Civil War Reenactors

**grundle** · 03-28-2009, 01:06 PM

Do any of our members participate in this?

I have been researching my family tree and came across several Civil War vets.

I didn't realize this was such a big deal, until I came across several associations, most notably Sons of Confederate Veterans. I guess many groups have monthly meetings and go to several events each year.

I am interested to start looking into this, although in my neck of the woods there are only "Yank" groups, and I was hoping to be more true to my heritage.

Can anyone share their experience?

**LowKey** · 03-28-2009, 01:17 PM

I have a friend who does Revolutionary War re-enactments. He's in a British regiment. If you ask some of the Yanks, I'll bet you'll find there are some local Confederate groups as well. It solves a travel problem when doing local re-enactments.

Be prepared for some serious outlay though. A lot of these groups want authenticity of costume. They won't let you get away with using cheaper cloths and modern footwear. Many have specific stock sources and patterns for copy. Some even have the names of seamstresses, tailors, and cobblers who will custom-make your uniform for you to match the rest of the regiment.

Others aren't quite so formal but most try very hard for period authenticity.

**crashdive123** · 03-28-2009, 01:29 PM

Here's a list of reenactor groups listed by state. I've been to watch a couple of local ones (Ft. Clinch and Olustee Battlefield). You can "feel" the history. Very enjoyable experiences. These don't show up on the list - maybe because they are run by the state park system. That might be another source for you to check.

**Ole WV Coot** · 03-28-2009, 11:48 PM

My gggrandpa was in the 14 KY Infantry Volunteers (Union) and where I live is Reb territory. No brag about it since all my neighbors had folks on the other side. I can see it now, me against the county.

**crashdive123** · 03-29-2009, 08:07 AM

Originally Posted by Ole WV Coot

My gggrandpa was in the 14 KY Infantry Volunteers (Union) and where I live is Reb territory. No brag about it since all my neighbors had folks on the other side. I can see it now, me against the county.

We got your back.

**Rick** · 03-29-2009, 10:35 AM

My ggguncle was a member of Company C, 15th Regiment, Illinois Cavalry. He was promoted to corporal of Co. C, attached to 1st Battalion, 4th Illinois Cavalry (which subsequently became Co. C, 15th Illinois Cavalry). He served as an orderly to General John A. Logan. He mustered out as a private so things apparently didn't go all that well.

I thought you might be interested in some of the fees paid at the time:

His muster-out roll, dated August 25, 1864 at Springfield, Illinois, states:"Clothing account - last settled, Aug. 10, 1863; amount for clothing in kind or money advanced, $44.83; Bounty due, $100; Remarks: "Furnished horse and equipments and pay due for use and risk of same for 217 days.

**RBB** · 03-29-2009, 02:54 PM

I had my first experience with historical reenactment at age 18 as part of a Union artillery battery. The rest of the members were 50 or older. Authenticity wasn't a problem for many of them, some had Civil War era revolvers, Civil War era leather, and Civil War era uniforms. Some of them were so old - I wondered if they'd been in the Civil War. I got my mother to sew me a uniform, and I was the only one with new looking clothing on the field.

I have been researching my family tree and came across several Civil War vets.

I didn't realize this was such a big deal, until I came across several associations, most notably Sons of Confederate Veterans. I guess many groups have monthly meetings and go to several events each year.

I am interested to start looking into this, although in my neck of the woods there are only "Yank" groups, and I was hoping to be more true to my heritage.

Can anyone share their experience?

As to experiences - I have a friend from Georgia who has been a Confederate reenactor. He is prince of a guy and he is everything good about the south. He started to do some family tree work a few years ago, and found out that just about all of his ancestors fought for the union side during the Civil War. He was extremely depressed about it. It just blew him away as his entire identity was about being southern. He said, "I always wondered why our county was named "Union County."

I had several ancestors in the Civil War. One from a Wisconsin regiment was in the Crater at Petersburg - and lived to leave an account. Another was in the regular army at the beginning of the war. Another was in a Minnesota regiment. If you have their names - you can get your ancestor's war record from the military - though it takes a while. If you have an ancestor who was in a Wisconsin regiment - in the 1880s Wisconsin did biographies of all their Civil War vets.

**grundle** · 03-30-2009, 06:46 PM

All my people were in the 21st. Virginia Infantry - H Company. From Pittsylvania County.

Here I thought there would be more rebs on this site, but it looks like I'm the only one :P

In all seriousness, it is great to know about heritage and what your ancestors did. Too few of us know anything beyond our grandparents.

I am not in any hurry about this. I'll probably slowly start getting something together over the next 2 years. I'll keep you guys updated on my progress

**Rick** · 03-30-2009, 06:52 PM

The real shame is you can gather more information on the net about the Civil War and WWI vets than you can about WWII, Korea or Viet Nam.

My hat's off to all of them/you regardless of where or when folks served.

**grundle** · 03-30-2009, 06:54 PM

Originally Posted by Rick

The real shame is you can gather more information on the net about the Civil War and WWI vets than you can about WWII, Korea or Viet Nam.

My hat's off to all of them/you regardless of where or when folks served.

That is very true, but I think the military records for WW2, Korea, and Vietnam are much more complete.

If I were to lookup Vietnam vs. Civil War I would be lucky to find unit info on a guy in the civil war. For Vietnam I would be able to get unit info, where he was stationed, when he achieved rank, when he was discharged, etc. etc.

The only problem with Vietnam/Korea/WW2 is getting a release on that data. If it is a living person then there are restrictions.

**Rick** · 03-30-2009, 07:35 PM

Sadly, WWII Army isn't. There was a fire in 1973 in the St. Louis archives that destroyed about 70% of the records for that era.

Getting the data on living vets is pretty easy. Follow the Freedom of Information Act and you can get it. It will be censored to protect sensitive data like address, telephone, etc. but the basic info is there. The US has a web site for requesting them.

**crashdive123** · 03-30-2009, 07:41 PM

My brother has worked at the National Archives for the last 31 years. It's amazing to see the amount of data and material they store. It is also sad to think of the history that has been lost or destroyed.

**Ole WV Coot** · 03-30-2009, 10:11 PM

I was lucky, had an easy run back to the revolution. My gggrandpa that fought for the Union had a father-in-law that has a nice writeup online and shows that grandpa married one of his daughters in VA. I have been tracking my ancestors for about 15yrs and I know for sure that they read the Bible, at least the part about go forth and multiply.