Make ready for centuries of military history, all in one weekend, at Jamestown Settlement's time-honored Military Through the Ages on Saturday and Sunday, March 21 and 22.

For more than four decades, military powers across time have descended on Jamestown Settlement to present an unequaled and unique chronological display of military history.

Entrench yourself in the past and present day in military encampments and get hands-on with re-enactors to experience how military uniforms, weapons and tactics evolved through the centuries.

Unique Timeline of Military History

Hoplites, Vikings, knights. Privateers, sailors, soldiers. Experience military history with nearly 40 re-enactment units portraying soldiers and military encounters across the globe from 500 B.C.E. to modern times.

Visit encampments of soldiers from Ancient Greece, the medieval period, Hundred Years’ War, War of the Roses, American Revolution, War of 1812, Napoleonic Wars and the American Civil War. Re-enactors depicting World Wars I and II, the Vietnam War, and Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada will take visitors through the 20th century. The Virginia Army National Guard 111th Field Artillery will represent present day. 

Try out a full-sized shield of The Greek Phalanx to experience how the hoplite functioned in combat. Engage with an ever-popular bayonet dummy with the 3rd U.S. Regular Infantry Regiment. Explore the military and non-traditional military assignments with the 9th & 10th (HORSE) Cavalry Association Buffalo Soldiers and see 7/8 scale Nieuport 11 airplane representing the 32nd Aero Squadron at Issoudun, France in April 1918 with the Old Dominion Air Squadron.

Artillery, Military Music & Sutlers

The two-day event will feature special demonstrations of military equipment, accompanied by a variety of military musical performances from the Revolutionary War, World War I and II eras to present day. On Saturday and Sunday at 12 noon, comparative artillery-firing demonstrations will showcase cold steel, black powder and modern weapons ranging from a 17th-century artillery piece to a 105mm howitzer.

Musical groups scheduled to perform throughout the weekend event include the Ladies for Liberty, reminiscent of the 1940s Andrews Sisters, and the 29th “The Governor’s Own” 29th Infantry Division Band from the Virginia Army National Guard comprised of enlisted soldiers and a chief warrant officer.

Sutlers will set up shop to sell supplies, from reproduction and historically inspired jewelry to colonial-era reproduction pewter and blacksmithing, 18th-century reproduction leather work and gunsmithing of the past, in the present. Visitors can purchase wares from Clay Smith Guns, Georgia Colony Smiths, Fort Vause Outfitters, K. Walters at the Sign of the Gray Horse, MMM Fab & Forge, Phil the Glassblower and White Historic Art.

Military History at Jamestown Settlement

Arms, armor and military equipment of 17th-century Virginia can be seen year-round inside Jamestown Settlement’s extensive galleries where permanent exhibits feature artifacts, films and interactives that tell the story of America’s first permanent English colony and of the convergence of the Powhatan Indian, English and West Central African cultures in early Virginia. Outdoors, visitors can immerse themselves in life of early Virginia in outdoor re-creations of a 1610-14 English fort, Paspahegh Town and two of the three ships that brought English colonists to Virginia in 1607.

Military Through the Ages is presented with support by James City County and through generous contributions to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, Inc. Annual Fund.

Explore other programs and events happening throughout the year.

About Jamestown Settlement

Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily (except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s days), Jamestown Settlement is located on State Route 31 just southwest of Williamsburg. Café and museum shop open during museum hours.

Admission tickets can be purchased online or in person. Plan your visit today or call (757) 253-4838 for more information.