Media Advisory; Illinois Guard general to speak at Mattoon Civil War marker dedication

MATTOON, IL (03/26/2014)(readMedia)-- WHO:

• Brig. Gen. Richard Hayes of Springfield, Ill., Assistant Adjutant General-Army of the Illinois National Guard

• Company A, 634th Brigade Support Battalion in Mattoon, Ill.

WHAT:

• Illinois State Historical Society Commemorative Marker Dedication Ceremony

• The ceremony marks the completion of phase one of the Mattoon Civil War Memorial Ellipse Project, which will further honor the Illinois infantry regiments raised at Camp Grant and all Mattoon Civil War veterans.

WHEN:

• March 29 at 1:30 p.m.

WHERE:

• Mattoon Roundhouse Complex at the intersection of North 1st Division Street and Shelby Avenue

MORE:

• The commemorative marker recognizes Mattoon's Union Agricultural Fairgrounds and Civil War-era Camp Grant.

• All four years of the Civil War, five Illinois infantry regiments trained there.

• Gen. Ulysses Grant served as an Illinois recruitment and training captain and was sworn into the 21st Illinois Infantry (Illinois militia that later became the Illinois National Guard) at this location in May 1861.

For additional information, please contact the Public Affairs office at 217-761-3569 or ng.il.ilarng.list.staff-pao@mail.mil

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