As for my reenacting style, I am more of a progressive-moderate, more interested in getting the speech, actions, manners and mindset right before I am concerned with the number of stitches in my hand-sewn buttonhole on my uniform. I have seen some reenactors with HUGELY expensive, down to the stitch clothing and uniforms, who didn't know their history from a hole-in-the wall. I would rather see a person in a cheap set of reproduction uniform parts who could recite period poetry correctly than brag about his repro correct buttonholes!
When I go to events, I try very hard to have 'magic moments' where I can cause my self to believe I have stepped back in time and am really there on a battlefield. I have studied period dance steps, slang, conversation and customs, farming, telegraph operations, food, medicine and surgical techniques and instruments, writing (very tough to do!) and of course military manual of arms, formations, weapons and tactics. Just behaving in the correct, polite, period manner when discussing the weather with a lady can be a real chore, but a fun one! (As you can see, my job gives me WAY to much time to devote to this hobby!)
I've been reenacting since 1993, and my wife and I have been to events all over the country, she as a contract cook, nurse, Temperance League Woman, washer woman, Catholic Nun, etc. I was very lucky indeed that my wife had the same love for reenacting as I did and we both plunged in together at the same time.
If you have never been to a Civil War reenactment, you should really try and attend one. I know that several very good ones are held in Canada each year.
I hope this helped you with your research. Feel free to ask as many questions as you like as I truly love the subject.
Sincerely,
Unionblue
(Message edited by Unionblue on September 25, 2004)
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
I am curious to know when you first became interested in the Civil War...has it been a life long passion? How wonderful that you and your wife enjoy this hobby together...
I'm sure that you have been asked this a million times, but how do you manage in woolen uniforms, including jackets, in the heat of summer? How do you know when someone has been shot? Does everyone know beforehand what the outcome of the battle will be? Do you have cavalry units at any of your events?
And lastly, is the food and bedding authentic to the time period (rain or shine) when you attend a weekend event?
I became interested in Civil War reenacting while I was still in the Army at Ft. Drum, NY, when I was with the 10th Mountain Division, in 1990. I went into Watertown, NY, to see the movie, Glory, and was much moved by the story of the 54th MA. I am one of those folks who like to stay and read the credits and I noticed that reenacting units helped to make the movie.
I then got home to Ohio after I had retired from the US Army and began working at the US Post Office in Columbus, Ohio, and got in touch with a guy that was in reenacting there. He put me in touch with the 76th OVI who was doing a weekend drill at the Historical Ohio Village, located in Columbus. I showed up at the drill, was lent a musket by one of the group, and was hooked from that moment on.
A few thousand dollars and years later and here I am. I've been doing this for 11 years now and really enjoy it. But before this, I was a WWII kind of guy, with military history my main hobby (reading mainly).
As for managing in those wool uniforms, you tend to get used to it and remind yourself to drink lots of water in the hot sun, to march, rest, drink and die in the shade whenever possible to avoid sunstroke, which I have had twice during hot reenactments.
As for knowing when you are shot, you pick out the moment or you can have it decided for you by lot, by scenario, or you can get too bloody hot and tired and pick your own moment. I usually like to save on powder and paper cartridges and get shot early on. I also like to pick out the man in the line firing at me, wait until he draws a bead on me, and 'give' him the shot and die for him. It's really mostly all spur of the moment mostly or as I said, part of a planned scenario were you are picked out to die at a particular moment or scene.
Most of the reenactment battles are worked out between the army commanders before hand and follow history, say if the battle you are reenacting was won by the South, you follow the same outcome. Except at some events organized as 'tacticals' where you are judged by referees who tell you if your unit has won or not. THOSE events can be pretty tiring due to all the marching and running and fighting!
There is calvary at some events but not all. It depends on the size of the event and usually has to be a pretty big one to have large artillery or calvary units show up to it.
And yes, the food is pretty authentic, hardtack, salt pork and bacon mainly, and these items can be found today for the reenactor to purchase or he/she can find period recipies on-line if you want to try and make them yourself. Also period vegtables can be found such as brown rice, red potatoes, apples, beans, etc. if you want to go 'whole hog'.
Bedding is also mostly a rubber poncho and wool blanket with a canvas or duck dogtent if you are lucky. And I have camped out under the stars and the rain at many an event. You truly appreciate your comforts when you come home after a weekend in the field!
Talk at you soon,
Unionblue
(Message edited by Unionblue on September 26, 2004)
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
Dawna, I think Neil & I have been trying to get Aphillbilly into the hobby since this thread started if not earlier.
Aphillbilly, there are a few of us out there who aren't all that fond of powder burning contests and cleaning their weapons. those are usually the guys who litter the field from the first long range shots. Though it isn't too tough to clean a Springfield or Enfield in the field, maybe 15 minutes of work... a more thorough cleaning at home is a bit more involved.
From 0730 Thursday to 1630 Saturday afternoon our unit was involved in a County Historical Society program for Homeschoolers & school kids; there were 30+ stations at the site (two 1870's farmsteads totalling about 50 acres) we had each class for 25-30 minutes... not a lot of time to talk about the War. Almost all of the classes were splendidly behaved. We concentrated on the life of a soldier and my wife did an increadible job explaining the role of women during the war; as usual she was the more popular... it might have had something to do w/ her passing out period sourdough donut samples.
We had quite a lot of success dressing up one student from each class as a drummer boy then undressing them one peice of equipment at a time. I swear to God though if one more 5th grader guessed that the tarred Haversack was a purse I was going to murder someone!
We had one annoying young man... easily dealt w/; I asked the teacher to seperate out all of the troublemakers in her class and as I socketed my bayonet on and dropped into guard against Infantry, the Captain told them to go get me. For some odd reason none took him up on the offer, after going into lurid detail on the physical & psychological effect of the bayonet and it's use during the war I think the point was made... no pun intended.
It was a bit annoying that we didn't have time to really go look at some of the other stations... I really wanted to see the glass blowing demonstration as that's something I've never seen. I was quite impressed by the work done by the historical society... broommakers, weavers, spinners, period farmers almost all represented trades of the last half of the 19th century. I was a bit annoyed w/ one of the trappers... I didn't know they had flea market junk in 1835.
The Lakota demonstrator was outstanding; we invited Mr Stands Alone for a dinner of Venison roast and good coversation on thursday night. A learning experiance was had by all. As the man I portray had tried a business of trading w/ the Dakota before the War it was a particularly useful experiance for me.
__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour
I have heard of Civil War reenactors getting shot in the parking lot stepping off a chartered bus to escape cleaning their musket! (A standing joke between reenactors.)
Shane has hit it pretty much on the head when it comes to cleaning your musket in the field at the event, it usually takes anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes there and then you clean the dickens out of it at home, anywhere from an hour or more there.
Dawna, Shane and I have talked about meeting Tommy and dressing him up in uniform and lending him a Springfield to us so he could see how things weigh and fire for a reenacting soldier. Maybe someday.
My most fun time getting someone into reenacting as a soldier was the wife of a friend of mine who had recently joined our Union outfit. Jenn had expressed the desire to be a soldier in the ranks as she had read about women who had done so during the war who fought along side the men, hiding the fact that they were women and pretended to be men. She was interested in doing the same so she could experience what those women had went through to fight for their country at that time.
She could not join the Union one because the unit claimed they had no record of such a thing happening, but she did join our Confederate outfit commanded by Ron Goodwin, who after much thought allowed it. This lady got her own gray uniform, equipment and musket and signed up with the 17th Mississippi as 'Jay' Canary, marching and sleeping in the mud with the men, pretending her husband was her brother from back on the farm. She completely fooled many a man, doing her details without complaint and learning the manual of arms better than most of her male counterparts. She CUT her hair, not doing as most women do today tucking their hair up under their hat (and looking quiet silly doing so) and kept quiet in the ranks so her voice would not give her away. Most of the guys mistook her for a young, teenage lad and were so convinced she was a guy, they even had no problem 'relieving' themselves against a tree with 'Jay' present! 'Jay' was even given the singular honor of carrying a regiments colors in battle with the color guard on many an occassion with the combined reenactment group, the 7th Army of Northern Virginia.
This was most satisfying for me as it help portray to the viewing public the actual historical happening of woman disguising themselves as men and serving in the ranks during the Civil War.
Until next time,
Unionblue
(Message edited by Unionblue on September 26, 2004)
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
I am in awe of your stories and I can't thank you enough for sharing...it's almost as good as being there! It must be wonderful for you too Shane to have your wife share your passion, and I would imagine that it is a great learning experience for the children who attend your events.
It sounds as if you might just have to hog tie Tommy and kidnap him for a weekend!
Dawna, when I give presentations like we gave last week I often admit to a bit of "loss of faith" in this generation; then I am often pleasently suprised. My wife typically scatters 5-6 non period items through the camp in plain site and the students have to find them. There are trick items there, like a childs period push bike, stuffed animal which most assume is a teddy bear, a can of Bordens Condensed milk etc. They rarely find more than the one obvious set of plastic measuring spoons and the paper pattern in my wifes sewing basket. But they often suprise us as well; our captain has a nice repop camp desk that was copied from an original and one of the students stood next to it w/ his hands raised and informed us all that the desk was wrong and when asked why he pointed to the phillips screws holding the hinges on. I had to stop and think for a minute... the youngster was right. Once in a while we can learn something to.
I have a loud voice that carries developed from my time in the USAF marching flights from the barracks to Alee Hall, it works well as that of a Corporal and worked particularly well when trying to talk over the top of nearby traffic but taking a young volunteer and throwing a sack coat, bummer, haversack and canteen on before we put the drum on the kids realized just how important a drummer boy was. I believe we may actually have recruited a Drummer boy for the unit as one boy returned on Saturday, dragging his mother along, to hear us again.
I think the truly fulfilling thing about this hobby is when you see that realization sink into a young person, when you know you've planted that seed that will grow into a passion for history.
__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour
Shane, I have to echo your sentiments on the "loss of faith" in this generation. I too have come across that. We did an event in June, at the Milwaukee VA Center, and did a school presentation on the Friday before the event. They had @250-300 students come out and we were set up in stations. With our group being stricktly civilian, it gave the kids a new angle on the war and the home front. Our copper smith was out there and did his spiel, my hubby had the blacksmtih shop up and running, and my mom and I had a station that I talked of women and the telelgraph, and my mom talked on fashion. It was truely amazing watching the kids, that ranged in age from 11-14. Some groups were out there, with that look on their faces of "why are we wasting our time with this" and others were truly interested.
Point in case: we had a group of 11 year olds come in, allot of them girls. This one little colored girl just stood there in awe, listening to every word my mother and I said. We talked about the differences in boys and girls at the time of the war, and what they wore. We talked about the fact that pictures were black and white (sepia to be correct, but who's keeping score?) and then showed them colored pics of dresses in museums and for sale. We talked of the chatalines and what they were used for and so on. Well, that little girl came up to my mom and I and asked for her picture to be taken with us, and had her friends and teacher come in as well. So, the event was that weekend, and we told everyone of the all era's fashion show we were doing and how my parents were going to renew their wedding vows al'a 1860 style and invited everyone back and to bring their parents. So, we were getting ready for the fashion show, dresses everywhere, and very quietly this same little colored girl shows up, tugs on my mom's sleeve and says:" I brought my mom just like you said I should. I didn't want her to miss the show." I thought for sure my mom was going to loose it. She hugged her, looked at her mom, and her mother said: " all she could talk about was seeing you fine ladies again, and what an impression you had made on her." Now that is what it's all about!! I will never forget her, and I hope she comes back to see us year after year.
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