SIMI VALLEY : Reagan Library to Open Exhibit on Civil War

Cannon fire, fiddle tunes and the speeches of Abraham Lincoln will open a massive exhibit about the U.S. Civil War today at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum near Simi Valley.

Civil War re-enactment clubs will stage a two-day encampment on the museum grounds, launching an exhibit on the war that tore apart the United States.

Beginning at 10 a.m., actors in Union and Confederate uniforms will parade across the grounds and demonstrate musket use and bivouac life, while musicians play period music and sing Lincoln campaign songs. Actors also will re-create Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender to Union troops at Appomattox Court House and Lincoln’s famed Gettysburg Address.

Inside the museum, curators have assembled a show of more than 200 artifacts, weapons, uniforms and documents culled from dozens of public museums and private collections across the country.

On display will be the frock coat that Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman wore as his Union troops left Atlanta in flames, as well as nurse Clara Barton’s trunk bed and Julia Ward Howe’s original draft of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The show also includes an authentic field surgeon’s tent fitted with wartime surgical instruments.

The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week. Admission is $4 for ages 16 to 61, $2 for those 62 and older and free for children age 15 and younger.

Parking is limited, and visitors are urged to car-pool or arrive early.