Civil War Reenacting: Camp Life

By Matthew Pizzolato

The typical day for a soldier during the War began at 5 A.M when the bugler played Reveille. If you've never heard the tune, it's not something that can be slept through.

Soldiers actually spent very little of their time fighting.  The primary activity for a soldier was drilling. They would drill as many as five times a day, often for an hour or two at a time.  One soldier described his day in the following manner. "The first thing in the morning is drill. Then drill, then drill again. Then drill, drill, a little more drill. Then drill, and lastly drill."

Of course, there was the normal activity of camp life, such as cooking and chopping firewood and other routine tasks.

When they weren't drilling, they had to find ways to entertain themselves and for young men who were restricted to a military camp, there wasn't much to do.  Therefore, they had to find ways to alleviate their boredom. 

The number one activity was writing letters to their loved ones at home or reading letters they had received.  Sometimes they found distraction from their boredom by playing card games, mostly whist or euchre, or even having boxing matches.  One activity involved staging races between lice or cock roaches across a strip of canvas.

Alcohol was forbidden, but many managed to smuggle it past the guards.   If they couldn't buy liquor, they made their own.  Sometimes men would seek "horizontal refreshments." By the second year of the War, Washington, D.C. had 450 bordellos and more than 7,500 full time prostitutes. Venereal disease was a common ailment among soldiers. 

A lot of soldiers suffered from homesickness and many of them left their regiments, a crime that was severely frowned upon.  During the War, the Union Army executed 141 men for desertion.  

On the other hand, camp life for a reactor involves a lot less drilling.  We drill on occasion, practice different marching commands or go through the manual of arms to keep ourselves sharp, but we don't do it nearly on the scale the soldiers did.   

During the day and evening when we are not on the battlefield, we tend to relax as much as possible.  We cook our meals and tell stories around the campfire.  We will leave camp for a while to visit the sutlers for supplies to augment our reenacting gear. On Saturday nights, dances are held where we put on our best bib and tucker and the ladies wear ball gowns and hoop skirts. 

Sometimes during the afternoons, I have been known to take a nap because when we march to battle, it tends to be uphill both ways.  

Matthew Pizzolato's short stories have been published online and in print. He writes Western fiction featuring his antihero character, Wesley Quaid, that can be found in his story collection, The Wanted Man and the novella Outlaw. 

Matthew is the editor and webmaster of The Western Online, a magazine dedicated to everything Western and can be contacted via his personal website or on Twitter @mattpizzolato. 

The Benefits of Civil War Reenacting

Matthew Pizzolato

By Matthew Pizzolato

For me, the joys of taking part in civil war reenactments are more than I could count.  It's a way of stepping back from the hassles of the real world and forgetting all the worries.  It's how I recharge sometimes.  It is a great time with good friends.  It's a lot of things.

There are practical benefits toward my career as a writer as well.  I write Westerns, so being able to immerse myself in the way of life during in that particular period of time is a huge benefit.  I've learned everything from how to fire cap and ball weapons to styles of clothing to understanding marching orders and different manuals of arms. 

Reenacting is a lot more than just firing blanks at each other on a battlefield.  That is actually a very small part of what we do that takes place for an hour or so each day.

A civil war reenactment is a living history event.  We camp in A-frame tents and our manner of living for the weekend is entirely as it would be during the 1860's.  Wearing wool in one hundred degree temperatures is not exactly fun, but it was historically accurate.  Needless to say, my favorite events are the ones during the winter months.

On Fridays, school children tour our camps and we give demonstrations on different aspects of life during the time period.  One of the talks I've given is on the life of a soldier.  Others display the rifles and pistols and show how to load and fire them, with blanks of course.  The favorite among the children happens to be the cannon demonstration.  Visitors can walk through our camps and ask any kind of questions they desire. 

Dances are held every Saturday night to period music and we learn how to dance in that style as well, from reels to waltzes and even the broom dance. 

Then, once the sun goes down and the spectators leave, we sit around the campfire telling stories.  There's something about staring into a fire at night that soothes the soul. 

If you've never been to a reenactment, I highly recommend it, and if you'd like to participate, the more the merrier.

 

I'll be writing a regular column each month on various topics, but primarily it will be about different aspects of the reenactments, from the battles to the dances and everything in between. 

Keep your powder dry, friends, and I'll see you next time.

Matthew Pizzolato's short stories have been published online and in print in such publications as: BEAT to a PULP!, The Copperfield Review, Pulp Mondern, Frontier Tales Magazine, The Pink Chameleon Online, Perpetual Magazine, Long Story Short, and The Storyteller. Matthew is the editor and webmaster of The Western Online, a magazine dedicated to everything Western. Matthew can be contacted via his personal website: www.matthew-pizzolato.com or he can be found on Twitter @mattpizzolato.