Impressions Dying (at a reenactment)

[FedericoFCavada]

Whatever you try, stay out of the fire-ant piles, and don't fall on anything sharp.

Also cow patties... Massacre of Fannin's command at Goliad, Texas has plenty of both!

I first went over "dead" when I ran out of cartridges. Side/ back, then slid down the hill partly ... Trashed a wooden stave canteen.

Running for my life from Mexican cavalry at still another reenactment, I smashed my gourd water bottle against a tree. Jumped/ dove behind some thorn scrub (ouch!), and covered my face with my hat.

At one massacre, my buddy, who is a soldado Mexicano with his dad (!) looted my corpse, taking items from my pockets and haversack. Believe it or not, but some youngsters got really upset because they'd never seen "acting" live in person and not on a stage before. So some kids do get scared.

 

[7thWisconsin]

I got scared by actors playing pirate in a theme park sword fight when I was 7, so, yeah, I sympathize.

 

[Doc_Ralph]

Greetings,

I have only attended one reenactment, and in that one, I saw three main types of dying techniques.


1. The smart, but most common one.
Falling face first on the ground, making sure you ain't going to get too badly burned. I personally failed this my first death and suffered for a while because of it. However, it could have been worse.

2. The farce.
One man (a reb) took a hit, dropped to one knee, threw his fist in the air and declared "Curse you Yankees!" before hitting the ground. I mean, I'm sure somebody said that at some point or another, but this is some side character death type stuff here.

3. The "realistic".
I put quotes ("") because there will never be a 100% accurate death. But these are my personal favorite, and ones I wish I saw more.

That first face up hit I took was studied, disturbing as it is. I had heard it wasn't uncommon for a soldier being hit to simply gasp, and then collapse. So, when I took the hit I grasped my lower stomach, took a step back, before falling straight on my back (and partially on my cartridge box). From there, one of my company mates dragged me (or, tried to. I had to help considering I'm not easy to pull around) about 10 feet away before rebels forced him out.
The rest of the time I layed there (I was the first one down, 8 minutes in to a 30 minute battle), I was cared for by a nurse, "interviewed" by the announcer, and stepped over by rebs until the battles end.

Another man in the second battle (a reb) took a hit and hit the ground hard, face first. He flipped over, and screamed. It was terrifyingly realistic. He started screaming for his mother, and had it not been over-convincing, I would have rolled my eyes at the cliché.



Now, I've heard stories from members of my reenactment company (primarily from my First Sergeant) of different ways they had died, or had seen others die.

He told me of one case when rebel artillery "loaded with grapeshot" took down the entire company near the end of the battle. During that, he said many of them had actually gone Airborne, throwing themselves hard on the ground, and even hitting eachother.

Another story told was of a man who bought a realistic suit to put under his jacket, which showed a ghastly wound to the stomach. After taking a hot and screaming profusely, he tore open his jacket while near the public to show the gore that the suit had entailed.


Through my study of the civil war (when I'm not studying caps and clothing) has enlightened me to many harrowing accounts. Those are where I draw ideas for deaths. And, sometimes I just come up with ideas that would be interesting to try. Here are a few I have considered.



1 . Shot through the eyes.
Based off a story told from the perspective of a NCO/officer who had found a soldier in the aftermath of a battle sitting with his hands in his lap, sitting like a child on the ground. As they went to get the attention of the soldier, he saw that both eyes were shot out, and he was in shock. I do not recall if he survived.
My idea would be using some kind of black facepaint on my eyelids, so when I close me eyes, it would just be dark circles instead of eyes. Probably done sometimes when you're near the audience so they can see the effect clearer.

2 . Mercy kill.
I've read about soldiers being spared or a painful death by being shot or stabbed by a pistol or something of the sort.
Preferably by an officer (because saber/handgun). This could just be a realistic death, followed by either a friendly soldier or a disturbed enemy putting an end to the wounded.

3 . Losing a hand.
We're going Saving Private Ryan style here.
My coat is VERY long. Including the sleeves. Using this to an advantage, one may be able to slip a fake hand in a haversack, and before taking a hit, you quickly grab it, and try to pull off a convincing severing shot, probably from cannon fire. This can either be pulled off real good, or be horrendous. After getting your hand shot off, you'd probably pick it up and scream as you run off the field… or just get shot again.

4 . Bullet in the bible… followed by a bullet to the chest.
Another one that would probably be done close to the audience, where you stick a prop bible/journal/hardtack with a struck bullet in it into your coat. Take a hit and fall t the ground. Quickly stand back up, and pull the prop from your coat, make some kind of excited exclaim, and either continue fighting, or take a hit right after.

5 . "where's my hat?"
One that I have yet to figure out a good way to pull off, but would be interesting to do, is have some kind of rigging to yank a cap off your head after a bullet struck it. Pick it up right after, or get it after the battle.



Every now and then I'll probably throw in another idea, or one that I heard about or witnessed. Any ideas, thoughts, stories, etc. would also be welcome.

I would like to make it clear, I do not want to make fun of what soldiers went through and experienced, but I also want to make it enjoyable to the audience. If you wish to say something against my portrayals that is entirely negative, feel free to direct message me, and don't spread the "love" here.

Best of stuffs,
-Seth

I have only died once and it was recently. My battery mates made a strategic withdrawal from our gun at Funkstown 160. They neglected to inform me and so I charged the three advancing Yankees with my worm implement. I did hand to hand with two if them. But the third drove me down and I tasted the "cold steel of the bayonet" It goes very slow the whole thing. My last recollection before resurrection was an adjoining battery commander coming to my aid with his sword drawn.

 

[bayonet]

I have only died once and it was recently. My battery mates made a strategic withdrawal from our gun at Funkstown 160. They neglected to inform me and so I charged the three advancing Yankees with my worm implement. I did hand to hand with two if them. But the third drove me down and I tasted the "cold steel of the bayonet" It goes very slow the whole thing. My last recollection before resurrection was an adjoining battery commander coming to my aid with his sword drawn.

Did they take some time to loot your corpse?

 

[Doc_Ralph]

No the Captain of the adjoining battery drove them off with his sword. Crazy! I did kinda die as all that extra energy in wool knocked me out after the resurrection.

 

[Kirby the great]

Greetings,

I have only attended one reenactment, and in that one, I saw three main types of dying techniques.


1. The smart, but most common one.
Falling face first on the ground, making sure you ain't going to get too badly burned. I personally failed this my first death and suffered for a while because of it. However, it could have been worse.

2. The farce.
One man (a reb) took a hit, dropped to one knee, threw his fist in the air and declared "Curse you Yankees!" before hitting the ground. I mean, I'm sure somebody said that at some point or another, but this is some side character death type stuff here.

3. The "realistic".
I put quotes ("") because there will never be a 100% accurate death. But these are my personal favorite, and ones I wish I saw more.

That first face up hit I took was studied, disturbing as it is. I had heard it wasn't uncommon for a soldier being hit to simply gasp, and then collapse. So, when I took the hit I grasped my lower stomach, took a step back, before falling straight on my back (and partially on my cartridge box). From there, one of my company mates dragged me (or, tried to. I had to help considering I'm not easy to pull around) about 10 feet away before rebels forced him out.
The rest of the time I layed there (I was the first one down, 8 minutes in to a 30 minute battle), I was cared for by a nurse, "interviewed" by the announcer, and stepped over by rebs until the battles end.

Another man in the second battle (a reb) took a hit and hit the ground hard, face first. He flipped over, and screamed. It was terrifyingly realistic. He started screaming for his mother, and had it not been over-convincing, I would have rolled my eyes at the cliché.



Now, I've heard stories from members of my reenactment company (primarily from my First Sergeant) of different ways they had died, or had seen others die.

He told me of one case when rebel artillery "loaded with grapeshot" took down the entire company near the end of the battle. During that, he said many of them had actually gone Airborne, throwing themselves hard on the ground, and even hitting eachother.

Another story told was of a man who bought a realistic suit to put under his jacket, which showed a ghastly wound to the stomach. After taking a hot and screaming profusely, he tore open his jacket while near the public to show the gore that the suit had entailed.


Through my study of the civil war (when I'm not studying caps and clothing) has enlightened me to many harrowing accounts. Those are where I draw ideas for deaths. And, sometimes I just come up with ideas that would be interesting to try. Here are a few I have considered.



1 . Shot through the eyes.
Based off a story told from the perspective of a NCO/officer who had found a soldier in the aftermath of a battle sitting with his hands in his lap, sitting like a child on the ground. As they went to get the attention of the soldier, he saw that both eyes were shot out, and he was in shock. I do not recall if he survived.
My idea would be using some kind of black facepaint on my eyelids, so when I close me eyes, it would just be dark circles instead of eyes. Probably done sometimes when you're near the audience so they can see the effect clearer.

2 . Mercy kill.
I've read about soldiers being spared or a painful death by being shot or stabbed by a pistol or something of the sort.
Preferably by an officer (because saber/handgun). This could just be a realistic death, followed by either a friendly soldier or a disturbed enemy putting an end to the wounded.

3 . Losing a hand.
We're going Saving Private Ryan style here.
My coat is VERY long. Including the sleeves. Using this to an advantage, one may be able to slip a fake hand in a haversack, and before taking a hit, you quickly grab it, and try to pull off a convincing severing shot, probably from cannon fire. This can either be pulled off real good, or be horrendous. After getting your hand shot off, you'd probably pick it up and scream as you run off the field… or just get shot again.

4 . Bullet in the bible… followed by a bullet to the chest.
Another one that would probably be done close to the audience, where you stick a prop bible/journal/hardtack with a struck bullet in it into your coat. Take a hit and fall t the ground. Quickly stand back up, and pull the prop from your coat, make some kind of excited exclaim, and either continue fighting, or take a hit right after.

5 . "where's my hat?"
One that I have yet to figure out a good way to pull off, but would be interesting to do, is have some kind of rigging to yank a cap off your head after a bullet struck it. Pick it up right after, or get it after the battle.



Every now and then I'll probably throw in another idea, or one that I heard about or witnessed. Any ideas, thoughts, stories, etc. would also be welcome.

I would like to make it clear, I do not want to make fun of what soldiers went through and experienced, but I also want to make it enjoyable to the audience. If you wish to say something against my portrayals that is entirely negative, feel free to direct message me, and don't spread the "love" here.

Best of stuffs,
-Seth

One of my first deaths, I screamed and covered my eyes with my hands and fell to my knees, kinda like I had received shrapnel or a ball to the eyes

 

[RedRover]

Falling as a casualty at reenactments is rather staid, and is almost universally done pitching or crumpling forward (when in the front rank) or backward (when in the rear rank), to avoid disordering the rank and file, unnecessary injuries, etc.

The Veterans of the Berdan's Sharpshooters (Charles A. Stevens 1892 history) observed that wasn't the historic case among men actually wounded in the 1860s. The physical reactions were widely varied and frequently jostling to their compatriots... Some, however, didn't "fall" at all, until touched by their comrades...

 

[Dan Kohli]

Also, make sure not to damage your equipment to much when taking a hit. Once I accidentally bent the reproduction bayonet that I had for the event.

 

[archieclement]

From few I've watched the shrewd ones either die early or seek shade to die in

 

[peacefulanimalguy7]

From few I've watched the shrewd ones either die early or seek shade to die in

First time at a reenactment, I died in all foir of the skirmishes that day, twice less than three minutes into battle. At another one, my captain even asked if I was going to die right off the bat.

 

[Rhea Cole]

My wife & I were doing a civilian impression at a small event. The fifty or so skirmishes were banging away a few steps from our tent. A geezer took a rather melodramatic dive & lay at his ease between the lines.

My wife poked me in the ribs & said, "What is that?"

There was a wisp of smoke training up from the large red bandana sticking out of the geezer's pocket.

In the blink of an eye a surprisingly vigorous flame rose up… with a voice trained by a lifetime of dance classes Anne bellowed, "Stop!" The skirmishers froze… "He's on fire!" Huhhh? Beating at the flame on made bigger.., "Empty your canteens for goodness sakes!" Apart from the incineration of an "authentic Texican bandana" no harm was done.

The moral authority of a petite woman in a hoop skirt who can bellow like a drill sergeant is not to be trifled with.

 

[Waterloo50]

Dying is dying right! and death doesn't change through history so I'd say one of the best examples of men being shot and killed in war can be seen in 'Band of Brothers', many examples in this particular scene.

 

[benmax]

Being in a reenactment would be a dream of mine. I'd do a really big, over-the-top dramatic death. I'd drag it out until the battle ends. I'd be yelling at the skies with my arms outstretched, draping myself in my battle flag...etc etc.

 

[archieclement]

Dying is dying right! and death doesn't change through history so I'd say one of the best examples of men being shot and killed in war can be seen in 'Band of Brothers', many examples in this particular scene.

However not everyone shot is dead.....or necessarily dieing.

Certainly are period accounts and postwar (western accounts) of people taking large number of hit before dieing, or even surviving. Alot of accounts mention the moaning ect between lines when isn't truce to gather wounded/dead. Wounded soldiers crawled to haystacks to stay warm at Prarie Grove then burned when they caught fire......

During Northfield robbery and final shootout the three Youngers were hit 18-20 times and all survived. Archie Clement was hit a reported 33-34 times before dieing in his final shootout at Lexington.

So certainly a few could be pretty dramatic presentations and still be somewhat accurate. As people like Bob Younger or Archie Clement could have arms shattered, certainly be dramaticly hit and somewhat incapacitated, yet continue, or attempt to continue.

 

[7thWisconsin]

I scripted my "after being hit" behavior once, patterning it on Joshua Chamberlain's description of the first dead Confederate he ever saw. After the hit, I crawled to a tree and rested my back against it. Took out my Bible and read it in my lap until my head drooped and it slipped loosely in my fingers. I heard a person in a passing line of infantry say "now that's creepy." I also based a walking wound on the officer in "The Red Badge of Courage" who was hit in the heel and worked his way to the rear with a kind of skipping step. If you're going to do something dramatic or different like this, pass the word to your commander before you do it. Somebody needs to know that you're not really injured so they don't stop action to check on you. Also, your beautiful death scene may be interrupted if some unit needs to drag a cannon through where you are lying, or you'll be in their line of fire.

 

[archieclement]

I scripted my "after being hit" behavior once, patterning it on Joshua Chamberlain's description of the first dead Confederate he ever saw. After the hit, I crawled to a tree and rested my back against it. Took out my Bible and read it in my lap until my head drooped and it slipped loosely in my fingers. I heard a person in a passing line of infantry say "now that's creepy." I also based a walking wound on the officer in "The Red Badge of Courage" who was hit in the heel and worked his way to the rear with a kind of skipping step. If you're going to do something dramatic or different like this, pass the word to your commander before you do it. Somebody needs to know that you're not really injured so they don't stop action to check on you. Also, your beautiful death scene may be interrupted if some unit needs to drag a cannon through where you are lying, or you'll be in their line of fire.

Do many reenacting outfits consciously attempt to protray the more numerous wounded compared to killed? Like your walking wounded to the rear.

 

[7thWisconsin]

Do many reenacting outfits consciously attempt to protray the more numerous wounded compared to killed? Like your walking wounded to the rear.

In the mainstream of the hobby - no, not really. The most common hit is straight down and put your hat over your eyes. At the event where I took that particular hit, taking hits like that was strongly encouraged by leadership in the various assemblies of the event.

 

[PrivateBrooke]

Honestly if we are going for accuracy, most of us shouldn't actually be dead. One of these days I want to just lean on the soldier next to me and "oh they got me in the leg" and then just because my company is a bunch of clowns start yelling "MY LEG" like the guy in SpongeBob. Lol

 

[JHughes81]

Is uttering "I am killed" out of the question, only audible to those within earshot? lmao

 

[JHughes81]

nah, ive tried to be as authentic as possible depending on the distance and what was going on. We have a code on our unit when its time to go down, and we all took a great cannon hit near the end of the season. looked really good, artillery guys loved it cause it made them look gold. always with anything, good if done right