Ever since our trip to Georgia two years ago, Katie has been fascinated with the Civil War and its battles. So we jumped at the chance to go to Civil War Days in Duncans Mills.  

The meadow was transformed into a Virginia field, circa 1863 for one of the large reenactments west of the Mississippi. We arrived just in time for a hard-fought battle, and then walked around the camps of the Union and Confederacy, see how merchants, tradesmen, and townspeople lived and served with the armies. 

One of the most interesting camps was that of the town doctor, one of only about 250 women doctors in the mid-1800s. She showed us leg splints, ether and chloroform, and the rosemary swigs that were used to kept flies away from the patients. Because it was often difficult for women doctors to get medicines, she showed us how they blended their own and rolled the pills.