Every spring over 100 Civil War reenactors converge on a park near our home for a "War on the Border". Since there were no Civil War battles in Johnson County, this reenactment is a representation of battles that happened along the Kansas-Missouri border.
Everyone related to the reenactment is dressed in period clothing. Before the battle, this lady came out to tell us what to expect.
JoLee sitting among the kids waiting for the fighting to begin.
The cavalry leading the charge.
The entire battle was choreographed. It was amazing to see the lines advance and then fall back, while the cavalry rushed in and out. We expected to see some hand to hand fighting, but instead the entire event was incredibly organized.
A photographer with the two opposing lines in the background.
At times the men were obscured by the gun smoke.
The most boring job in a Civil War reenactment? Dying early on. This guy lay there for more than half the battle. Near the end, the men start dropping like flies.
The Confederates won this battle. After it was all over, both regimes marched back to their camps.
Attending the reenactment was like stepping back in time. The men stay in tents and tend the horses. Merchants sell period items like candles and metalworks.
If you're interested in learning more about Civil War reenactments, this book comes to me highly recommended.
3 comments:
I'm amazed at how much of interest you find in Kansas. It seems to be the home of.....besides Nate and JoLee! I would love to see one of those enactments. I've read that book and it is one of the favorites ever. What a fun experience.!
Wow!
I have just a couple of things to add to the blog post.
First of all, the painting by John Steuart is in the Kansas State Capital, and John Brown is the overly large figure - symbolic of his role in antebellum Kansas.
Secondly, the photographer featured at the reenactment is not 100% historically accurate. While, many photographers did travel with the armies and take photographs, they did not usually take do so while the battle was actually taking place. The shutter speed during the 1860s was still not fast enough to capture quickly moving bodies and so images of battles would have been very blurred. Also, and more importantly, photographers at this time used what is called the wetplate collodian method. The photographer first coated his glass with a wet gel-like substance. He then would have to expose the plate and develop it before the gel dried otherwise he would lose the image. Thus, the Civil War photographer always had to have his dark room on hand - usually a converted wagon - and you can imagine that developing photographs was not a very safe thing to be doing while the battle was raging.
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