VIDEO: Scouts Honor Town's Fallen Civil War Soliders

Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. It was at 4:30 a.m. on April 12 in 1861 that the Confederacy attacked Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina.

To commemorate the event, Boy Scout Pack 12 leader Rick Connaughton organized a small encampment with soliders from both the Union and the Confederacy.  In conjunction with the , he arranged a memorial to honor the 52 Framingham residents who died during the Civil War.

The soliders pitched tents with fire pits and discharged their muskets. The Union and Confederate soliders explained their uniforms and their gear. They answered numerous questions from the Framingham Boy and Girl Scouts.

Afterwards, the two sets of soliders reenacted a small battle on the Town Common.

From there, the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts paraded over to Edgell Memorial Library for a memorial service to honor the 52 Framingham individuals who gave their life during the country's bloodiest war. Experts put the number of casualties in the Civil War between 600,000 and 700,000. These deaths  exceed the nation's loss in all its other wars, from the American Revolution through Vietnam. 

At the Civil War statue in front of the library,  Girl Scout, Cub Scout and Boy Scouts one-by-one read the names. Then, the Scouts placed luminaries at the base of the statue.

Following the placement of the luminaries, the Union soliders gave a gun salute.

Afterwards Scouts with their families and the reenactors were invited into the for a private viewing. A marble marker inscribed with 27 of the 52 names of Framingham men that died in the Civil War and a flag that few over the battles of  Bull Run and Gettysburg are just some of the items that the Scouts viewed.