I am a CW (CIvil WAr) reenactor and was wondering if anyone else was interested
in disucssing this. I read quite a few books and travel throughout the US for
events. Interested? Let me know.

30 responses total.

Sure, I'm interested in hearing more about this (reenactment as well
as the Civil War in general), but I doubt I'll ever be so "into" it
that I'll participate in a reenactment.  Tell us more, like what a
usual enactment is like, which side you prefer, etc.

Michigan doesn't have much in the way of Civil War battle sites, so
I admit to having not seen many sites, and even fewer re-enactments.
I don't know if a re-enactment of a battle would fascinate me that
much, but it's not something I'd rule out. 

vehad he survived the war-we would have lost him at G-burg, as that was the
next battle. He was a member of the 24th Michigan regiment, which was highly
touted at G-burg. otLot of Vietnam veterans in this--as they really get "inti"
it==Don't know whhy thy do though. More?

Sure.

I think you lost something in #3 Larry. Could you reread that and
see if it makes sense?

Oh, and to add to srw's comment/question, lsee, be sure to hit a carriage
return every 70-odd characters or so, since long lines (>79 chars) get
kind of messy on these conferences.

(Or, the reader can reformat the respose himself with
"define pager 'fmt|more'".)  (Sorry for the drift.)

sorry about that guys--I was saying that I had a gggg-grandfather who 
fought with the 24th Michigan and died near Fredricksburg. He would have beem 
killed at G-burg anyhow, as that was the next battle.
Also, in response to battle sites it makes it nice in Michigan. That is becasue
we can do anything we want so that way we are not tied into one particular
thing for instance--they do a lot in Ky. but they are the same year after year
as you can only do so much with the one battle. Am referring to Perryville And
yes, I am one of those who run around in the wollen clothes and  perhaps
pretends to shoot guns at people--although it seems like real on the "field of
war>"

and more--it also seems to me that most of the CW reenactors today
are Vientman veterans and types. I don't know why but they really get into
this.. It seems like they would be having some kind of flashbvacks--but they
are really "into it." I am heading up a reenactment near Monroe if anyone is
interested--kind of close to where you are located. Will tell more if you want
to know. What brought you to this interest?

My interest has been in George A. Custer, particularly the Battle of
the Little Big Horn, but also his exploits during the Civil War.  And
of course, the PBS series on the CW fanned a lot of interest, even in
myself.

What are your impressions of Custer, Kent?

I'm ambivalent about Custer, aruba.  He showed a lot of love to his
wife and brother and cousins, and was reputed to be a softy about
kittens and puppies.  On the other hand, he was pretty damn ruthless in
battle.  I guess you could say that's one of the things that made him
successful...his main instinct in battle was to attack even against
overwhelming odds...come at you head on.  Between that instinct and
some alleged political ambitions, he headed off toward the Little Big
Horn, hoping to make a big success (as he had had during the Civil
War).  I think he was a very impulsive person in general, and really
wanted to show that he was a success.
  Fortunately for Custer's early career (post-West Point, during the
Civil War) his impulses to attack worked to his advantage.  Too much of
that kind of experience would tend to go to almost anyone's head, I
guess.  But then, a fair-sized ego doesn't hurt if you hope to gain
fame...

Hmmm.  Thanks for the summary, Kent.  Not the kind of man I'd want to
glorify as a hero, I think.

I don't think you want to come to Monroe, aruba. We have Custer Airport, the
Custer Museum, Custer Avenue, the Custer statue,  the Custer house and probably
a Custer ice cream cone at one of the local dairies. At times Monroe tends to
lace the CW general on a pedestal and glorify him=perhaps a little too much.
There even is a Custer sholarly group who travels around to his battle sites
and learns about why he did what he did--of course much of this is now left to
conjecture, since nobody can address it. Muself, I sort of am divided on the
man--I get AN AN AWFUL lot of it living and working in Monroe--perhaps too
much--and there are some here who ask how high they are supposed to jump when
you mention his name--kind of gross if you ask me. But then I stop and
think--if I lived in Wapak Ohio, I might get sick and tiredof listening about
the astronauts--and if I lived in Fremont--the Hayes home and the activities
there would be overbearing. So, it goes with the territory. Comments?

(I'm not a very judgemental guy, Larry - it doesn't bother moe if other
people want to glorify Custer, so I certainly wouldn't hold it against
the whole town of Monroe.  :))

i'm not being judgemental--I'm just saying if you don't like Custer--stay clear
of Monroe--they really do! {_{_Is that hudgemental?

Custer certainly isn't alone in his position, of course.  Probably the thing
that's struck me the most about civil war re-enactment is how unlike SCA
and stuff of that genre it is, despite the two activities being similar
on a superficial level.

Consider a somewhat more tricky comparison:  Nathan Bedford Forrest and
William Tecumseh Sherman.  Each engaged in wartime activities that some,
consider of very questionable moral status and can produce strong
reactions to this day.  The South probably reveres Forrest and villifies
Sherman to a much greater extent than the North does either one today.
I personally have a hard time coming to any reasonable conclusion other
than to say that Forrest was just an evil guy.

Re #16:  No, that's not judgemental, Larry.  :)
The south certainly hasn't forgotten its civil war heroes.  Where I grew up,
in Northern Virginia, there are a lot of schools named after confederate
generals.  I, for instance, went to J.E.B. Stuart High School.

I think there's a strong sense in which Southern generals are seen as larger
than life, as heroic figures with honor and some form of virtue.  I know
of few Northern generals who are seen that way, even by their admirers.
Things are certainly named after them, though.

By the way, what did they teach you about Stuart?  In the north he's probably
best known for making McClellan look bad (big challenge) and screwing up
in the prelude to Gettysburg.

The civil war was the first *modern* war, in many ways.  It was the
first one to be really memorialized on film.  It was also the first one
in which machine guns and other methods of mass destruction were widely
used.  European observers were horrified, and thought it had something
to do with a lack of discipline in the american troops.  It wasn't
really until world war 1 that the europeans learned that discipline just
makes better targets for machine guns.

In many ways, the southern generals were much more out of the past.
They reflected a much more rural nation - and a nation that was already
somewhat out of step with modern times.  Not only did the north have a
larger population, but it also had a much more extensive rail network,
and was a lot more industrialized.  In a sense, the south never had a
chance, it just took them 4 years to realize that.  The northern
generals, the good ones that is (there were plenty of bad ones too)
realized the realities of modern warfare, unpleasant as they were.
Grant's techniques were basically bloody.  Sherman's march to the sea is
perhaps the most fascinating part of the whole civil war - because the
technique he practiced there was basically identical to the Blitzkrieg
tactics the germans were to use 80 years later, in world war 2 - and
which are still the standard today.

Re #20:  I didn't learn *a lot* anout JEB Stuart in high school, but I do
know that he was made a general while at Munson Hill, Virginia, which is
less than a mile from where my high school stands.  I went there one night
in November, to the top of the hill, and you can see all of Washington laid 
out in front of you.  It's not hard to see why the site was worth fighting
for.

that would be interesting aruba? But where exactly is Munson Hill--I don't
remember having any battles fought there? Does it still exist today or has it
gone the way of Brandy Station and will be a future Disney America?

   It's just a hill.  There are some houses there.  Seven Corners Mall is
about a mile away.  There *was* a "Battle of Munson Hill", but from the
reports I read it wasn't more than a skirmish in the middle of the night. 
I believe there is a story that while the South held the hill, the North
tried to do some reconnaisance via balloon.  To fool them into thinking
there was heavy artillery on the hill, Stuart had his men cut down some
trees and dress them up like guns, so that thy would appear to be guns
from the air.  The term I read for that ruse was "Quaker guns" - I don't
know if the term was coined for the incident, or not.  However there is a
neat little book about the history of Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia called
"Quaker Guns and Elephants" (wish I could remember the author).  (The
"elephants" in the title refers to the fact that at one time Bailey's
Crossroads was the home of Barnum and Bailey's Circus (hence the name)). 
   One of the interesting things in the book is that there used to be a
house right next to where my high school now stands called "Church Hill
House", and it was used as a triage center after both battles of Manassas. 
A number of the people treated there died, and they were buried next to
the house.  The high school's football field is now right over where the
graveyard was.

I hope that you didn't have any awful seasons due to the location of your
football field. The reason I asked was my gggg-grandtfather was killed in Va. I
also had never heard of the site. hthe Atlanta campaign--unlesss they moved
Gettysburg of course.
 Pwriod music and free for all. Food too. When Monroe goes out for Custer, they
 celebrate it big time.!
Enough.

One key reason for the Southern failure was that the southern generals never
could quite get the habit of hitting <RETURN> after every 70 characters
or so, and their orders ended up arriving garbled.

(Re #25:  They did have some pretty awful seasons, but
some good ones, too.  :))

RE: #26--I guess I could be classified
as a 
Southern
general, right?
Hopefully
this
won't arrive
too garbled for you! HA!

<snicker>

i just wanted to post this.  to those who are reactors.   i am planning
a major event. it will included up to 200  people. civiliion and military.
it is t civil war tiem period.  it will be in april '97.  and located
in southermn il. near st. louis, mo. ina town  called lebanon.
if you are intesrested in comign or know groups that are please leave a message
here or e-mail me.  there will be a battle, encampment, ball, and several
otherthings that are too long to mention. 

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