The History of Civil War Reenacting

By: Col. Thomas Connell Date: February 6, 2022 Category: Why We Reenact

Civil War reenacting did not begin as a hobby in the modern sense. It grew out of memory, mourning, and a desire to understand a conflict that reshaped the United States. In the decades after the American Civil War ended in 1865, veterans themselves were the first to recreate aspects of their wartime experience. These early reenactments were not performances for crowds. They were acts of remembrance, fellowship, and healing among men who had survived something few others could understand. (Blight, 2001)

Veterans and Early Commemorations

In the late nineteenth century, Civil War veterans organized reunions, parades, and battlefield visits. Groups such as the Grand Army of the Republic, for Union veterans, and the United Confederate Veterans, for former Confederates, played a major role in these events. Veterans sometimes wore their old uniforms, carried original weapons, and demonstrated drills for younger generations. (McConnell, 1992) These gatherings were often solemn. They focused on honoring the dead, preserving comradeship, and telling firsthand stories before memories were lost.

Reunion of Federal and Confederate forces at Gettysburg, 1913.

Major anniversary events, such as the 1913 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, marked a turning point. Thousands of Union and Confederate veterans returned to the battlefield together. They reenacted troop movements, camp life, and even symbolic charges, not as enemies, but as aging survivors reflecting on a shared past. (Reardon, 1997)

Decline and Revival in the Twentieth Century

As the last Civil War veterans passed away in the early twentieth century, reenacting declined. For several decades, the war was remembered mainly through monuments, textbooks, and films. That began to change during the Civil War Centennial from 1961 to 1965. During the centennial, communities across the country organized mock battles, living history events, and educational programs. (Cook, 2007)

This period saw the rise of civilian reenactors. Unlike veterans, these participants had to research uniforms, weapons, and drill manuals. Early centennial reenactments often focused on spectacle. Authenticity varied widely, and modern materials or inaccurate uniforms were common. Still, the centennial sparked lasting interest and laid the groundwork for reenacting as an organized historical activity.

The Push for Authenticity

By the 1970s and 1980s, many reenactors began to push for greater historical accuracy. This movement emphasized period-correct clothing, proper military drill, and accurate camp life. Reenactors studied primary sources such as soldiers’ letters, photographs, and official manuals. (McPherson, 1997) The goal shifted from simply staging battles to understanding how soldiers lived, marched, ate, and endured hardship.

Out of this push came living history. Living historians portray soldiers or civilians in first- or third-person. They explain daily life, social conditions, and military structure to the public. This educational focus became especially important as schools and museums began inviting reenactors to support history programs.

The Civil War News 1998 Special Edition, 135th Gettysburg.

Reenacting Today

Modern Civil War reenacting includes a wide range of approaches. Some events are large public reenactments with thousands of participants. Others are small-scale tactical events focused on immersion and realism. Safety rules, historical research, and educational outreach are now central to most reenacting organizations. (Horwitz, 1998)

Reenacting today also includes civilians, musicians, medical portrayals, and clergy, reflecting the full scope of nineteenth-century society. While debates continue about interpretation and memory, reenacting remains rooted in a desire to learn from history and to preserve it through experience rather than abstraction.

Why Reenacting Matters

Civil War reenacting matters because it connects people to history in a personal way. It encourages careful research, respect for the past, and thoughtful conversation about a defining chapter of American history. When done responsibly, reenacting is not about glorifying war. It is about remembering the cost of conflict and the people who lived through it. (Linenthal, 1991)

History is not only something we read. It is something we inherit. Reenacting is one way people have chosen to carry that inheritance forward.

Why the Liberty Greys Reenact

For the Liberty Greys, reenacting is not about nostalgia or performance. It is about stewardship. We step into history because we believe the past deserves to be understood on its own terms, not judged solely by present-day standards. The men we portray were real people, farmers, laborers, clerks, immigrants, and sons, who lived within the limits and assumptions of their time. To ignore that context is to misunderstand them entirely. (Nash, 2000)

We reenact because history becomes shallow when it is reduced to slogans or political talking points. Standing in wool uniforms under a summer sun, cooking over open fires, and marching on uneven ground forces us to confront the physical and human reality of the Civil War. It reminds us that history was lived by people, not symbols. This kind of learning cannot be gained from a screen or a headline alone. (Wineburg, 2001)

The author, Liberty Greys Col. Tom Connell, with four of his children,

from L-R, Matt (4thAL), Maggie (Morton's Battery), Zach, and Kris (4thAL)

at the 162nd Cedar Creek.

Persevering in a Changing Culture

Civil War reenacting is a hobby in decline, and we acknowledge that honestly. Fewer people are willing to commit the time, research, and discipline required. At the same time, reenactors often face misunderstanding or suspicion stemming from modern political debates or from viewing the nineteenth century through a modern social lens. These pressures can make it easier to walk away than to stay engaged.

The Liberty Greys choose to persevere because education still matters. We believe it is possible to study difficult history without endorsing every belief or decision made in the past. Understanding is not the same as approval. When history is filtered only through present-day values, it loses depth, complexity, and truth (Lepore, 2018).

Living History with Purpose

We reenact to serve the public. Our goal is to encourage thoughtful questions, honest discussion, and respectful engagement with history. We strive to present the past accurately, humbly, and responsibly. That means acknowledging hardship, loss, and moral complexity, while resisting the urge to simplify or sanitize.(Horton and Horton, 2006)

Reenacting, at its best, is an act of preservation. It keeps skills, stories, and lessons alive that might otherwise fade away. The Liberty Greys reenact because we believe history is worth the effort, even when it is uncomfortable, misunderstood, or unpopular. (Blight, 2001)

History does not belong to one generation. It is entrusted to each generation to be handled with care, honesty, and respect.

References

1. David W. Blight, Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001).

2. Stuart McConnell, Glorious Contentment: The Grand Army of the Republic, 1865–1900 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992).

3. Carol Reardon, Pickett’s Charge in History and Memory (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997).

4. Robert J. Cook, Troubled Commemoration: The American Civil War Centennial, 1961–1965 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2007).

5. James M. McPherson, For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997).

6. Tony Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War (New York: Pantheon Books, 1998).

7. Edward T. Linenthal, Sacred Ground: Americans and Their Battlefields (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991).

8. Gary B. Nash, History on Trial: Culture Wars and the Teaching of the Past (New York: Vintage Books, 2000).

9. Sam Wineburg, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001).

10. Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2018).

11. James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton, Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory (New York: The New Press, 2006).