The memorial wall (photo: Huntington Historical Society)
The Huntington Historical Society will open a special Civil War exhibit at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Building on Tuesday in honor of the 150 year anniversary of the Civil War.
“A Soldier’s Return: Huntington during the Civil War” was inspired by the recent donation of a portrait of J.C. Walters, a Huntington Civil War soldier killed in 1862. Walters is one of the 40 names on the memorial wall of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Building, built in 1892 to commemorate locals who died in combat during the Civil War.
“That doesnt represent everybody from Huntington that died during the civil war, but those are the names that they put up on the wall in 1892. I would say there were easily 500 to 600 men [from Huntington] that fought in the civil war,” Toby Kissam, Executive Coordinator of the Huntington Historical Society said.
Flags and weaponry that date to the Civil War and were used by Huntington volunteers will also be on display, along with photographs of the buildings that stood in downtown Huntington during the time period.
The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Building, located at 228 Main Street in Huntington, was also used as the public library building, and is now owned by the Huntington Historical Society and used as an exhibit.
The exhibit opens at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, April 12, and will be available for viewing on Tuesdays through Fridays from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. It will be up through the end of the year.
