Battle tested

149 years ago this month, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War took place about an hour and 45 minutes from Washington, D.C. I always thought that dubious honor went to Antietam, but apparently not. Evidently Antietam was the bloodiest one-day battle, Gettysburg lasted 3 days and had tons more casualties. This is all according to Wikipedia, so take it for what it’s worth. I’m not going for a term paper here.

SO, back to 2012. Some enthusiastic Civil War buffs from my A-100 class organized a group to go watch a reenactment of the Gettysburg bloodbath.

The infantry prepares for battle

I wouldn’t say that I’m naturally inclined to be fascinated by grown men (and women, it turns out), playing war. I generally feel like there’s enough of that going on in the real world without creating more of it, even if it is pretend. HOWEVER, I know the whole battle reenactment thing is a part of American culture, and since I’m supposed to be representing all of America, I figured I should check it out.

One key thing I forgot: July is HOT. And Civil War battles generally took place OUTSIDE. By the time we arrived at the battle site (which I was disappointed to learn is not actually the site of the real battle, but a few miles away), it was in the 90s and the humidity was through the roof. Another thing about Civil War battlefields: not so much shade. BUT, armed with copious amounts of sunscreen, we braved the heat.

Throughout the day we saw 2 battles and listened to “General Lee” and various other “Confederate Generals” discuss their battle strategy (which failed, by the way – Gettysburg was a crucial Union victory.) But I had to hand it to them – they stayed in character and remained completely confident of their battle plan.

“General Lee” discusses battle strategy in his tent

The Cavalry Arrives

Back to the battles. I have to admit I had a hard time following what was going on. We were kind of far away from the action, and it was really hot. The ravines of sweat running down my back made it hard to concentrate on the soldiers pretending to shoot each other. (Although they did fire loud blanks from their guns and cannons. That was cool. And the horses were really impressive – they were weirdly calm and unfazed by the whole thing.)

After-effects of cannon fire

The first battle was a little disappointing. Nobody died! It was so weird. For people who supposedly are so into the Civil War that they dress up in wool uniforms on a 90-something degree day, I would have thought some of them would want to honor the reality of the bloodiest battle in the Civil War, take one for the team, and pretend to die! I apparently was too obsessed with this point; my friends did not enjoy my indignant references to it. BUT, good news. The reenactment participants must have heard me, because during the 2nd battle in the afternoon, lots of them “died.” So that was a win. Unfortunately, they “died” too far away for me to get a good picture.

The army camp

In between the battles, we wandered around the area, where “camps” were set up with people in period dress (including women in hoop skirts – I guess I shouldn’t really complain about the heat, since I was in shorts and a tank top). We also saw a medical tent with a dummy laying on the operating table that looked as though he had had better days. Let’s all be happy we didn’t have to get operated on by a Civil War surgeon on the side of the battle field.

Medical Tent

There were also plenty of tents filled with all the Civil War paraphernalia anyone could ever want. Books, belt buckles, guns, uniforms, straw hats, whips, and bayonets to name a few.

And of course no event in America is complete without food stands filled with turkey legs, funnel cake, and Domino’s pizza (Fun fact: Civil War soldiers often subsisted on nothing but slices of Domino’s).

Overall, my day at fake Gettysburg was an experience I’m glad I had, but it wasn’t necessarily one I’m dying to repeat. I’d like to take a moment to thank my parents for not taking me to this particular “cultural experience” as a child. And I’d like to close with a recommendation to anyone who is interested in attending a Civil War reenactment: pick a battle that took place in the spring or fall. Trust me.