La Crosse County Historical Civil War Traveling Trunk

The La Crosse County Historical Society (LCHS) is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the American civil war with a new display and a civil war traveling trunk that will be available to area high school and middle school educators teaching civil war history. The traveling trunk was made possible thanks to a grant from the La Crosse Rotary Foundation.

The trunk contains a complete reproduction civil war uniform and accompanying equipment that was common for soldiers to carry into war. You may borrow the trunk for use as an educational tool for your classroom. A teacher’s guide binder accompanies the trunk and explains the various uniform pieces and other items such as the canteen, haversack and cartridge box included in the trunk. Beseler said, “The only items not included in the trunk are a civil war rifled musket and a bayonet. However, the binder does include information about the musket and bayonet with a link to a Website that discusses the loading and firing of these rifles.”

LCHS Executive Director Jane Beseler said, “Students will actually be able to try on the wool jacket and pants, and see what a soldiers boots were like. The uniform in the traveling trunk is a representation of the uniform that the La Crosse soldiers of the famous Iron Brigade wore at such battles as Antietam, Gettysburg and the Wilderness. It includes the tall black hat that was a trademark of the Iron Brigade soldiers.”

“In addition to the uniform, the traveling trunk is a good resource to help initiate discussions about what the soldiers did for entertainment, the food they ate and civil war medicine. It is one thing to learn from a book, but the traveling trunk gives students a hands-on experience that will give them an appreciation for our civil war soldiers.”

If you would like to reserve the trunk for your classroom please email the La Crosse County Historical Society at JLIB_HTML_CLOAKING . It is $25 to reserve the traveling trunk.