Battlefield Reenactments

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We have reenactors out here in California too, though, obviously, we don't have the actual battlefields to reenact on. My dad is actually the commander of the local Confederate battalion. Here's the link to the group in Northern California: http://www.racw.org/

I remember for my 8th grade graduation, my family drove back to Virginia for the reenactment of the Battle of New Market. This was a unique battle, in that the VMI cadettes actually faught with the Confederate army. I got to reenact with actual VMI cadets. It was very, very cool. (of course, the Confederates won the battle).

While we were back there, we also got to go to VMI, see Stonewall Jackson's Grave and several other Civil War sites.

Sadly, I believe a hotel has been built on part of the New Market Battlefield.

[Edited on 12-11-2004 by sastark]
 
Originally posted by sastark
We have reenactors out here in California too, though, obviously, we don't have the actual battlefields to reenact on. My dad is actually the commander of the local Confederate battalion. Here's the link to the group in Northern California: http://www.racw.org/

I remember for my 8th grade graduation, my family drove back to Virginia for the reenactment of the Battle of New Market. This was a unique battle, in that the VMI cadettes actually faught with the Confederate army. I got to reenact with actual VMI cadets. It was very, very cool. (of course, the Confederates won the battle).

While we were back there, we also got to go to VMI, see Stonewall Jackson's Grave and several other Civil War sites.

Sadly, I believe a hotel has been built on part of the New Market Battlefield.

[Edited on 12-11-2004 by sastark]
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That's cool! I know there are reenactors all over, but I didn't realize California was included.

I live very near New Market. It's a wonderful place to visit, although, as you mentioned, there has been development. In fact, I-81 bisects the battlefield. The Battle of New Market is a fascinating story for those who love the South and VMI.

Lexington is a great place to visit. Stonewall Jackson (a Presbyterian deacon) once said of Lexington, "œOf all the places which have come under my observation in the United States, this little village is the most beautiful." Both he and Robert E. Lee are buried there. It's also known as the birthplace of Sam Houston and the home of Archibald Alexander.
 
Originally posted by VirginiaHuguenot
That's cool! I know there are reenactors all over, but I didn't realize California was included.

I live very near New Market. It's a wonderful place to visit, although, as you mentioned, there has been development. In fact, I-81 bisects the battlefield. The Battle of New Market is a fascinating story for those who love the South and VMI.

Lexington is a great place to visit. Stonewall Jackson (a Presbyterian deacon) once said of Lexington, "œOf all the places which have come under my observation in the United States, this little village is the most beautiful." Both he and Robert E. Lee are buried there. It's also known as the birthplace of Sam Houston and the home of Archibald Alexander.
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My dad has been reenacting for a long time. He is a Presbyterian pastor, and has always had chapel services on those Sundays that he is at the reenactments. This has been used powerfully by God to bring many reenactors to salvation. It's very interesting the tools God uses.

On a side note, there is an event coming up in April, and my dad wants me to make a map of the location where the reenactment will be taking place. So, I'm reading a book that my dad got me a couple of years ago called "Maps and Mapmakers of the Civil War". It is very interesting!
 
Business Provides Civil War Re-Enactors for Movies
July 26, 2006

By KAREN GARDNER
The Frederick News-Post

CASCADE, Md. (AP) - Russ Richards first became excited about the Civil War in college in the mid-1990s. He plunged into re-enacting as a hobby, occasionally playing an extra on film.

He didn't like what the camera usually showed, however. Re-enactors and living historians appeared older and heavier than the soldiers who would have fought.

"That's how we got started," he said. Richards, 39, who runs Historical Entertainment out of the basement of his home in Cascade. There, amid movie posters and photos of clients, he and assistant Jodi Nolan review potential projects and keep up-to-date records on their re-enactor clients and props.

When he went into the business five years ago, Richards knew he could provide young, authentically dressed soldiers for film, but he decided this service shouldn't come free. Most movie sets and documentaries paid re-enactors little or nothing other than free food.

Richards acts as an agent between the re-enactor and the movie or television program. He charges re-enactors $25 annually, but he makes sure they get paid, guaranteeing a minimum of $100 a day. He also pays for their workers' compensation and insurance.

His first project was providing extras for the movie "Gods and Generals" in 2001. Since then, he has supplied extras and props for documentaries destined for the History Channel, A&E, Showtime, the Science Channel, the Discovery Channel, National Geographic Film and Television and MTV.

He has worked with the National Park Service and other park organizations on films to be shown in visitor centers. One of his latest is at the Mount Vernon estate in Virginia.

For the movie "Cold Mountain," Richards costumed re-enactors who posed for photographs displayed on a general store window representing soldiers who had been killed at war.

"We don't just provide re-enactors, we provide soldiers," Richards said. "There's a certain look we provide."

He also casts Revolutionary War soldiers - who were older, but not heavier - World War II soldiers and soldiers in battles of the American West.

He cast extras in a Showtime documentary on black soldiers from the Revolutionary War through Vietnam. He has cast sailors for a European documentary on Baltic Sea disasters for distribution on European cable channels.

He also provides settings. Recently the Potomac River near Sharpsburg was the setting for George Washington crossing the Delaware in a documentary.

His biggest project to date is "No Retreat From Destiny," a feature length movie about the little-known 1864 Battle of Monocacy, fought a few miles south of Frederick and credited with helping save Washington, D.C., from Confederate takeover.

Richards also has lined up an array of historically accurate props. He has carriages, wagons, cannons, tents, even horses and wranglers. He can locate stunt men and women, historians and historical consultants.

The work keeps him busy full-time, and his assistant works part-time, although she said at times, it's a full-time job. His database has several thousand names, he said. Not all have the young, gaunt look of soldiers. There are needs for civilian men and women of all ages and children.

Richards worked as an electrician until he got his business off the ground. Nolan is a seamstress who makes reproduction Civil War clothing. She also trains and rescues horses, some of which make it on film.

He said most directors are happy to pay the minimum. "There's no sense in working for free," he said. Directors want accurate representations of the period that's being filmed.

"This is why you pay people," he said. "These companies are looking for quality."
 
That's really interesting, it's good to hear that someone wants to make sure that even the extras in historical films are presented as accurately as possible.

I've reenacted for about 2 and 1/2 years, and I wish there were some movies being shot around here that I could be an extra in. :D

And if anyone lives in Texas and is interested in going to some reenactments, I can post some dates and locations.
 
The great state of Virginia is indeed rich in history. There are quite a few battle reenactments in the peach state (GA) as well. Maybe they can fire upon (with blanks of course) the droves of runners at Kennesaw Mountain NBF (fix your {rubber} bayonets).

High school cross country teams, and colleges, use the mountain and surrounding trails as their training facility. Some even put their jogging clothes on monuments for the fallen soldiers. ERRRR!!

:banghead:
 
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