[Argie's Wife]

More about the veterans' homes

N.H. Veterans Association bringing glimpses of Civil War era to life at Weirs Beach over the next 2 weekends
By Adam Drapcho
Aug 10, 2011 12:00 am
LACONIA — A century and a half ago, able-bodied men from states throughout the young union volunteered to serve as soldiers in what would become the Civil War. They had no idea of the horror in store for them over the next four years and when the survivors returned home they felt a need, a ...
LACONIA — A century and a half ago, able-bodied men from states throughout the young union volunteered to serve as soldiers in what would become the Civil War. They had no idea of the horror in store for them over the next four years and when the survivors returned home they felt a need, a strong need, to reunite. Thus, the New Hampshire Veterans Association was formed in 1875 and its members built several buildings on a nearly eight acre campus in the heart of Weirs Beach.

Starting this weekend and again during the next, the association will honor its founders by hosting historical reenactments. On August 13 and 14, reenactors portraying the 1st New Hampshire Cavalry will encamp on the association property. A highlight of the encampment will be a demonstration of cavalry maneuvers performed on Lakeside Avenue at 3 p.m. Interested members of the public are welcome to visit the encampment throughout the weekend.

On August 21, the Veterans Association headquarters building, located directly across the avenue from the M/S Mount Washington dock, will host Abraham Lincoln reenactor Steve Wood, who will orate from the building's porch beginning at 10 a.m. At 2 p.m., the 12th New Hampshire Volunteer Serenade Band will perform. Also on August 21, the 6th New Hampshire Volunteer Regiment Company E will perform an honor guard ceremony demonstration.

For Mike Young, quartermaster of the New Hampshire Veterans Association, and its historian Fred Merrill, the events are planned to remind the public that the Civil War and its atrocities were endured by people whose footprints modern Americans walk within – the soldiers, nurses and their families left from villages like The Weirs to partake in some of the bloodiest events in human history, and in doing so helped shape the world seen today. The buildings owned by the Veterans Association and enjoyed by its members today are one such example.

"People tend to forget. These buildings here are as close to the Civil War as you can get," said Young. "They were built by Civil War veterans."

No other veterans have gone through what the Civil War veterans went through," Young said.

The Civil War, Merrill noted, was fought using Napoleonic tactics, in which soldiers would stand shoulder to shoulder and march across a field toward the enemy's position. These tactics were developed when muskets were inaccurate and effective for short distances but by the time the Civil War began, rifling made weapons, including cannons, deadly from much further distances and much more accurate. Battlefield medicine was primitive if present at all. Additionally, the country was expecting the conflict to be resolved within a few months instead of four years and wasn't equipped to support its troops. Most of the 620,000 soldier deaths were due to disease.

"For me, it's important not to forget these guys and the nurses who followed them," said Young.

"They represent a change in the country's outlook," added Merrill. Although he suspected that most northern soldiers were motivated to fight by a desire to preserve the union of states, and not directly the abolition of slavery, their service resulted in emancipation for all Americans. "That was a total change in our society."

The unique experience they endured, which was several decades before a clinical recognition of post-traumatic stress disorder, might have inspired the veteran reunions that saw tens of thousands who came to the Weirs in the late 1800s for reunions centered at the Veterans Association property. Theodore Roosevelt spoke at one reunion, General William Tecumseh Sherman at another.

Similar to a bond between veterans that exists today, Young presumed, the Civil War veterans likely felt that there were things that they could only discuss with others who had similar experiences. "They had hard times, the only way they could get through those hard times was to get together, sit around a camp fire and talk about it."

CAPTION for VETS ASSOCIATION in AA:

Fred Merrill (left) and Mike Young of the New Hampshire Veterans Association are planning historical events this weekend and next to mark the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. (Laconia Daily Sun photo/Adam Drapcho)

CAPTION for VETS HQ in AA:

The New Hampshire Veterans Association headquarters building at Weirs Beach, as it appeared in 1897. The association's campus hosted reunions of Civil War veterans that numbered in the thousands. (Courtesy photo)
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Source: http://www.laconiadailysun.com/story...ar-weirs-beach

Like Woodsy said, you can't touch these buildings. I think it's great that the NH Veterans' Association is doing more to promote the knowledge of these homes in Weirs Beach. Perhaps this is the beginning of more interest in the area, positive changes, and improvements to the area.