Are there any Civil War re-enactors on this board, specifically Confederate re-enactors? I can imagine what they’re saying about the controversy surrounding Confederate statues and flags right now and I’m curious as to how they’re handling it. Like are re-enactments being cancelled, are they wearing their uniforms to and from the site, that sort of thing. Has there been any backlash toward these amateur historians?
Moving from Great Debates to IMHO.
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Thank you, I didn’t know where to put this question so I took a guess.
I was a Civil War reenactor in the Nineties, proudly in blue as a member of an Ohio volunteer infantry regiment in which I skyrocketed in just five short years to the rank of corporal. Most of the Confederate reenactors I knew were defiantly proud of their Southern heritage and had an extremely low tolerance for what they called political correctness; most were in various degrees of denial about slavery being a key cause of the Civil War. Haven’t heard of any recent fallout among those in the hobby, though.
There is this.
We are at the point where people are being punished for being named “Robert Lee.”
You do realize that if he did broadcast the game, a whole different group of blithering idiots would have lost their shit.
Not punished. Moved to a different game. Which was stupid and unnecessary, but that’s an entirely different topic.
A reenactment is going to be pretty pointless without both blues and greys, so hopefully it won’t affect things either way.
I’ve been to a couple reenactments, it is like living history. They even set up realistic camps and spend the night in them. The one I went to had cavalry, so there were horses to take care of in each camp as well.
These reenactors were happy to talk at length about the history, and people can and do switch sides if there aren’t enough on one side or the other. So you might have a guy from Ohio playing a Confederate or someone from Georgia in the Union ranks. They just seem like they are interested in the history and to show what things were like.
It’s a bit like separating a TV/movie actor from the character s/he is playing innit? What we are protesting are actual nazis, white supremacists, and clan members, not the guys that dress up in grey uniforms to act out the actual historical battles of the civil war.
I think I’ve finally found an example I can agree is political correctness gone amuck.
Odd things like that have always happened. I did (and still do every year or two) 2nd Mississippi and I’ve been spit on a couple times and had some stuff thrown at me now and again. For some things it has always gone with the territory. Beaver PA wanted CW re-enactors for a Memorial Day thing and all the usual Union groups were busy so me and a few other Rebs offered to do it with one small condition ------- we had no problem shooting the salute in the cemetery after the speeches but for the parade we insisted we have a couple Yank guards march us through as prisoners.
These days most people do both sides; in fact some events require you come prepared to “galvanize” to one side or another. So I’m betting at major events its no issue.
Actors get paid.
Since there seem to be a couple of reenactors in this thread, can I just ask someone involved what the point of these things is? I don’t really see the fascination in it. Is it some sort of live-action roleplay, only with guns instead of foam swords? Are these battles and events something to be celebrated? As a German, I couldn’t see myself heading to Russia an reenacting the Battle of Stalingrad to connect with my heritage and history. Why do people glorify one of the (I can only assume) darkest periods of the United States - even if you’re on the “winning team”, much less the confederacy.
Not trying to slam anyone or crap on anyone’s hobby, it’s just genuinely mystifying to me.
I think it’s because the American Civil War was one of the few actually fought and won for a true moral cause and the advancement of humanity. Most wars have been, face it, over simply whether We or They would get to stick their colored rag on a stick into some piece of dirt, with nothing really changed afterward, but not this one. It really is possible to engage in a re-enactment and feel oneself taken up in a great cause, whether it be ending slavery or defending a way of life - participants call it “seeing the elephant” when that happens. Even for the great bulk of us who don’t get quite that far into it, Civil War history is still an extremely popular pastime for those reasons.
In addition, slavery and the war have aftereffects that continue even today. They’re still highly relevant to modern American society and our failure to yet completely overcome race and sectionality.
Well said. It’s a chance to experience, if only briefly and in an attenuated way, the momentous events of the Civil War. There are moments of beauty, such as seeing the mist over a camp at twilight; of fun, as you take part in games and bull sessions off-duty; of camaraderie, as you sit around the fire with your pards; of discovery, as you go to historic sites and battlefields and learn about them; of excitement, as you go into battle (even knowing no one’s going to die); and of surprisingly intense patriotism, as you see the Stars and Stripes and regimental colors being carried forward against the enemy.
Until you’ve tried it, it’s kind of hard to explain. And it’s certainly not for everybody.
I used to date a girl whose parents were Civil War re-enactors. It wasn’t a part of their day to day existence or anything but, a few times a year, they would head out to some field and do their thing. The women would ‘tend camp’ and the men would do the war thing.
Part of why they did it was for the benefit of the audience. They would explain camp life and talk about the weapons and stuff. People always came out to watch the events so I guess it was a way to share their knowledge and interest of 1860s history. Not like you’re going to get a hundred families to listen to a lecture. But, of course, some of it was just for the fun of dressing up and pretending to be someone else from a time prior. In northern Illinois, they had different groups who would play Union or Confederate roles; her parents were Union folks. I participated once since we were invited and my girlfriend looked fetching in her mid-1800s dress. I received a loner uniform and had the important task of “standard bearer” which meant I got to carry a flag until I died. Manly stuff 
It was predetermined which side would win the fight and I don’t think they were replicating any specific battle. In any event, the Union lost the field that day and I, at an opportune moment during the battle, unceremoniously slumped to the ground having been slain by an imaginary Confederate bullet. So ended my military and re-enactment career. But it was fun and a bunch of people got to watch us do it and no one seemed especially worried about the “good guys” losing. The Confederate guys didn’t seem especially vested in “slavery vs states’ rights” argument or Southern Pride but more of a “Someone has to be Blue and we’re interested in the entire war so don’t have an issue with it being us”.
if you are into history it can be a lot of fun. I belong to an educational volunteer group that is sometimes described as WWII reenactors. We don’t recreate battles, but we dress in costumes and perform programs at schools and events to teach people about WWII.
A fleeting small percentage.
So people should give in to bullies?
I really, really don’t like where this is going. Condemning someone for having a “southern” name is just as wrong as condemning them for having a name that’s “too black”. Yes, the people who would get upset about this are blithering idiots. So why should they be taken seriously? If this continues, we’re heading right back to pre-Civil Rights prejudice, with as little justification.
It’s not condemnation or bullying. As far as I can tell, no one even complained. It was entirely proactive, a play it safe move from the PR department.
If there were some other DrCube who caused a controversy which ended with a terrorist attack in which people died, I’d have no problem swapping assignments with another coworker so my name on TV didn’t aggravate fresh wounds in that same region the very next weekend.
It would be like if some other guy named Ben Laden was supposed to speak at a conference in New York in late September 2001. It’s stupid, but with that name in a public facing job, it’s just easier to avoid the place entirely for awhile.