Camp Jackson: Vital Civil War Training Ground

Camp Jackson: Vital Civil War Training Ground. . Rendezvous Point for the 20th and 26th Regiments , Camp Jackson was a training ground for Civil War recruits in the 20th and 26th regiments of the Michigan Volunteer Infantry. The camp was located on land owned by Jeremiah Marvin, a Blackman Township farmer whose property straddled Clinton Rd. and Lansing Ave. Training for over 1,000 men there began July 1862 and included regimental drills and target. practice. It was also where the men received their Springfield an dEnfield rifles, their uniforms, and where many recuperated from-and some succumbed to-sickness., Both the 20th and the 26th regiments engaged in some of the fiercest battles of the Civil War - contests that depended, in part, upon their training. The 26th was among the regiments that guarded the path of U.S. General Ulysses S. Grant on his way to accept the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House, VA, in April 1865. Veterans who trained here returned to Jackson decades after the war to honor their fallen comrades and hold reunions marked by parades, banquets and worship services., (sidebar) , George W. Simpson, Parm Township, enlisted in the 20th Michigan Infrantry in August 1862. The 17 year old served as a drummer in company E. George survived some of the bloddiest battles of the war, including cold Harbor, VA. He was mustered out of service in Washington D.C., in May 1865., (captions) , Sketch by Spring Arbor University Assistant Art Instructor Briane Witt., Photo courtesy Dale Niesen Collection.