Saturday afternoon, 1863 returned with Christmas in Camp at Ft. Ward. It was the year and season that illustrator Thomas Nast’s Union Santa was featured on the cover of Harper’s Weekly. The War was going poorly for the Union troops and the President is said to have been looking for ways to lift morale.
At Fort Ward re enactors portrayed Confederate and Union soldiers, women appeared as visitors to the camp as a batch of Wassail was heating on the open fire.