For about 20 years, a group of volunteers have worked to bring history alive at the Dakota County Historical Society’s Civil War Weekend at the LeDuc Historic Estate in Hastings. 

Spencer Johnson, one of the event organizers, has spent decades teaching history in Hastings. He’s retired from the classroom but offers “lessons” of years gone by through events like the Civil War Weekend. 

He said the event started as a way to showcase the LeDuc Estate and tying the event into a Civil War re-enactment was a perfect testament to the estate’s original occupants, Civil War Brevet Brigadier General William LeDuc, Mary Bronson LeDuc and their four children. 

The Civil War weekend features events Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. 

“William LeDuc started out as a captain of the Civil War, and he came back as a Brevet Brigadier General. He was a quartermaster officer, so he’s not so much leading men in battle as he is running a business. The quartermaster is in charge of making sure the men have supplies, food equipment, but also that the trains, the steamboats, the wagons are all working,” said Johnson 

Johnson likes to tell the stories that brings history alive. 

“These are great stories. As a teacher, I would try to get kids excited about American history. I try to get them excited about local stuff. And as a Hastings person, a lot of Hastings people served in the Civil War,” said Johnson. “In the bigger picture, you know, we’re still fighting some of those same battles about states’ rights and who gets what power and how decisions are being made. It’s just important to know where we came from and how we got there. Those personal stories about Hastings make it a little bit more real.” 

Johnson said there will be something for everyone at the Civil War Weekend. There will, of course, be re-enactments with several regimens converging on Hastings for the weekend to square off on the front lawn of the estate. There will be kids’ activities and family activities and plenty of learning experiences. 

“It’s a good community event,” Johnson said. “It’s the whole atmosphere. When I was teaching, I would give my students extra credit for coming, and that was always fun. The people that come in, the actors that come here, have been doing it for years. They say it’s such a beautiful site here. Hwy. 61’s right there. The trucks are going by, but really, you’re in a grove of trees and there’s a beautiful house there.” 

Johnson for decades has participated in Civil War re-enactments and fur trade-themed events. 

When called upon during the Civil War, Hastings answered. Johnson said the mayor put out word that soldiers were needed and assembled a company of 100 from Hastings.  

Johnson is in charge of the food tent. Most of the produce is sourced from the estate gardens and eggs are from estate chickens. The rest is purchased in Hastings. 

“The soldiers in the field didn’t eat as well as we will,” Johnson said.