Monroe, Michigan, to Celebrate General Custer & Civil War

Visitors from all over the United States are expected to gather in the small city of Monroe, Michigan to join Monroe residents this fall as they celebrate General George Armstrong Custer and Michigan's role in the Civil War with the Ninth Annual Custer Week. Monroe was the General's adopted hometown.

Custer Week, started by the Monroe County Convention and Tourism Bureau and supported by the Custer Celebration Committee, will begin Saturday, September 29th with a Civil War Roundtable Discussion at the museum.

The week long celebration will end with the reenactment of the 1864 wedding of George Custer and Elizabeth (Libbie) Bacon at the site of their original nuptials, the First Presbyterian Church.

Civil War Display

The Monroe County Historical Museum will open a display featuring artifacts from the Civil War on Saturday, September 29th. The artifacts will be on display throughout the month of October.

A wreath-laying ceremony will be held at the Custer Family Plat followed by a Woodland Cemetery Walking Tour.

Living History

There will be a Civil War encampment at the Navarre Trading Post with the Michigan Cavalry History Association throughout the week. The Michigan National Guard Historians will host a Heritage Outreach Program.

Historical figures from the Civil War who will be in Monroe include President Abraham Lincoln, General Ulysses S. Grant and General Robert E. Lee.

Visitors will be treated to the storytelling of General Custer as he recounts his aeronaut experiences during the Civil War and Libbie Custer will share the story of her life with the General.

Residents and visitors will have the opportunity to dine with the Generals at the Monroe Street Grill or the VFW #1138 Hall.

Authors, Historians to Speak

Several authors and historians are scheduled to speak throughout the week, including National Parks ranger and historian Troy Harmon, author of "Lee's Real Plan at Gettysburg."

Also appearing will be Civil War historian and author Kent Masterson Brown and Tom Carhart, Ph.D., military historian for the Department of the Army in Washington, D.C.

Gettysburg and Civil War historian William Gower will present "Custer and his Wolverines at East Cavalry Field on Day 3" at Monroe Mainstreet, Inc. and David Finney will present "Photographic Images of Famous Americans" at the Dorsch Library.

George Gouth will show off his Spencer Repeating Rifle at the Monroe County Historical Museum and JoMarie Soszynski will speak on Victorian dress at the Sawyer Homestead.

Music

The Dodworth Saxhorn Band will perform in the Loranger Square Pavilion. Today's Dodworth Saxhorn Band out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, is a recreation of the United State's first all-brass band which played at Presidential inaugurations and political rallies during the 19th century.

For a calendar of events or further information, see www.georgecuster.com/events.htm.

Source: The Custer Celebration Committee, Custer Week Calendar, www.georgecuster.com