Cannon fire will echo across Huntington Beach Central Park this weekend as the Huntington Beach Historical Society stages the 33rd annual Civil War Days, billed as Southern California’s largest living history event. The free two-day gathering runs Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with dramatic battle reenactments, authentic military and civilian camps, weapons demonstrations, and the civilian tent town of Reedsburg set up behind the Central Library on Gothard Street, between Slater and Talbert avenues.
The event’s roots run deeper than a single festival weekend. According to the City of Huntington Beach, this year’s staging includes meetings with historical figures, including President Lincoln and General Grant, plus scheduled cannon fire throughout both days. Saturday’s battle reenactments take place at 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m., while Sunday’s are set for 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., and the Huntington Beach Historical Society is directing the public to hbhistory.org/civilwar for full details.
Civil War Days actually began in 1993 behind the Newland House Museum in Bartlett Park, when founders Maureen Rivers and Carl Clink launched the event with a single cannon and roughly 30 reenactors, according to 69th NYSV Company C. Over three decades, it has grown into a gathering that draws hundreds of volunteer living historians and thousands of spectators from across the country each Labor Day weekend, as the Los Angeles Times has reported.
A Tradition That Predates the Modern Festival by Nearly a Century
Long before the modern reenactment existed, Huntington Beach had its own documented ties to Civil War veterans. The city’s connection stretches back to July 1884, when the Santa Ana-based Gen. John Sedgwick Post of the Grand Army of the Republic held an encampment at Shell Beach — the seaside community that would later be renamed Huntington Beach, per the Orange County History Roundup…