How Old is the Hobby of Civil War Reenactment?

I haven't finished it yet, but it's very entertaining so far. So it seems that by May, 1960, when young Mr. Kimmel first got involved, the hobby was already up and running strong.

I believe the impetus for "The Hobby" then was the fast-approaching Civil War Centennial, 1961-1965, and that after that relatively brief spate of activity it somewhat languished in the mid- and later 1960's. (The growing real-time conflict in Vietnam didn't help any either.) Personally, I became involved at the time of the next great commemorative event, The Bicentennial in 1976. Of course that was for the Revolution, but since all the battles and events concerned took place "back East" the Civil War was and has remained the focus of all things "historical" for much of the rest of the country, Texas included. At the time, one great organization existed on a national basis and that was the Brigade of the American Revolution, which other somewhat more localized Civil War organizations seem to have patterned themselves after. The really great motivator for those organizations was the 125th anniversary, occurring from 1986-1990. The largest events I remember were 125th Gettysburg and 135th Gettysburg ten years later in the wake of the movie of that name. At each of those, there were some 10,000-12,000 reenactors - enough to make two full-scale divisions of troops!
 
Back
Top