A very young, very smooth-faced, and very farby me as a private in the 3rd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, Battery B

As my final passion post of the year, I felt it would be appropriate to close with a summary of what this wonderful hobby has done for me over the years. Reenacting’s been a pretty long road for me. When I first started off, I was a shy little pre-teen kid who barely had a uniform put together. I joined up with a unit from the nearby town of Boalsburg and manned an artillery piece. I was really quiet at that stage of my life, both outside reenacting and inside. When I went to a reenactment, I generally would keep to myself and not talk much. When I did, I was usually so petrified of social interaction that I would stumble over my words and seem silly. Yeah, I was only a kid then, but still, I was pretty awkward.

As the years went on, I met more people within the hobby and actually found myself making friends. I met other reenactors my age and started to make some pretty strong bonds with people. I think it was at this point that I really started to learn the idea of social conversation and finesse. Honestly, I credit my younger years in reenacting with teaching me how to be more socially outgoing. Reenacting can be a pretty social thing to do. You communicate with your friends in your unit, people in other units, and the spectators who come to see you. Around the age of fifteen, I got the (looking back, rather silly) idea into my head to form my own unit and be an officer.

Me on the far right in command of a company. Too much hair, too high of rank, and not enough facial hair…

For a year or two, I served as a captain in command of a small company. Granted, I was pretty wet behind the ears and had no business being an officer yet, but alas! the foolishness of youth. Yet in this capacity, I found myself attending officers’ meetings, coordinating with other company commanders and battalion commanders. I had to conduct myself, even at that young age, in a fairly professional manner (the officer life is very politicky). I think it was that sort of interaction that I found myself in that really taught me how to obtain a professional attitude when I needed one and how to interact with superiors and peers.

Me and that big chucklehead Chase a few years ago, looking like 19th century badasses.

After a couple years wearing some gold bars on my shoulders, I figured it would be best to just step back into the ranks and be a regular old private. True, the uniform isn’t as sexy, but things are more fun and there’s nowhere near as much responsibility! Even so, I continued to grow personally and socially. I made so many networking connections through these years in reenacting. By meeting new people at each event, hanging out with them, and marching alongside them, I tied myself to people I never would have known without reenacting. For instance, through reenacting I met a real British person for the first time! A real Brit! (Understand, I come from a very rural place that doesn’t get many outsiders). I met numerous specialists in the field of historical interpretation, where I very well may make my career. I got in touch with so many interesting people. Hell, I met my best friend through reenacting. My boy Chase Hornberger and I go way back. That kid’s like a brother to me. We’ve shot at each other, we’ve had fist-fights together, we carried each other out of battle when one of us was wounded. I must say, reenacting set me up with a pretty cool friendship.

Today, reenacting is still doing me some wonders. The volunteer work I did and leadership skills I developed through the hobby has taken me far. You better believe that on my application to PSU, I mentioned the fact that I’m basically an amateur history teacher and I have commanded a twenty-man company. The strong background into historical research methods that the hobby taught me has given me an edge in the pursuit of my history degree. I think the coolest thing reenacting has done for me, though, has just recently come to fruition. Thanks to the capabilities of historical instruction and education that my dearly beloved hobby has taught me, I received a position as an intern this summer at Gettysburg National Military Park.

When I’m out there educating the public on those hallowed fields this summer, I’ll have the wearing of that old blue coat to thank.

I don’t think I ever could have gotten such an amazing opportunity were it not for the social and interpretive skills that reenacting has taught me. Reenacting has taken me pretty far thus far. Having it in my life in the developmental stages of my teenage years I think really influenced for the better the sort of person I am and what I am capable of society. But just because I’m in college now and my career – whatever it may be – looms over the horizon, that doesn’t mean I intend to lay my rifle down and hang up my hat! As long as I can, I hope to keep getting back out in the field with all my friends for a nice long trip back into history. No matter what sort of attire I end up wearing for my career – be it a black suit and tie of a government man or the forest green trousers and gray shirt of a NPS park ranger – part of my heart will always belong to the wearing of that old blue uniform and the shouldering of that heavy old rifle.

Cheers, friends, and keep your powder dry!

So, you’re a spectator visiting a reenactment. Things are looking pretty cool. You’re in a pretty period looking camp, with all the men living in cramped little tents and with their weapons all stacked neatly in a line at the head of the company street. The men of the company you’re walking past are just finishing up their mid-day meal of unpleasant salt pork and unbreakable hardtack. Suddenly, bugles begin blowing across the camps and the company falls into formation. The men take their rifles from the stacks and stand at attention, preparing to head off to combat. In your eyes, things are looking pretty freakin’ cool. “Wow, this must be exactly what it was like!” … And then two privates in the front rank of the company strike up the following banter:

“Dude, you see that staff officer walking over there? So, yeah, he’s got a daughter our age, and I’m friends with her on Facebook. Sooooooooo hawt, man.”

“I believe it, man.”

“Dude, dude, dude! Look, there she is! In the lilac hoop skirt!”

“Daaaaaaaamn, bro. She looks like Jennifer Lawrence, and I ain’t gonna lie, that corset she’s got on is definitely a plus one. You think she’d stitch up that hole in my shirt sleeve? Honestly, if that chick can do a mean back-stitch, I’m gonna be all over that.”

FARBS: Don’t let them ruin the moment…

Yup, your nice period moment where everything seemed exactly like it must have been back in 1864. Gone. Yeah, you’re suddenly right back in 2014 and strikingly aware that all these guys standing in line with guns are not Federal soldiers, but just a bunch of sweaty, smelly modern guys with a weird hobby who didn’t feel like taking up golfing. If this ever happens to you, I AM SO SORRY, and I sincerely apologize for the dinguses (yes, dingus, it’s a great word) who committed the act. Most of us in the reenacting community try our best to keep things as period accurate as possible, even in our conversations.

When we try to keep our terminology and discussion topics in a period appropriate manner, we call this “doing first-person.” First-person refers to not necessarily being at an event to be a historical interpreter as we may sometimes do, but instead being a walking museum. We do this not only for the benefit of visitors so they can get a better feel for the era, but also for our own sake so we can better immerse ourselves in the setting and get what we term a “period moment.” These moments are something that all reenactors strive for. They’re points at an event where everything is just so realistic to the period that you actually stop for a second and think, “My God… This is what it was like…” And you feel as if you’re really there. These tend to be some pretty powerful moments for us personally because we put so much time, work, research, and passion into the history of this era. Doing first-person is always one of the most effective ways to cause a period moment.

In order for we reenactors to do first-person, we have to do a fair amount of research to find out what people in the 1860s actually talked like and talked about. To be honest, it can be a pretty cool anthropological study to do this. Often times, we read through letters, diaries, or other first-person accounts of the era to get a feel for the dialect of the times. We also do all we can to adapt proper accents to the origin of the particular unit we’re portraying. (For the 20th Maine, we’d adapt a New England accent, but not quite as strong as we know it today. For the 29th New York, a regiment made up largely of German immigrants, we may do what we can to use a German accent or maybe work some German into our discussions. For a Southern regiment, like the 14th South Carolina, you bet we’re going to use quite a sloooooooow drawwwwwwwl.) As far as actual terminology, things can be a little different from how we talk today and a lot of the colloquialisms used can sound pretty quaint – as they should! For instance, some period terms might include swapping “between” for “betwixt,” “guys” for “pards” or “fellas,” “played out” for “tired,” or “skedaddle” for “run away.” A typical conversation in a Civil War camp might sound a little like this:

Being authentic is sexy.

“Hey, you boys hear about First Sergeant Jones over in Company E? I hear tell he’s come down with an ugly spell of the Kentucky quicksteps. Hear he’s feelin’ right mean as of late.”

“I confess, I ain’t very much surprised, considerin’ the brass went n’ put camp downstream of the sinks. Jones had it comin’ anyway. Ol’ feller was crazier’n a shithouse rat n’ was always fit to be tied ’bout somethin’.”

“I’m just glad it ain’t me. I got a fair share of troubles as it is. Went n’ picked up the rheumatiz last winter in my knee. Cain’t hardly get it to bend on some cold mornings.”

As you can see, slang was pretty different back then. (I personally love to study profanity of the era. Though I included a little in that example, I won’t go into detail on it here.) Talking like this in period topics can really add to the feel of the event, both for spectators and for reenactors. In the next post, we’ll talk about acting as far as how we reenactors act out on the field of battle!

Also, as a little bonus for you, I run a Facebook page that’s pretty popular within the hobby called “The Best of Reenactor Memes.” Here’s a couple memes for you just because why not.

My buddy Chase made this one at my expense…

But it’s ok, because he’s my best buddy.

And just to let you know what to stay away from should you go to a reenactment. This picture is known in the hobby to pretty be a typical definition of a “farb,” or inauthentic reenactor.