- Video shows Bailey Excavating digging at Michigan Military Heritage Museum, the site of Camp Blair.
- Beginning in 1864, Camp Blair was one of the military headquarters during the Civil War.
- Jacob Bailey shows some of the artifacts they found during the dig.
It's Memorial Day, and we're looking back at one of our country's first wars, and a unique connection in our neighborhoods. From 1864 to 1866, Jackson's Camp Blair was one of the military headquarters during the Civil War.
Kevin Gerych, Vice President of Operations at Michigan Military Heritage Museum, explains, "We're right on the site of Camp Blair, the footprint of it. Right here, essentially, is where the museum sits, currently."
The museum has its own Camp Blair exhibit, displaying William Withington's Medal of Honor. Friday, more history was uncovered as Bailey Excavating came to the museum to do some digging. Jacob Bailey, a Civil War enthusiast, became more excited with each beep of the metal detector. "There's probably so many people that live in the area, that their ancestors came though here and spent time in this camp," says Bailey.
Bailey's own great, great grandfather served in the Civil War. He shares "I have his musket that he carried, an 1861 Springfield. That's probably what sparked a lot of my love for Civil War history, so I started collecting little odds and ends of things."
This made each treasure found another exciting peek into the past for Bailey and his team. "It's local history. It's local veterans and their stories. With Memorial Day, I think it's (Michigan Military Heritage Museum) a really cool place to visit because you can see so many stories from your community."
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