camp life cooking, musket loading and firing.

Ralph Jones, superintendent of Honey Springs Battlefield Historic Site, said about 30 members of the re-enactment group will participate. Some will arrive Friday night and the rest on Saturday. They will camp at the park for the weekend. The public is welcome to come and observe, particularly at the demonstrations Saturday afternoon.

For 38 years, all the park had was a visitors’ pavilion and a few granite markers. More than 46,000 visitors have visited the site in the last 10 years, Jones said. Another 32,000 people have seen programs on the battlefield.

The Oklahoma Historical Society, which owns and operates the park, reports the Honey Springs site has become one of the Society’s primary destinations for visitors to learn about how Oklahoma was developed.

The park today includes 1,100 acres, Visitors’ Center and six walking trails with 55 interpretive signs of National Park Service quality, Jones said.

The entire trail is two miles long, but those who want only to hit the key points, may take a three-quarter mile walk, he said.

Jones said the tourists coming to the battlefield represent a wide variety of interests.

“I just had a family of four — a man and woman and their daughter and son-in-law — here,” he said Wednesday. “The mother’s great-grandfather was a Texas soldier who was captured here. Last week, I had a man whose great-grandfather was killed here.”

Other tourists have a general interest in Civil War history and some just stop by because they saw the signs on the highway and were curious, he said.

Most of the park’s visitors come from Oklahoma, but two weeks ago, there was a visitor from Great Britain, he said. There routinely are visitors from states from coast to coast.

A re-enactment of the battle that took place at Honey Springs on July 17, 1863, is held every three years. That is the only time there is an admission charge to the park, Jones said.



If you go



WHAT: Demonstration of life during the Civil War.

WHO: 2nd Colorado Infantry Regiment.

WHERE: Honey Springs Battlefield Historic Site, 3.6 miles north of Checotah on Business U.S. 69, east two miles through Rentiesville, two miles north of Honey Springs Battlefield Road.

WHEN: 1-4 p.m. Saturday.

ETC.: No admission charge during this event or on most other days. Park’s visitors’ center is routinely open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1-4:30 p.m. Sunday. Battlefield is open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday.



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