CWT Fall Muster 2026?

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

Anyone planning a Muster for October 2026 - presumably outside the Eastern Theater?

 

[bdtex]

Anyone planning a Muster for October 2026 - presumably outside the Eastern Theater?

Not I. Affairs at home are more pressing. Looks like my Civil War travels this year will be more of a spontaneous/opportunistic nature.

 

[Stryker65]

On the last day of the 2024 Muster, we were discussing ideas for the next Western Theater muster, but we had mostly come up with:
- Charleston (if that counts)
- Caravan trip of Atlanta campaign (Dalton, Kennesaw, etc)
- New Orleans / Baton Rouge etc
- Repeat

 

[Desert Kid]

On the last day of the 2024 Muster, we were discussing ideas for the next Western Theater muster, but we had mostly come up with:
- Charleston (if that counts)
- Caravan trip of Atlanta campaign (Dalton, Kennesaw, etc)
- New Orleans / Baton Rouge etc
- Repeat

Glad somebody brought this up. On the last day of muster a few months ago I brought up that Perryville and Richmond, Kentucky have been discussed as possibilities on the forum. The Confederate Heartland Offensive more or less, think a caravan trip from Cumberland Gap to Frankfort/Louisville/Covington would be best suited for that. I'll get to see where Cleburne raised the Confederate First National over the Ohio River in Covington!

In Georgia, Chickamauga/Chattanooga has already been done and I've been there for it, so Atlanta is ideal for a caravan trip around the city from Dalton down to Kennesaw, Jonesboro and Alpharetta. The only real problem is that Atlanta has all the same snags that the muster in Murfressboro/Franklin and Nashville had was that the urban sprawl was insane to navigate with a group of people.

New Orleans/Baton Rouge would be good. The starting point being at the Confederate Memorial Hall and follows to the Cabildo and the Andrew Jackson statue. Battle of Donaldsonville and Fort Butler, plantations like Oak Alley, St. Joseph, Whitney, and then drive up to the Old State Capitol Museum where Union occupation took hold. Side trips can be made to plantation towns like Thibodeaux, the E.D. White Historic Site and for our resident Huey Long and Earl Long fans we can go to the current Louisiana State Capitol. @Drew

Looks like I'll have to shelf my Red River Campaign caravan trip idea for another year.

But in all seriousness, @UCVRelics should have his chance for the Charleston muster.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

Charleston has been in serious consideration for several years now so if someone can organize it that seems like probably the best choice. Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, Fort Johnson, Fort Lamar / Secessionville, and the Hunley plus the historic town. And maybe the folks from Castle Pinckney could arrange a boat tour?

Atlanta is doable, but will have to be carefully planned to deal with weekday traffic and weekend parking. Fortunately/unfortunately, almost all the surviving stuff is outside the beltway. Marietta to Dalton is about an hour, which is a little longer than typical, but not unreasonable and you'll end up back at the muster hotel in or near Marietta. You could do basically Powell's Volume 1 on Friday, Volume 2 on Saturday, and either Atlanta History Center or Lovejoy's Station (if there's enough of it?) on Sunday.

Kentucky if you base out of Lexington, Perryville and Richmond are both about an hour away and Frankfort is about a half hour. Henry Clay's Ashland is also in Lexington.

New Orleans is going to probably be one of the most expensive Muster locations for a hotel. Baton Rogue is probably too far do as more than a pre/post event side trip.

Red River Campaign is probably too spread out.

For potential revisits, I think the two main candidates would be Chickamauga (it's a complicated battle) or Murfreesboro/Franklin/Nashville (the Muster there was in 2022 and the attendance might have been on the low side due to the pandemic.

Two other ideas:

Jacksonville, Florida: Fort Clinch is an hour away and has Union reenactors on the first weekend of the month and Fernandina Beach has a few Civil War era homes listed on the Florida Civil War Heritage Trail. Yellow Bluff Fort is a short stop for some earthworks. Camp Milton (western outskirts of the metro area) has a little interpretation and Olustee is about a half hour past Milton. The Mandarin Museum has an exhibit about the Maple Leaf which was sunk by a Confederate river mine. Kingsley Plantation is an antebellum slave plantation east of Jacksonville with a rather unique history. Evergreen Cemetery has 250+ Civil War veterans, including J. J. Dickson. Old City Cemetery has another 220+ veteran graves, including Joseph Finegan. Used to be the Museum of Southern History, but that closed last year - apparently permanently.

Savannah: Forts Pulaski, McAllister, and Jackson. An extensive historic downtown. I don't know if any of the Confederate defensive line from 1864 is identifiable? Hilton Head Island is an hour away (Forts Howell and Walker, plus Mitcheville), as is Beaufort in the same direction (including Reconsturction interpretation).

 

[NFB22]

The last few years I have had other engagements during the muster but this year I'm not planning on being in Texas so being located in Louisville, I'm clearly still a big supporter of one at Perryville but you would definitely want to make Lexington the HQ. Perryville, Richmond, Nicholasville & Frankfort are all within an hour of Lexington

Perryville could easily consume one day.

Richmond is more of a driving battlefield with numerous sites but could be an afternoon trip after morning exploring around Lexington.

Lexington offers a number of ACW related sites, a few include:
- Lexington Cemetery (burial site of John Breckenridge, John Hunt Morgan, Basil Duke, Gordon Granger, Henry Clay, etc)
- Hopemont (family home of John Hunt Morgan)
- Ashland (Henry Clay's plantation)
- Mary Todd Lincoln Home

Camp Nelson National Monument is near Nicholasville.

Frankfort has a number of sites:
- Fort Hill (remnants of the fort that overlooked and guarded Frankfort during the war)
- Frankfort Cemetery (burial site of Simon Bolivar Buckner, George & Thomas Crittenden, and "allegedly" Daniel Boone)
- The Kentucky Military History Museum at the former state arsenal
- The former and current statehouses

A little further away you have side trips for before and/or after the primary muster in Covington, Louisville and Bardstown that are relatively close with plenty to see from earthwork forts to cemeteries and museums, etc.

 

[major bill]

I have not been to a CivilWarTalk muster in several years. I usually have the choice between a Company of Military and Historian Collectors annual meeting and CivilWarTalk muster. This year my Company of Military Historian and Collectors annual l meeting is going to places I have seen before. I might consider attuning a fall CWT muster, but I am from the North and worry I would be very uncomfortable attending A CWT muster. Still I have not been to New Orleans and I am tempted. But three days of being very uncomfortable is a factor. I will have to see how I feel a few months from now.

 

[Stryker65]

I have not been to a CivilWarTalk muster in several years. I usually have the choice between a Company of Military and Historian Collectors annual meeting and CivilWarTalk muster. This year my Company of Military Historian and Collectors annual l meeting is going to places I have seen before. I might consider attuning a fall CWT muster, but I am from the North and worry I would be very uncomfortable attending A CWT muster. Still I have not been to New Orleans and I am tempted. But three days of being very uncomfortable is a factor. I will have to see how I feel a few months from now.

I am also from the North; I daresay you would not be that uncomfortable. In every one of the last three CWT musters I've been to, I have also not been the only Northerner there.

 

[uaskme]

I have not been to a CivilWarTalk muster in several years. I usually have the choice between a Company of Military and Historian Collectors annual meeting and CivilWarTalk muster. This year my Company of Military Historian and Collectors annual l meeting is going to places I have seen before. I might consider attuning a fall CWT muster, but I am from the North and worry I would be very uncomfortable attending A CWT muster. Still I have not been to New Orleans and I am tempted. But three days of being very uncomfortable is a factor. I will have to see how I feel a few months from now.

Not used to saying Please or Thank You?

 

[Kathy the history sleuth]

I am also from the North; I daresay you would not be that uncomfortable. In every one of the last three CWT musters I've been to, I have also not been the only Northerner there.

I'm from Wisconsin and I would not worry about it. I've been to about 5 Musters and I always have fun. I was thinking about going to Charleston in April and driving up to TN with stops on the way.

I am also from the North; I daresay you would not be that uncomfortable. In every one of the last three CWT musters I've been to, I have also not been the only Northerner there.

I live in Wisconsin and I've been to about 5 musters and I always have fun. I was thinking about going to Charleston in April and driving up the Outer Banks to see the kids, but have not bought a ticket yet. If there is a Muster I hope we see you there!

 

[NFB22]

I have not been to a CivilWarTalk muster in several years. I usually have the choice between a Company of Military and Historian Collectors annual meeting and CivilWarTalk muster. This year my Company of Military Historian and Collectors annual l meeting is going to places I have seen before. I might consider attuning a fall CWT muster, but I am from the North and worry I would be very uncomfortable attending A CWT muster. Still I have not been to New Orleans and I am tempted. But three days of being very uncomfortable is a factor. I will have to see how I feel a few months from now.

As a lifelong Hoosier, being a Yank was the last thing that crossed my mind when I attended my first muster in Tennessee. Everyone was great and even very nice to my dad who came with me and knew pretty much jack squat about the Civil War other than the names Lincoln, Lee, Grant and Gettysburg

 

[UCVRelics]

@UCVRelics should have his chance for the Charleston muster.

The MIS group will be doing Charleston in late April.

 

[G Low]

I am also from the North; I daresay you would not be that uncomfortable. In every one of the last three CWT musters I've been to, I have also not been the only Northerner there.

Your ok, Delaware WAS a slave state!!

 

[JackADriscoll]

As I live in Charleston I could help with arranging but I've already seen it. It's great but there's not much in the way of battlefields mostly forts and such. Great sightseeing with historical homes and some nice museums. If the majority votes Charleston I'll help arrange. I've never been to any of the Kentucky Tennessee spots, need to visit perryville and Shiloh someday so that would be my vote overall.

 

[G Low]

I have not been to a CivilWarTalk muster in several years. I usually have the choice between a Company of Military and Historian Collectors annual meeting and CivilWarTalk muster. This year my Company of Military Historian and Collectors annual l meeting is going to places I have seen before. I might consider attuning a fall CWT muster, but I am from the North and worry I would be very uncomfortable attending A CWT muster. Still I have not been to New Orleans and I am tempted. But three days of being very uncomfortable is a factor. I will have to see how I feel a few months from now.

Well it was a war of northern aggression….

 

[G Low]

When my wife's cousins come down from Massachusetts, 3 days is all I can handle!!

 

[JackADriscoll]

I have not been to a CivilWarTalk muster in several years. I usually have the choice between a Company of Military and Historian Collectors annual meeting and CivilWarTalk muster. This year my Company of Military Historian and Collectors annual l meeting is going to places I have seen before. I might consider attuning a fall CWT muster, but I am from the North and worry I would be very uncomfortable attending A CWT muster. Still I have not been to New Orleans and I am tempted. But three days of being very uncomfortable is a factor. I will have to see how I feel a few months from now.

I was probably the most offensive person at the last cwt. Other than me being asked not to come back everyone was very nice

 

[G Low]

I was probably the most offensive person at the last cwt. Other than me being asked not to come back everyone was very nice

Anyone looking forward to Charleston ?

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

I was probably the most offensive person at the last cwt. Other than me being asked not to come back everyone was very nice

So much trouble we had to run you off a day early.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

The MIS group will be doing Charleston in late April.

MIS?