Learn to Be a Reenacter in Southern Illinois...

School of the Soldier

The Ecolo do Soldat (School of the Soldier) is coming up the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, April 26th and 27th at Fort de Chartres State Historic Site In Southern Illinois. Inside the reconstructed French fort, classes and seminars will be given for would-be reenacters and students of regional history.

The Fort

The fort is an impressive structure, with some of the outer walls rebuilt atop the original stone foundation. A front wall faces the highway, complete with gate and overhead guardhouse. At the rear of the fort are linked buildings that include a barracks, chapel, sutters store (gift shop), and offices/museum. In the courtyard are unfinished barracks that display the construction style the builders used. In one corner is the original fort magazine where munitions and explosives were stored, one of the oldest colonial structures in the state of Illinois.

Fort de Chartres (dih-SHART) is located south of St Louis along the Mississippi River in Randolph County, a few miles down the state highway from Prairie du Rocher, which itself dates from the same period. The fort was, despite its martial nature, once the seat of civil government in the French colony.

Reenacters

Reenacters focus their attention on the people who dwelt in the region roughly 200 years ago. There are several groups to choose from. There were the Native Americans who called the area home before the Europeans came, the French soldiers and settlers, the British who briefly inherited the fort after 1765, the American soldiers who followed the British who abandoned it in 1771, and the hunters and trappers that flourished in the area throughout.

Would-be reenacters who may be considering a role as a priest or British soldier learn about the weaponry, clothing, food, transportation, and living arrangements of the people who once lived in the region during the School of the Soldier. However, you don't have to be a reenacter to attend the event.

Activities

Today, the fort is a popular tourist site. Numerous free events are featured throughout the year, including the huge Summer Rendezvous (June 7-8) with Redcoats, French Marines, buckskinners, fife and drum corps, cannoneers, and a sea of vendors tents and teepees. That biggest event at the fort each year draws more than 15,000 visitors. There's a smaller cold-weather winter rendezvous, as well as a French and Indian Assemblage, a traditional French New Year's Eve event, and other free activities scheduled through the year.

The history-minded public is welcome to attend the free School of the Soldier April 26th and 27th.

The fort is located at 1260 State Route 155 out of Prairie du Rocher. Telephone: 618-284-7230.