Re: Reenactors & rebels
Tom Ricks (RICKS@VILLVM.BITNET)
Tue, 5 Oct 1993 16:48:28 ECT
Peter: Your judgement is, of courses, your own. As a reenactor, however, of rec
ent years, I have found reenactors to be 1. very well informed on a range of so
cial, economic, political and military issues that are part of Civil War histor
iography, 2. take very seriously the re-enactment of a battle in the memory of
both confederate and union dead/wounded/survivor, and 3. rarely care about the
"neatness" of their clothes (where did you get that one?). They DO care about t
he authenticity of their uniforms, spend countless hours arguing about the appr
opriateness (in terms of dates, years and/or battles) of the uniform/musket, an
d go to extreme lengths to reproduce the clothing, reenactment and "flavor" of
the times. Please, Peter, join at least one reenactment before leveling all ree
nactors to the realm of drunkard or country "fool". Times have changed. Tom
Thomas M. Ricks
Villanova University
Ricks@Ucis.Vill.Edu