Civil War Christmas In Camp at Fort Ward

Page updated on December 4, 2025 at 4:47 PM
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Civil War Christmas In Camp at Fort Ward

Get in the holiday spirit and learn how Christmas was observed during the Civil War at Fort Ward Museum’s annual Civil War Christmas in Camp program on Saturday, December 13, 2025, from 12-4 p.m.  This popular family-oriented event features a patriotic Civil War Santa Claus, reenactors in winter camp settings, and period decorations.  The suggested donation is $2 per person, and $5 for families.

Christmas in Camp

The program features a Civil War-era Union Santa Claus, based on an 1863 cover of Harper’s Weekly by artist Thomas Nast, who will interact with the public, welcome children to the reconstructed Officers’ Hut, and visit soldiers in camp.  Reenactors will interpret army life in winter camps that are decorated for the season, and celebrate by opening Christmas boxes from home and singing carols of the period around the campfire. The Museum will be decorated with festive greenery and a Victorian parlor tree.  Children can make a holiday card or ornament.  A variety of Civil War books and “stocking stuffers” are available in the Museum shop.

Fort Ward is the best preserved of the Union forts in the extensive system known as the Defenses of Washington.  The Museum offers exhibits and public programs throughout the year.  Fort Ward Museum & Historic Site is located at 4301 West Braddock Road in the City of Alexandria.  For more information about this program, please call 703.746.4848, or visit alexandria.gov/FortWard.

About the Office of Historic Alexandria 

The Office of Historic Alexandria preserves and shares the history of the City of Alexandria with eight museums, historic sites, archives, archaeology, tours, exhibits and public programs. Through powerful storytelling and confronting the City’s past, Historic Alexandria enriches the present and inspires the future. We enhance the quality of life for residents and visitors and serve as a partner in the City’s equity and inclusion initiatives. For more information, visit alexandriava.gov/Historic.

For reasonable disability accommodation, e-mail FortWardMuseum@alexandriava.gov, or call 703.746.4848, or Virginia Relay at 711.

If you prefer communication in another language, free interpretation and translation services are available to you, please email LanguageAccess@alexandriava.gov or call 703-746-3960.