Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 13, 1990 TAG: 9003133124
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: By Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
About 4,000 men dressed in blue and gray will re-enact the climactic battle of the Civil War at Sailor's Creek in Amelia County next month, and the surrender of the Confederate forces at Appomattox Court House.
"Re-enactments are a growing thing among the baby-boom generation," said Dave Jurgella, a re-enactor from Charlottesville. "There was a lot of interest in the Revolutionary War during the Bicentennial, but the Civil War is definitely the biggest now."
Re-enactments of most major battles from Gettysburg to Atlanta have been held in the past five years, the busiest time for re-enactments since the war's centennial.
The hobby is an expensive one for those concerned about historical accuracy. Re-enactors estimate it costs $1,000 to buy a reproduction of a Civil War uniform and a period musket.
"People probably drop a half-million dollars a year on Civil War-related reproduction stuff," said Charles Childs, who owns County Cloth Inc. in Columbiana, Ohio. "That's just a guess, and it in no way reflects what I'm doing."
Childs, who sells Civil War uniform reproductions to a few hundred customers each year, said all his uniforms contain the same fabric blends as the originals.
"We're known for our attention to detail," said Childs. "We're much more precise than most, but not all customers want that."
Childs is so precise that the Smithsonian Institution asked him to mark his reproductions so that they won't be mistaken for originals.
"There's about 200 re-enactors who are really interested in museum quality," said Jurgella, who holds a master's degree in museum practice. "For a lot of the others, if it's gray or blue they'll buy it."
Many re-enactors bristle at suggestions that their hobby glorifies war or the institution of slavery.
"I guess I am a redneck, born and bred, but that's not what we're all about," said Chuck Hillsman, a re-enactor whose great-grandfather was captured during the battle of Spotsylvania Court House in Virginia in 1864 and held prisoner for more than a year.
"We're historians and we have a tremendous respect for the soldiers on both sides," Hillsman said. "It was the nation's darkest hour, and we feel their sacrifices shouldn't be forgotten."
Although most battle re-enactments are held near the sites of the original battles in the South, it isn't just Southerners who gather to re-create the war.
Re-enactors from many Northern states and from as far away as Great Britain and Germany are expected at Sailor's Creek, said David Seay, who heads the Sayler's Creek Re-Enactment and Preservation Committee. The battle was known as Sayler's Creek until the Sailor family asked the state several years ago to change the name of the battlefield site it operates as a state historical park, Seay said.
Re-enactors form regiments using the names of units that fought the war. Hillsman will lead the nine infantry regiments and two artillery units that make up Longstreet's Corps (named after Confederate Gen. James Longstreet) into battle at Sailor's Creek.
Hillsman said some choose to re-enact the regiments their ancestors fought for, while others choose units that saw action in a number of major battles.
Hillsman lives in Jetersville, about four miles from the Sailor's Creek battlefield. The house his ancestors lived in served as a makeshift field hospital during the fighting.
"I wanted to experience some of the things I've read about," Hillsman said, "like wearing wool in the summertime and eating hardtack."
Hardtack is a hard biscuit made of flour and water that was a staple of the Civil War soldier's diet.
Sailor's Creek runs through Amelia County near Farmville. Gen. Robert E. Lee was marching his troops west after the fall of the Confederate capital at Richmond when the federal cavalry caught up with the army's rear guard on April 6, 1865.
About 6,000 rebels were taken prisoner at Sailor's Creek. Three days later, Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
by CNB