On Saturday we visited the Illinois State Military Museum and we found that along with being educational it was interesting and FUN! Let me start at the beginning. Alicia (my daughter), along with the rest of her class, were given an opportunity to earn extra credit in history class by going to Springfield (we live in Auburn) and taking a picture by Santa Anna’s leg. The infamous Alamo attacker’s artificial limb is not in Texas but in Illinois. So we did some searching on the internet and found that Santa Anna’s leg was located in the Illinois State Military Museum. I didn’t even know the museum, let alone Santa Anna’s leg, was located so close and available free of charge (donation suggested).
So Saturday morning we took off with the girls. Then we saw the building and it was beautiful! The Illinois State Military Museum resembled a castle! The color was beautiful up against the green trees and soft blue sky.
When we headed inside we were immediately greeted by one of the employees whom explained what we would find located on the
first and second floor. The main floor mainly focused on a memorial for fallen soldiers which really made my daughter realize just how young some of these soldiers are when they were killed. There was also a training flight simulator for the kids to climb into and see what the military trained on.
Then we decided to head upstairs and see if we could find Santa Anna’s leg. As soon as you get off the elevator there it was staring us right in the face. Santa Anna’s infamous leg in a setting that looked just like the times when the leg was originally found. I did find out a very interesting fact. Santa Anna left behind his wooden leg in order to make a faster escape, he also left behind $18,000 in gold coin and his roast chicken lunch.
We had a great time together and learned quite a few new History facts at the Illinois State Military Museum. I would give it to thumbs up and would recommend that you take your family there. I could probably go on forever telling you about it but I will just tell you where it is located and their hours below. I will throw a few more pics in so you can see some of our favorite things! Make sure you leave me a comment and let me know if you head over and what your families favorite parts are.
Illinois State Military Museum
Department of Military Affairs
1301 N. MacArthur Blvd.,
Springfield, Illinois 62702-2399
Hours are 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm Tuesday through Saturday
Make sure you check out their website for more information http://www.il.ngb.army.mil/museum/
This was Alicia’s favorite! She looked at it over and over and even found a teeny tiny kitten!
If you can see on the tree there are cannonballs and bullets all over it. This is the actual tree cut down and taken from the battlefield.
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