“NO!”
That was the essence of the reply to my request for a company to remove an inappropriate Corps badge. The place was Cedar Creek Battlefield, the time was the 90’s, and I was commanding the Federal “orphan” battalion. This battalion was composed of those company (and smaller) units that either did not have a regular “home,” or who’s formal battalion did not come to the event. I noticed one company wearing the device of a Corps that was not present at Cedar Creek in 1864. In fact, it had ceased to exist the previous year.
Friday night, I sought out the company leadership and asked them if they would remove the Corps badges. Nothing doing. They had decided that they were going to portray their chosen unit, at a fixed point in time, no matter where they went. No matter what the history behind the event.
Fast forward to the September Storm event, 2007. As the Federal forces deployed themselves for the start of the non-public reenactment, a whole battalion of Pennsylvania “Bucktails” took up their positions. Most of the time, there are not enough Bucktails to fill out a battalion, but for this event, a battalion composed of various companies had vowed to put aside their “home” impressions, pin a bit of fur to their hats, and make the Bucktails come to life.
This kind of selfless dedication to history was common at September Storm, and was not restricted to appearances. The various battalion leaders sweated through the joint walk-throughs, the troops waited patiently until their moment, entered the field, advanced, fell back, gave fire, and took casualties not as they felt like it, but as history demanded. The men in ranks knew who they represented, and took pride in making the battalions “live” again.
What had happened between these two events? There are many possible answers to this, but I am convinced that the series of events that Chris Anders has put on over the past several years have allowed the hobby to strike off in a direction not really tried before, at least in our area of the country; summed up as: “History first.”
The idea behind a “history first” event is straight forward. We start with what we know about a battle, and we invite the reenacting community to help us stage a true “reenactment,” of the battle, as best as our resources permit. When in doubt, we look to what history says. Our call to the reenacting community is not about what individuals and groups may have to give up, but a vision of what we, working together, can gain.
The “History First” series of events have been a gift that our community has given to itself. Through these events, we have shown ourselves what we can do to reclaim the activity of “reenacting” as means “to honor those who have come before us, educate the public, and have fun.*” With the advent of “At High Tide,” we are poised to set a new standard for ourselves. We have the land, we have the logistics, we have the greatest script ever written; history. Do we have you?
All we need is the reenacting community to take the next step.
Register.
Be there,
Kevin Air
Federal Commander, “At High Tide.”
*”We can define the reenacting hobby as doing three things:
Honoring those who came before us.
Educating the public.
Having fun.
And we can define success as doing all three at once.”
Lt. Col. Timothy R. O’Neill, USA
