Should Civil War Reenactments Be Abandoned?

By Jay Purdy · Originally published September 2016 · p. 5

When I was asked to write a commentary about “Should Civil War reenactments be abandoned?” my initial reaction was like what the editor of the New York Sun wrote 1897 in response to the question posed by 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon; “Is there a Santa Claus? “Not believe in Santa Claus!” exclaimed Francis Pharcellus Church in the midst of his assertion that Jolly St. Nick exists and why his existence is necessary. “What? Not have reenactments?” I pondered as I pursued the Internet postings that questioned the need for their existence. “Resurrection” is a more accurate description of the issue. The current discussion was prompted by recirculation posting of a July 6, 2013 (Updated on July 11, 2013) blog article in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Patriot-News. Presenting a local angle, that article was prompted by an original account in the Wall Street Journal on June 29, 2013, in sync with the 150th-anniversary reenactment that drew thousands of reenactors and spectators. The Patriot-News article is here, a bit of a typing challenge for those not reading this in a digital Civil War News edition blog.pennlive.com/ gettysburg-150/2013/07/should_civil_war_re-enactments.html. In the Journal article, Peter Carmichael, a professor of history at Gettysburg College, calls reenactments “an ‘unfortunate distraction’ from a deeper understanding of the Civil War, including the motivations of those who fought and its legacy.” We have to trust the Patriot-News article for the Journal quotes because I’m not laying out the bucks for the apparent subscription fee necessary to access the Journal’s digital archive. The website http://sablearm.blogspot.com and others feature a statement reported to have been issued by Dr. Carmichael after the newspaper article came out. The professor refutes the conclusions of the author, accusing him of “sloppy writing” and an intent “to stir controversy and to set up battle lines between academic historians and those who do living history” in order to sell papers. A former reenactor himself, Dr. Carmichael maintains he has “great respect for living history demonstrations and find tremendous value in how they engage the public.” His only beef, he said in 2013, is with mock battles; “I believe it leads to the mystification of war for all involved. I don’t think war should become a spectator sport.” It was a conclusion, he asserts, that did not come lightly; “I stopped doing reenactments for many reasons that are deeply personal and involve my father who struggled with his combat experiences in Korea.” Carmichael defends his objection to mock battles as a reasonable one “that deserves consideration and civil conversation.” An admirable stance on his part, but which didn’t stimulate a whole lot of further discussion after the parking lots emptied following Pickett’s Charge …until the Internet resurrection of the 2013 article.

One red flag about ending mock battles that quickly comes to mind is that officially banning such gatherings would be a violation of the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – the right to assemble, with a dash of infringement of freedom of expression. The legal preliminaries covered, I can expand on my own learned opinion on the topic. (Note: the last formal history instruction I received was Miss Anna Strong’s 12th grade American History class in 1969. I think I got an “A.”) I have been participating in reenactments, including mock battles, since 1998. My pards would agree that I’ve done an excellent job portraying an “incompetent private,” except for a one-year stint as “incompetent corporal.” As I was approaching 50 years of age, I could not totally adapt to the Spartan life rank-and-file soldiers endured at the time, sleeping on the ground with a wool blanket. Over the years, inside my tent flap was “Farb land.” My first reenactment as a participant was the 135th Gettysburg. As I walked into the Union encampment on a smoky wooded hillside, I suddenly found myself in 1863. On my right, a Union officer was inspecting his regiment. Just off to my left, hundreds of butternut-clad Confederates marched in column along a dusty dirt road, complete with horse-drawn ambulance. A shiver went down my spine – I had really stepped back in time. It remains an unforgettable memory. The next thing I thought was that all the money I had laid out for my uniform and accouterments – it was worth it, even for just this one moment! My great-great grandfather, Lewis Barttro, was a private in Co. D, 13th Vermont Infantry, and helped turn the flank on Pickett’s charge. I became a reenactor because I wanted some idea of what he faced, the motivation to hold his place in line, to march toward rifles and cannon pointed directly at him and have the discipline to follow orders in the din and swirl of a set battle. I still get a chill when I see massed formations maneuvering, and to be part of a formation myself. What do I hope spectators experience by my participation in mock battles? Insight into what the soldiers of the North and South had committed themselves to, insight that can’t be adequately portrayed within the limitations of television and motion pictures. A reenactment allows them to see the intricate and intermingled clockwork of infantry, artillery and cavalry and the scale of battle amid sounds not regulated by a volume control. Professor Carmichael may be right about one aspect of mock battles that can lead to “mystification.” We do a terrible job in “taking a hit.” Just flopping down without regard to landing can lead to painful injury, not to mention concern of breaking a rifle that cost several hundred dollars or more. We fall short in portraying shot and shell tearing into our ranks, cutting men in half, torn limbs and body matter striking our comrades pressing forward or holding the line. But we do the best we can to be loyal to what happened, to preserve the awful legacy of the cost of a divided nation and the commitment of individuals to expend their life, if necessary, for the cause in which they believed. We live in a time when instruction of our young about American history is being more and more condensed. It is vitally important that they learn of the struggles and sacrifice that went into the nation we enjoy today and the lessons passed to succeeding generations. That is at the heart of why many reenactors portraying every era of American life engage in mock battles – that we never forget the sacrifices of those involved in the real ones. Jay Purdy is a reenactor with the 81st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and Cooper’s Battery B, First Pennsylvania Light Artillery. He is on the board of directors of the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation and was a co-founder of the Pennsylvania Gettysburg Monuments Project.