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Friday, August 4, 2023

Camp Floyd field trip

I read that Camp Floyd, which is a historical site about an hour away, was having a "Johnston's Army encampment" day during our unit. Johnston's Army is the army that came out to Utah during the "Utah War," and we members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have no warm feelings toward them, that's for sure! It was in 1857, a little before the Civil War, but the uniforms and weapons of the soldiers were similar to Civil War times. And Camp Floyd is the place they were stationed. So I decided we'd go out there for a field trip.

We'd seen Civil War reenactors before at Fort Douglas, which is right in Salt Lake City. But I'd never been to Camp Floyd. I was surprised how small the State Park is, and how little there is to do. Ha! I would never have gone there if there weren't this event being held, but even with the event I was glad we'd brought a picnic so it didn't feel like a total waste of a trip! And it got more fun after the re-enacting soldiers started showing us things like how to fire a musket and what was in their knapsacks. There were even some fun little old-fashioned games over in a nearby field. So we did have a good time.
Gus rolling hoops
Carrying water
Stick horses
Building a log cabin
There's a little museum inside this Inn, which was a stagecoach stop and a stop for the Pony Express. There are some interesting period artifacts and furniture inside.
This is a key from the telegraph machine that was here
The hugest lilac tree I've ever seen!
Our favorite part was when the soldiers showed us how to load and fire real muskets
This soldier also had an authentic army rucksack with the items a solider would have carried—comb, razor, tooth powder, sewing kit, etc.
Clementine had fun just running all around!
On the way home there was a cool storm that framed Mount Timpanogos perfectly!

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