Michigan's largest living history event returning to Jackson for its 37th year

• Video shows preparations for Jackson's 37th Civil War Muster.
• Maurice Imhoff has been involved with the Muster since 2014 and portrays a former slave who fought in the war, John Taylor.
• Jackson's muster is the largest, longest running Civil War event in Michigan and sees between 15,000 and 22,000 visitors each year.

Tents, uniforms, and leathers in Cascades Park can only mean one thing: Jackson's 37th Civil War Muster is underway. According to Maurice Imhoff, President of Jackson's Civil War Muster, Jackson was the hub for the Civil War, next to Detroit. The event sees over 15,000 people each year, in a setting where Civil War history is rich. Imhoff says, "You had a lot of involvement, right here in Jackson, where soldiers were marching down streets like Michigan Avenue. This is a really great place to honor and share that important history."

Photo: Experience Jackson

With over 500 living historians, it's easy to get lost in the history. Reenactor Jacob Sneed says, "Once you get deep into it, you're detached from your phone and all your electronics, and you're just making some new memories." Charlie Whitt, while tending to his Civil War sutlery, explains, "It's amazing because so many people come in and they're in character when they start the weekend, and they don't break character the whole weekend."

For the first time, this year's event will feature:

• Guided tours each day at 10am
• Brass bands on horseback, with some original instruments
• An infantry band
• A scavenger hunt

Photo: Experience Jackson

For Imhoff, this event means much more than just traveling back in time. He shares, "One of the people I portray is Mr. John Taylor, who was a 21-year-old soldier who actually joined when he was 18. He was a former slave in the south and came to Jackson as a free man. He enlisted to go fight in the army, survived, but unfortunately after the war, he was lynched in 1866. Just a year after, in Mason, MI. It's important that his story is told. A young man, young boy who was wrongfully lynched just up north, in Mason, who fought for bravery, fought for freedom. It is important that his story is not forgotten and Jackson's story and the nation's story."

Jackson's Civil War Muster is August 24-25 at Cascades Park.

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