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- Jan 8, 2012
Wow! You never know who's into Civil War reenacting. I saw this on a news feed this morning:
04/01/2014 [Washington, D.C.] -- Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich, American politician, historian, author, and political consultant, surprised reporters today by calling an impromptu press conference to announce that that he has been participating in Civil War reenactments as a Union soldier since 2002 under the pseudonym "Sgt. Robert Anderson."
"I got tired of just writing about [the Civil War] and wanted to see what it was like to actually live the life a Civil War soldier," Gingrich said. "With so many 150th anniversary events going on, it seemed like the appropriate time to go public with this." Gingrich portrays a Union volunteer soldier in the 20th Maine, a unit that played a decisive role in the Battle of Gettysburg, where it was stationed on Little Round Top. "When the 20th Maine made that famous charge with fixed bayonets, not all of their bayonet scabbards had the same number of rivets," Gingrich noted. However, he failed to explain the significance of this fact.
Gingrich regaled reporters with a lengthy, detailed, and somewhat tedious lecture on the stitching, clothing, and style of uniform items he was wearing, followed by a demonstration of how to polish the uniform's brass insignias, buttons and buckles using ash from a fire pit. "You want a shine, but not a high gloss, which is 'farby'," he said, using reenactor terminology for fake or unfaithful uniforms or practices.
Gingrich appeared before a somewhat bemused and perplexed Washington press corps wearing a reproduction Civil War soldier's costume, which included a soldier's hat cocked at a jaunty angle and various soldier's accouterments. A prolific author, Gingrich has penned several Civil War-related works, such as "In Hooker's Rear," "Grant Went West, Never Call Reveille" and "Lee and Grant: Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory."
"I've written books about various time periods in U.S. military history, but the Civil War has always held a particular fascination for me," Gingrich said. "That's why I fall in with The Skillygalee Mess, a group of 'hardcore' reenactors based in my hometown of Harrisburg, Pa."
When contacted at home, reenactor Tommy Harlowitz, "commander" of The Skillygalee Mess, was surprised to hear of Gingrich's true identity. "Now, ain't that some [expletive deleted]!" he said. "I seen him out there with us, but didn't have no idea about who he was, or where he was from, or nothin' like that. I guess some of the other guys in our unit must be famous too, cause of where Gingrich works at!" When not reenacting, Harlowitz works as a doctor at the Mid-Maryland Hospital Centre and is a Distinguished Professor of Neurosurgery and Internal Medicine at State University Medical School.
When asked to explain the pseudonym Robert Anderson, Gingrich responded: "Major Anderson was the commander of Ft. Sumter when it was attacked at the start of the war. He has always been a hero of mine, the way he spent so much time leaning out over the walls of the fort observing the Confederate batteries on shore through his spy glass. It must have been pretty boring, just sitting out there in the harbor watching the rebels on the coast drilling and shoveling sand day after day...I've spent weeks pouring over Ft. Sumter's Quartermaster records and I'm close to providing an answer as to the whereabouts of that famous barrel of salt pork that went missing on April 11, 1861, the day before the rebel attack. This is one of the most tantalizing mysteries of the Civil War," he noted. "I've also discovered that Major Anderson could cook up one mean pot of Skillygalee," he chuckled.
Skillygalee was a soldier's dish made from a hardtack biscuit and salt pork stewed up with canned milk into a watery slosh. It was wildly popular among Civil War soldiers. According to Gingrich, a Civil War brigade made up mostly of Hungarian immigrants mutinied when the company mess ran out of Skillygalee. It is also a favorite part of today's Civil War reenactor's cuisine, according to Italian culinary scholar Gastropo Intestinale, author of, "They Actually Eat That: Revolting Foods that Americans Enjoy."
"Skillygalee is a real treat, but after eating it all weekend, you don't want to be too far from a bathroom come Monday morning," Ginghrich joked. "It slides right through you." He then appeared somewhat distressed and abruptly left the podium, heading for the men's room. The steel plates on his period soldier shoes or "brogans" tapping on the marble floor as he hurried down the hall.
When asked about Ft. Sumter's famous missing barrel of salt pork, eminent Civil War historian and author James McPherson responded: "I have no idea what he's talking about."
###
Copyright: Untied Press International
04/01/2014 [Washington, D.C.] -- Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich, American politician, historian, author, and political consultant, surprised reporters today by calling an impromptu press conference to announce that that he has been participating in Civil War reenactments as a Union soldier since 2002 under the pseudonym "Sgt. Robert Anderson."
"I got tired of just writing about [the Civil War] and wanted to see what it was like to actually live the life a Civil War soldier," Gingrich said. "With so many 150th anniversary events going on, it seemed like the appropriate time to go public with this." Gingrich portrays a Union volunteer soldier in the 20th Maine, a unit that played a decisive role in the Battle of Gettysburg, where it was stationed on Little Round Top. "When the 20th Maine made that famous charge with fixed bayonets, not all of their bayonet scabbards had the same number of rivets," Gingrich noted. However, he failed to explain the significance of this fact.
Gingrich regaled reporters with a lengthy, detailed, and somewhat tedious lecture on the stitching, clothing, and style of uniform items he was wearing, followed by a demonstration of how to polish the uniform's brass insignias, buttons and buckles using ash from a fire pit. "You want a shine, but not a high gloss, which is 'farby'," he said, using reenactor terminology for fake or unfaithful uniforms or practices.
Gingrich appeared before a somewhat bemused and perplexed Washington press corps wearing a reproduction Civil War soldier's costume, which included a soldier's hat cocked at a jaunty angle and various soldier's accouterments. A prolific author, Gingrich has penned several Civil War-related works, such as "In Hooker's Rear," "Grant Went West, Never Call Reveille" and "Lee and Grant: Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory."
"I've written books about various time periods in U.S. military history, but the Civil War has always held a particular fascination for me," Gingrich said. "That's why I fall in with The Skillygalee Mess, a group of 'hardcore' reenactors based in my hometown of Harrisburg, Pa."
When contacted at home, reenactor Tommy Harlowitz, "commander" of The Skillygalee Mess, was surprised to hear of Gingrich's true identity. "Now, ain't that some [expletive deleted]!" he said. "I seen him out there with us, but didn't have no idea about who he was, or where he was from, or nothin' like that. I guess some of the other guys in our unit must be famous too, cause of where Gingrich works at!" When not reenacting, Harlowitz works as a doctor at the Mid-Maryland Hospital Centre and is a Distinguished Professor of Neurosurgery and Internal Medicine at State University Medical School.
When asked to explain the pseudonym Robert Anderson, Gingrich responded: "Major Anderson was the commander of Ft. Sumter when it was attacked at the start of the war. He has always been a hero of mine, the way he spent so much time leaning out over the walls of the fort observing the Confederate batteries on shore through his spy glass. It must have been pretty boring, just sitting out there in the harbor watching the rebels on the coast drilling and shoveling sand day after day...I've spent weeks pouring over Ft. Sumter's Quartermaster records and I'm close to providing an answer as to the whereabouts of that famous barrel of salt pork that went missing on April 11, 1861, the day before the rebel attack. This is one of the most tantalizing mysteries of the Civil War," he noted. "I've also discovered that Major Anderson could cook up one mean pot of Skillygalee," he chuckled.
Skillygalee was a soldier's dish made from a hardtack biscuit and salt pork stewed up with canned milk into a watery slosh. It was wildly popular among Civil War soldiers. According to Gingrich, a Civil War brigade made up mostly of Hungarian immigrants mutinied when the company mess ran out of Skillygalee. It is also a favorite part of today's Civil War reenactor's cuisine, according to Italian culinary scholar Gastropo Intestinale, author of, "They Actually Eat That: Revolting Foods that Americans Enjoy."
"Skillygalee is a real treat, but after eating it all weekend, you don't want to be too far from a bathroom come Monday morning," Ginghrich joked. "It slides right through you." He then appeared somewhat distressed and abruptly left the podium, heading for the men's room. The steel plates on his period soldier shoes or "brogans" tapping on the marble floor as he hurried down the hall.
When asked about Ft. Sumter's famous missing barrel of salt pork, eminent Civil War historian and author James McPherson responded: "I have no idea what he's talking about."
###
Copyright: Untied Press International
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