Reese, I would be happy to chime in here, since I am a female re-enactor, but have the benifet of my whole family coming out with us. Here are a few suggestions for you:
1) Living history! You don't have to always have a senario. Spectators ask allot of questions that just can't be answered in first person personas, so you have to step out of characture, and that gets to be cumbersome. My mom, dad, and I all talk about every aspect of the war, but mostly about life as an upper middle class persona. Heck this weekend we were at Old World Wisconsin and talked with over 1800 people in two days, and boy did we talk. We talked about Belle Boyd being burried in the Dells up here in Wisconsin, and we talked about our chatalines and what they were used for. We talked about how it's hard for us to pull a Victorian house along with us so we have to stay out in tents, but show what finer people would have used. And we talk about the war and the affects it had on life. My father flys both the Union and Confederate states flags and that is always a big conversational piece.
2) If you wish to do first person there are allot of things you can do, depending on your charactures status in society. If you are just a common woman then a laundress is perfect of a seamstress would be appropriate. For ladies of the middle class you could talk about life in the middle class which would include visiting friends, shopping, but also sometimes working as a teacher or a seamstress in the cities with high end clients, or another great job was a telegrapher. It would take some research on your part, but that is a great middle class job. See Dawna's posting in "Phenominal Women" I remember her having something listed there on a female telegrapher. If you wish to do high society, well that is etiquette big time. Talking about things like how to act at a ball or soiree, having tea with the govenors wife, speaking of whom your daughter would marry and what the servents have done. You could speak of how well your household is run and what gowns you recently had made at the shops. That was a life of liesure. And again, just like myself, you could somehow mention that you are simply visiting the generals wife and that is why you are in camp.
As for husband not wanting to do this, well, what the heck is wrong with him!?
This is one of the best hobbies out there. But anyways, you could say that he is off with the commanders or drilling. Spectators don't need to know that he's not there.
But when you are out there, don't expect the spectators to come to you. They don't usually know what to ask, so bring them to you. That's what we do. My mom and I usually start the conversation with: No we would not have been women who followed the military, but it's hard to bring a big Victorian home out with us where ever we go. That usually gets chuckle and a conversation struck up.
Any time you do anything in camp, whether it be sewing, embroidery, or cooking, people will stop to look and ask.
I hope that helps you somewhat. Now, work on getting your man into this and it will be much nicer.
Jenna
Bringing the