Bishop Hill looking back at American history with Civil War Day

May 9-BISHOP HILL - Bishop Hill Heritage Association is celebrating the nation's 250th anniversary this year with a range of events exploring various moments in America's early history.

Civil War Day will be May 16, with a Civil War battle reenactment, an encampment and sutler area, and other activities throughout the day, according to the association.

Both Union and Confederate camps will be set up in the village park.

The sutler area will include a tin-type photographer, who will be set up near Steeple Building Museum.

Artillery demonstrations, a concert of Civil War-era music and an evening Civil War-era ball also will be featured, as will a reenactor giving a speech in character as Union Gen. John Logan.

The reenactment will include:

-a drill at 9:30 a.m. at Coopers' Field,

-a parade at 11 a.m. from Coopers' Field to Steeple Building Museum,

-a roll call and rations issue at 11:30 a.m. in the park,

-Gen. Logan's speech at noon in the park,

-a concert by the 33rd Illinois Volunteer Regiment Band at 1:30 p.m. in the park,

-an artillery demonstration at 2:30 p.m. at Coopers' Field,

-a battle at 3:30 p.m. at Coopers' Field, followed by a medical demonstration in the park, and

-a Civil War Ball from 6 to 8 p.m. at Bishop Hill Creative Commons.

The day honors the village's Company D, 57th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, otherwise known as the Swedish Union Guard, which organized in fall 1861 and included mostly Swedes from Henry County, according to the association. The unit fought in several Civil War battles, including Shiloh and Sherman's March to the Sea.

The Swedish Union Guard was mustered out in July 1865.

All Civil War Day activities are free.

Other activities during the day include the annual Bishop Hill Quilt Show, which will have displays at the Colony School and Steeple Building Museum.

Make-and-take hobby horses also will be available for $10 at The Vasa Archives.

Operation Christmas will have a pulled-ham sandwich stand from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. by the Colony Store.

Bishop Hill was founded in 1846 by Swedish immigrants seeking to establish a utopian community based on their religious beliefs. It was not easy and, by 1861, the colony officially had been dissolved. Today, the colony's surviving buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places and the Bishop Hill community embraces and preserves its Swedish-American heritage.

For more information, go to bishophillheritage.org, call 309-927-3899 or email bhha@mymctc.net.

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This story was originally published May 9, 2026 at 11:56 PM.