Renacting renacting

[Colonel Dave]

Two Manassas events, Two Shiloh events...and it is just April of the first year of the 150th cycle.
It would seem that the collective hobby has learned nothing over the past 25 years. Personal agendas, the lure of the dollar and the awe of fake rank appears to still prevail within the world of reenacting. We went through all of this for the 125th events and we have the scars to show for it.
Granted, there are some very eloquent presentations as to why each of the competing events exist but all in all, it will have a negative impact upon a hobby already fraught with division, gas prices, shaky empires and politics.

While certainly based on bad experiences and well intended ( as in **** is paved with said good intentions), the groups who say they will not attend or support an event unless they are in command need to, nay, must change their bylaws, constitution or whatever document they rely upon to rationalize their attitude.
Perryville, Kentucky is a good example. The hobby has a chance to reenact the 150 on the actual ground but.........
Read this and shake your head or pick up your phone or head to your computer and insist on changes for the good of the service.

[hanktrent]

Read this and shake your head or pick up your phone or head to your computer and insist on changes for the good of the service.

Are you attending many events this year as a private or civilian without command over anyone, like most participants in the hobby? If not, it's probably the same mindset that motivates others to want to be the group in charge at what they attend.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Quickstep]

Two Manassas events, Two Shiloh events...

I've heard about the competing events in Shilo, and that is a shame, but that is not the case for Manassas--there is no competing battle reenactment here. There are two big battle reenactments on July 23rd and 24th as well as a series of living history events and other activities leading up to those dates. Let's not create a problem where none exists. If anything, the organizers for Manassas should be commended for planning all these events and activites so as to maximize the experience for both the reenactors and the public.

[Spinster]

Why Hank, what a concept. A private or a private citizen are qualities that are often in short supply.

A number of men have figured that out for Perryville. Plans have been tumbling around in various low places for some months.

Mr Bauer is certainly correct. In an environment in which useable land is scarce, the concept of scattering living histories at smaller appropriate venues and having a battle reenactment in a different location is a fine thing.

Shiloh battle reenactments, yes there are two. I think that's a shame, and folks have tried to resolve that. I've experienced all to be Men of Goodwill, but with differing philosophies. At this point, it seems inevitable. We can take comfort that there is plenty of land for all, and room for each to reenact in his own style.

[billwatson2]

Ego then, ego now. Some things seem to be constants, only the symptoms change.
However, as John Wickett eloquently said in a recent post to the young fellows who want to do a "documentary" on reenactors: It's not about us. Every time we put on a uniform we represent people who are not here to defend themselves against the mistakes we make and the distortions we inject, accidentally or maliciously, into the story of what they did. Which leads me to set up my own criteria for competing events: Who wants to be in charge to create history as best we can? Or, the extreme range of the other side of the coin, who wants to be in charge to make sure propane fires, animal parts on hats and sub-par impressions will be allowed? Or that their group gets star billing in the recreation of history?
This year I'm really preaching what John Wickett said. Misrepresenting those people from the past to fulfill a modern agenda is really a form of disrespect and a wonderful example of hypocrisy.
I am glad there are people in this hobby who have the steel nerves necessary to actually organize and put on history-heavy events that are as representative of historic reality as we can get it. I am dismayed there are people who still try to parlay their numbers into taking control of events organized by others.

[gwagner]

Interesting to me is that so many folks seems to have this huge desire to have rank on their sleeves or collars.

I'll be sipping some whiskey by the fire while you are changing the guard, or attending officers' call!

My ancestors were privates...and that is all I care to be. Would I help out as a Cpl or Sgt if needed for a day...of course. But I'll come to your event, and help where you need me.

[Pete K]

I have too much responsibility as a Father, teacher, Scout Leader, fraternal organizatons, Sunday School teaching...I like being a lowly enlisted man who occasionally wears corp. stripes as a clerk or in the kitchens... Why take on more work during a hobby weekend?

[Colonel Dave]

Ask any Federal in the Midwest who "Nub" is and you will get your answer.

[jeteeple2]

Well said Bill.

[50th VA Corporal]

I don't totally agree with the ego of want to attain rank - at least in my reenacting world of the Independent Guard Confederate Battalion. Most privates want to stay privates is the trend I see.

I was pretty happy as a private; felt pretty good as a corporal; only stepped up to 1st Sergeant with much trepidation to fill a void - and studied and practiced to earn the elected rank; then with some reluctance went to now fill the rank of captain to fill that void, with the same trepidation, when our captain was elected as major in the battalion. Once again studying and practicing to earn the priviledge of leadership.

Yes, reenacting was much easier as a private, but there are some who have to step up to the plate to provide leadership - quality leadership - for others to retain their comfort levels of remaining privates. And I can find no fault with that.

I honestly don't see any leadership aspiration egos in our battalion and affiliated companies in the staff, company commanders, nor NCO's.

Jas. T. Lemon
50th Va Corporal

[hanktrent]

Ask any Federal in the Midwest who "Nub" is and you will get your answer.

Okay, there are quite a few midwestern federals here. Hey, y'all! Who's "Nub"?

Personally, I have no problem with dual events. I'd rather support a leader with a strong ego and a clear vision that's close to my own, than follow somebody who is just as happy to compromise, in the hopes of being everything to everybody.

So I have more trouble understanding why leaders want to compromise, but I can understand making minor concessions when they're absolutely necessary to reach a goal. Perhaps the goal of leaders who compromise is different than mine, and perhaps they see the compromises as more minor than I would, but they're still motivated by the same thing.

Looking within, helps a person understand others. Other people are more like us than we usually expect, I think. That was the point behind my post.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[billwatson2]

"I honestly don't see any leadership aspiration egos in our battalion and affiliated companies in the staff, company commanders, nor NCO's."

That is the case in a great many organizations where recreating history is the reason for the unit and the reason why people join it. I won't go into the lengths people had to go to convince one young fellow it was time for him to step up and take command of the entire federal presence at an event last year, nor will I embarrass him by naming him. But a preference for just carrying a musket is quite common.
And there is at last, on the table, the vast difference between those doing this primarily for history and finding satisfaction and fulfillment when they get it as right as we should demand from ourselves, and those who are in this for any of a number of other reasons that make history a secondary consideration.
Forget socializing for the sake of socializing, or having a family activity as the main reasons for reenacting. That's a separate discussion. Stay with this: There really are people in this hobby because they see it as an arena for their thwarted real-world ambition. The difficulty is not with ambition as ambition, as Hank sort of noted; the difficulty is that those thwarted people attain rank in the hobby despite the deficiencies that kept them from fulfilling their ambition in the real world. They are incompetent and also usually not oriented toward history but toward themselves. When it's all about getting to be and then staying leader, and your group is not focused on recreating history, that's when you find event organizers tearing their hair out because the issue brought before them is that Group X with 350 muskets demands to be located no more than 100 yards from sutler row. You may laugh; ask any event organizer. "See what I got for you," the leader tells his grateful other-motivated crowd of followers.
But it's not ambition by itself. We could use a few more people with ambition to focus events on history. It is surprisingly difficult, given that bringing life to history is what we're supposed to be doing in the first place.

[billwatson2]

And yes, who is Nub? I thought he was the guy who did the artwork on custombuild motorcycles on Orange County Choppers.....

[Rob Murray]

Hank, I'm about as midwestern as one gets and as you know, a federal and I don't have a clue who Nub is.

ROB

[flattop32355]

Okay, there are quite a few midwestern federals here. Hey, y'all! Who's "Nub"?

Never heard of him.

[Colonel Dave]

Bernie, Bernie, you met Nub at Conner Prairie.
The two or three times a year I go as a private, that is my nickname. In other words, Hank, I go as a private. I also have a standing invitation to anyone who thinks they can drill a Brigade or Division at the same level that my guys are used to, I will gladly give them my command and be a private or spectator. Wanna try, Hank?

The thread has somewhat gotten mixed up. The initial posting was an appeal to the hobby to work toward unification and cooperative attitudes...not the same old "My group is not in command so I/we are not supporting the event."
Some guy once said that a Nation divided cannot stand or something like that. I am unsure why that doesn't apply to other aspects of life...like reenacting. I am not proposing sacrificing basic principles for the sole sake of unification but, for example, the Shiloh fight has nothing to do with different principles...it is about money, power and control. The same is true as to why a 150 Perryville is not on the drawing board. These are only the ones in which I have first hand knowledge, I am sure there are many more examples. I have no problem with competent officers-they are a necessary evil but it is the larger organizations who support, boycott, threaten, cajole, bully,etc. based on self-serving motivations and not in the best interest of the hobby. BTW, notice the word "competent" in referring to officers. If you cannot use 99% of the proper wording to get a company or battalion into line, let someone else do it until you learn.
To that handful of officers that the self-serving label applies, look in the mirror and think about a different approach....one that serves the hobby, not divides it.

[Mint Julep]

I also have a standing invitation to anyone who thinks they can drill a Brigade or Division at the same level that my guys are used to, I will gladly give them my command and be a private or spectator.

Well, Nubbin' Dave, I'd take that offer, but I don't think I can lower myself to that level. I'd have to teach them to drill at the company level from scratch and by the time I got through, they'd be exhausted, I'd be annoyed and you'd be out of job.

HA!

[OVI]

Nub/Col Dave....when did the 150th Perryville get canceled?

http://www.perryvillebattlefield.org/html/coming_events.html

Kent Dorr - Spring in Ohio
"Devils Own Mess"

[billwatson2]

Dave, these days I'm happy if men know how to properly do present arms, shoulder arms and right shoulder shift. Thousands have been "taught wrong" over the last 20 years. It's easier to remove tattoos than it is to remove bad drill from human minds.
Want a real innovation in events? How about requiring anyone coming to the event as an officer to take at least part of a competency exam from the war, from the time when they started weeding out the utter stumblers? An exam just on stuff we do, not who is responsible for issuing tents to the hospital department when their stocks run out or anything we don't normally concern ourselves with.
How about we find out what was in such an exam and put it up here? I understand a lot of it was done orally, not on paper, but still, there must be something.
It should result in a significant increase in humility, at any rate.
I'm still comparing casualty rates between our battles and European fighting 1790-1859. I'm focusing on that and six other things right now, but the officer's competency exam would be a real interesting project for just about anyone.

[FloridaHoosier]

Since this has digressed away from the original reason and most responding parties have made this personal, we'll end this now before it really gets out of hand....

[Spinster]

Thank You Ken.

Let's don't muddy the waters here. Perryville 150th is certainly happening. And there are men planning on going in different command configurations than their normal ones.

Meetings are for going to, mail is for reading, telephones are for answering




Edited to add---Bill Watson,

Nicky Hughes has the exam you seek all worked up. It's been several years since I've heard of him doing it on the 'history -heavy ' end of the hobby, but it's quite a fine exercise.

He also can do the surgeons exam for new troops. Now that's funny.