Spectators think that reenactors are there to entertain them. Actually, the opposite is true, as spectators are there to entertain the reenactors. Spectators look out over a field of soldiers during a battle and think that the male and female reenactors are being entirely serious. If only they could step out onto the field and hear the comments that reenactors are making about themselves, their opponents, their officers and the spectators. Then they would realize that one of the main reasons reenactors continue to sweat in woolen uniforms, camp out on freezing nights and give up their weekends at home is for the humor their pards and the spectators provide. Of course, humor is a predominant American trait. Even when things are at their worse, we somehow manage to laugh at our situation and ourselves. Surely, the soldiers freezing at Valley Forge made jokes about the cold, the lack of food and, that biggest joke of all, Congress.
There is a long list of "spectator remarks" that reenactors love to tell around the campfires at night. One of my favorites is the oft-told spectator question, "Why aren't there any bullet holes in the monuments?" Others that we hear all the time are, "Are those uniforms hot?", "Do those guns really shoot?", "You don't really sleep out here at night, do you?", and "Do you really eat that food?" Many of these remarks are true or based on truth. But many are embellished. Others are just "reenactor myths." What I plan to do here is list (and add to as they occur) the remarks made to me or that I was witness to. While I'd like to hear your stories, I won't be able to add them to my list. Enjoy.
Spectator: "Why were so many Civil War battles fought on government
property?"
Reenactor: "They had a permit."
This could be classified as a "reenactor myth," except that I overheard it at a reenactment. What is just as funny are the implications of such a remark. Imagine if the Army of the Potomac or the Army of Northern Virginia had failed to properly submit the necessary Environmental Impact Statements to the EPA before a battle? Or if one or both armies had failed to contract for the required number of porta-potties determined by OSHA? Quite possibly, the battles of Antietam, Gettysburg, and The Wilderness would never have occurred. If they had, leaders of one or both armies would have had to appear in court. Then the reason "Why The South Lost The Civil War" would probably be due to the fact that Robert E. Lee was required to pay a large fine and perform 1,000 hours of community service.
I was with my company (Company D, 1st Florida) on my way to my first reenactment (1993 Gettysburg) when we stopped for a meal in South Carolina. We were all in uniform and made quite a stir as we walked into the restaurant with the heel plates on our authentic bootees clicking on the tile. We sat down at a large table and after awhile a young waitress hesitantly approached. While she was taking our order she mustered up her courage and ...
Waitress: "Excuse me, but why are you all dressed like this?"
Our Unit CO: "We're a militant Amish sect."
One question that reenactors get asked a lot is, "How do you know when to die?" All of us have different answers to this. At one reenactment I was asked this question by a boy and, rising to the occasion, I replied, "We go to Dying School." I knew I had made a mistake when he began to ask me questions about the school, what I studied, how old you had to be to go there, etc. Eventually, this lead to me designing a course of study for The School of the Dead.
About two week after I posted the "course of study for Dying School" to this WWW site, I received a call from my unit CO asking if I had anything about a "School of the Dead" on the WWW site. I told him I did, but I also knew that he didn't have WWW access or even e-mail at that time. So I asked him how he had found out about it. He told me that he had received a call from a reporter asking for more information about our "School of the Dead" advertised on the Battle of Olustee WWW site.
The Spanish fort at St. Augustine was known as Fort Marion during the Civil War, and was occupied by both sides. During a living history in March, 1996 to commemorate the Federal reoccupation of Northeast Florida in March, 1862, I was standing guard in my Union uniform directly under the United States Flag. A man, with his family in tow, approached me and said: "You're representing the Spanish period, aren't you!"
Just two months before, I was also at Fort Marion, but in Confederate uniform. I was helping to recreate the seizure of the fort by Florida militia in January, 1861. Two different groups of female visitors that weekend must have just visited Disney World before coming to St. Augustine. Here's why:
It was a cold day and I had just gotten off guard duty. With the rest of the off-duty guard I was sitting in the guard room just inside the main gate. Being good soldiers we had a nice fire going. The Sergeant of the Guard and I were seated at a front table interacting with the tourists as they walked through the fort.
Two ladies came in, one left her friend and walked down the rows of tables to the fire place, looked at it for a moment and then hurried back. In a loud, excited voice she told her friend, "They have a real fire!"
Shortly after this, three elderly ladies also came through. They took in the scene and then looked more closely at one of the reenactors sleeping on a bed by the door. One lady stepped back with her flash camera and the other two stepped closer to the sleeping reenactor. One of these two placed her hand on his thigh, while the other placed her hand on his...well...posterior. The first lady snapped the photo and the flash went off waking the sleeping reenactor who then sat up. Two of the ladies screamed, while the third just stared in shock at her hand which had been resting on the rather personal spot of the soldier's anatomy.
Well ladies, Disney World may use animation and life-like figures, but we don't have a lot of money so we have to use real fire and real people.
In February of 1994, I went to Olustee on Wednesday to help my unit prepare for the Battle of Olustee that weekend. I had my uniform on and, while running an errand, passed a state work crew doing some final cleanup of brush at one of the camp sites. They stopped me and asked what was all the preparations were for. I asked a few questions and it was obvious that they had just been told to remove the brush, but nothing about the battle reenactment. They asked for more details, which was the wrong thing to do as I then started into a detailed description of the Federal campaign of 1864 in North Florida. About ten minutes into my speech one of the workmen interrupted me and said, "Boy, you sure know a lot about this. Were you here for the original battle?"
At first I thought they were giving me a hard time about my monologue, but then sadly I realized they weren't.
At the Brooksville Raid in January, 1997, I was serving in a unit consisting of the 115th and 48th New York Volunteers. During the battle we were firing at a Confederate unit about 75 yards away from us. None of the Confederates had fallen yet. The company commander gave us the preparatory command "Fire by company." (For non-reenactors this means we all fire at the same time when he gives the order to fire.) When he gave the "Fire" command, over 30 of us fired our rifles, but only one Confederate fell down "dead." Seeing this one of the Union soldiers in the front rank turned around and said to the rest of the company, "Fellows, this would work a lot better if we all didn't aim at the same guy." A number of us began to have trouble loading our rifles as we were laughing so hard.
Reenactors are often accused of being war-like or plotting to overthrow the govenment. People say we get together to practice military tactics for the battles we plan against the police and the US Army. Imagine a strong force of Civil War reenactors advancing in mass formation against anyone armed with modern day weapons. A high school ROTC platoon with M-16s could wipe out an entire reenactor army.
We're also sometimes accused of promoting violence. Frankly, we don't have to. The TV, movies and video games do this far better than we could. For example, one weekend I was again participating in the Union Garrison of Ft. Marion. This time it was March 11, 2000. A small boy, seven or eight years old, approached me and asked:
Boy: "What are you?"
Me: "I'm a Union soldier."
Boy: "Are you in the air force? I'm going to be in the air force"
Me: "No, I'm in the army. What is the air force?"
Boy: "It drops nuclear bombs from planes."
Me: "What kind of bomb is that?"
Boy: "Man, it takes out whole cities!"
These are the people the anti-gun crowd should be investigating. And you have to wonder why some people think the National Rifle Association is evil because it defends the Constitution and the American Civil Liberities Union is good because it defends the Constitution.
I, Thomas R. Fasulo, portray a Union or Confederate infantry private at Civil War reenactments and living histories. For my day job I am an Extension Entomologist for the University of Florida and develop training software on fleas, termites, cockroaches, mole crickets, whiteflies, etc.
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