Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 10, 1995 TAG: 9503100030
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CHRIS COLSTON CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Local Civil War buffs will have a chance to take a trip back in time and mingle this weekend at the Wilderness Road Regional Museum's Winter Camp Military Lifestyles and Activities 1-4 p.m. Saturday in Newbern. There is no charge.
Six mock soldiers will spend the weekend on the property in a mock encampment complete with tents, horses and, perhaps, a big black cooking pot. Their all-leather shoes will have nails in them, and you won't see any wrist watches.
"They're sticklers for authenticity," said Wilderness Road museum director Ann Bailey. "They will appear just as if they're from 1861, down to their spectacles with little tiny glass lenses. They will create the atmosphere of a war camp from 130 years ago."
The soldiers could be oiling their weapons, performing military drills, spinning some stories, playing cards or telling jokes - circa the early 1860s, of course. They might even be playing chess with pieces carved from real bullets.
"They used .58 caliber bullets in the Civil War," said Bill Buchanan, chairman of the museum's re-enactment committee. "Those bullets had almost a full ounce of lead. Sometimes, the soldiers flattened them and made them into checkers."
The soldiers will also answer visitors' questions. "They will assume the historical character," Buchanan said. "If you ask them how they got there, they won't say 'in a pickup.' They'd say they marched from so-and-so, or rode their horses from so-and-so."
Most of the war re-enactments take place when the weather is warm. The soldiers' uniforms are made of wool so, naturally, the most-asked question is: "Aren't you hot in that thing?"
"Believe it or not, but the wool outfits have some advantages," Buchanan said. "For those who perspire heavily, the wool acts like a sponge.
Still, it has to scratch just a little ...
"Most of those who participate do it because they're really interested in what people experienced back then," Buchanan said. "They expect a little discomfort."
"But you have to remember that in those days, civilians wore wool as well. Only those in the deep South wore a mixture of wool and cotton. And, of course, there was no air conditioning."
If that wasn't bad enough, consider the food. Hardtack - a half-inch thick cracker made of flour and water - was often the only nourishment available to a soldier in the field. "They carried it into battle when they got hungry," Bailey said. "We sell it in the museum, and every once in awhile somebody will come in and buy it. I don't know how they eat it. If I took a bite, it would break my teeth."
Added Buchanan, "As long as it stayed dry, it would keep for 100 years."
Itchy clothing, bad food. And the shoes ...
"The soldiers wear authentic, all-leather shoes," Buchanan said. "They're either nailed or pegged together, and let me tell you, they get slick on the bottom. If you're in the woods during the fall when the leaves are on the ground, it's like being on ice."
For traction, Buchanan said, Civil War soldiers nailed iron horseshoes to the heels.
And then there's the final problem: picking a side.
Even re-enactment participants from, say, Massachusetts draw straws to see who gets to wear the gray. "When we have large re-enactments, we have trouble getting people to do the federal soldiers," Buchanan said. "We have to find someone from way up North or get people doing Confederates to switch. A lot of them have uniforms for both sides; basically, those who do just change their coat.
"People like to play the underdog, I guess."
by CNB