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Category: History

Fort Mackinac soldiers clearing a path in front of Fort Mackinac in the 1880s.

Winter for the Soldiers at Fort Mackinac

Wintering on Mackinac Island has always been a desolate and isolated affair. While many were able to leave the island in winter, soldiers of the 23rd United States Infantry, Companies E and K, had to stay and adapt to their winter home.

The church at Michilimackinac decorated for Christmas.

The First North American Christmas Carol

If you were able to attend the Colonial Christmas event at Colonial Michilimackinac, you experienced part of how Christmas was celebrated at the Mission of St. Ignace at Michilimackinac in 1679. An earlier Jesuit Christmas celebration resulted in the first North American Christmas Carol, the Huron Carol.

Christmas Wish for Mackinac, 1873

Merry Christmas!

“What though the woods are bare and cheerless, the water-courses bound by fetters of ice, and the whole earth covered with snow? A cheery greeting, for all that, to those who burn the Yule log and brighten their homes with the holly and yew. They say these days are the embers of the dying year; then kindle the flames of life and love anew. Light up the candles that gleam in the branches of evergreen. Hang Christmas boxes on every bough. Make every one happy, old and young. Rejoice!”
Forest and Stream, December 25, 1873

Fix Bayonets!

Throughout Fort Mackinac’s military history, British and American soldiers were issued bayonets to complement their shoulder arms. Learn a bit more about them here: