CIVIL WAR REENACTMENT- Communal Theater

Part of the ritual of participating in a Civil War Reenactment is getting the details right. How did they dress? How did they talk? What did they eat? In the search for authenticity, Civil War Reenactors are looking for a genuine connection with the past. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History. This month, many Civil War battles are being reenacted.

“I hung out quite a bit with what’s called hard core Civil War reenactors who believe in this total attempt at authenticity, right down to sewing their own uniforms in order to get the thread count right.”

Author Tony Horwitz has participated in a number of Civil War reenactments.

“And I think the notion is there’s almost a spiritual element here. That if somehow you get all the props right and you get the timing right and you erase all signs of the 20th century, that you can experience what they call a period rush which is that somehow you’re breathing the same molecules that people did in this earlier time and that you’re really one with them.

They will make shoes that are exactly designed as they were. They will starve themselves to get the kind of gaunt, hollow-eyed look of the actual Confederates. When they’re in the field, they eat only food soldiers would have eaten — hard tack, sow-bellied pork. And they will only use 19th Century speech. They won’t go out for one of these battle reenactments and talk about Monday night football, they’ll say things like, `I wonder how Becky’s getting by back on the farm,’ or they’ll curse Abe Lincoln.

Hard cores will stop at nothing in their quest for authenticity. The most extreme example I saw of this was that to achieve the exact patina that brass buttons had in the 1860s, they’ll actually soak their buttons in urine because urine has chemicals that will oxidize the brass and give it the exact luster that you see in photographs from the war.”

Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

CIVIL WAR REENACTMENT- Communal Theater

Civil War reenactments are a combination of communal theater, ritual and time travel.

Air Date:07/10/1998

Scientist:

Transcript:

Part of the ritual of participating in a Civil War Reenactment is getting the details right. How did they dress? How did they talk? What did they eat? In the search for authenticity, Civil War Reenactors are looking for a genuine connection with the past. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History. This month, many Civil War battles are being reenacted.

"I hung out quite a bit with what's called hard core Civil War reenactors who believe in this total attempt at authenticity, right down to sewing their own uniforms in order to get the thread count right."

Author Tony Horwitz has participated in a number of Civil War reenactments.

"And I think the notion is there's almost a spiritual element here. That if somehow you get all the props right and you get the timing right and you erase all signs of the 20th century, that you can experience what they call a period rush which is that somehow you're breathing the same molecules that people did in this earlier time and that you're really one with them.

They will make shoes that are exactly designed as they were. They will starve themselves to get the kind of gaunt, hollow-eyed look of the actual Confederates. When they're in the field, they eat only food soldiers would have eaten -- hard tack, sow-bellied pork. And they will only use 19th Century speech. They won't go out for one of these battle reenactments and talk about Monday night football, they'll say things like, `I wonder how Becky's getting by back on the farm,' or they'll curse Abe Lincoln.

Hard cores will stop at nothing in their quest for authenticity. The most extreme example I saw of this was that to achieve the exact patina that brass buttons had in the 1860s, they'll actually soak their buttons in urine because urine has chemicals that will oxidize the brass and give it the exact luster that you see in photographs from the war."

Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.