NEWFIELD — Frank Dibier sat in the blacksmith shop at 19th Century Willowbrook Village museum Saturday, heating lead over an open flame.

Dibier was making Civil War-era musket bullets, a demonstration that was part of events held in honor of the sesquicentennial of the war.

The lead has to be heated to about 550 degrees, said Dibier, before being poured into the mold, and the bullets must be made of pure lead, so the bullet’s skirt will expand into the grooves inside a gun barrel and ensure accuracy.

The lead bullets are heavier than modern bullets, and had an effective range of 300 yards, said Dibier.

When a bullet hit a person, “it drug in all your dirty clothes,” said Private Steve Henry, of the Company A, 3rd Maine Regiment Volunteer Infantry, a Civil War reenactment group that had set up an encampment on the museum grounds over the weekend. The dirt and germs pushed into the wound often caused infection, he said.

Surgeons during the Civil War had minimal training, and hygienic standards were poor, said Henry. Many men feared if they went to the surgeon with a wound, they would never come back, so they medicated themselves with spirits, said Henry.

Others suffered from measles, malaria, typhoid fever, and many from diarrhea due to bad drinking water and malnutrition, he said. Sanitary commissions and ladies aid societies improved sanitary conditions by not only providing soap and other supplies, but changing practices such as moving latrines away from the water supply, said Henry.

Bibles carried in the uniforms of soldiers on the battlefield saved some lives, stopping bullets, said Henry. Soldiers carried Bibles with them, leaving playing cards and lewd literature at the encampment, because should they die, they wanted to be known as carrying a Bible, said Henry.

Also on display at Willowbrook were gas powered engines ”“ not quite Civil War-era, but still antique and interesting ”“ fired up and put on display by the Maine Antique Power Association.

Doug Kimball, vice president of the Maine Antique Power Association, said the engines date back to the early 1900s, and were used mostly on farms for tasks such as pumping water and grinding corn and saw wood.

Kimball said he enjoys finding old engines, fixing them, and showing them to people at events.

“I get a kick out of getting them going,” he said. “These engines are 100 years old and they’re still going.”

Other festivities at the museum over the weekend included a Victorian kitchen baking demonstration, Victorian high tea, and a pinhole camera presentation.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected].