Here we go! 135th anniversary of Gettysburg, "Pickett's Charge". Now I must point out that this picture has been edited some. I removed the spectators from the right side and placed an additional artillery unit in their place. I also removed some vehicles that were visible in the background. However, all of the infantry you see were actually there, making this a full scale reenactment of the "Charge". There is an unedited picture in my gallery.

Look at the mass of Confederate troops on the right. I was in the front rank at the end of the front line on thier right, your left, and was "wounded" in the vicinity of the small tree in the center of the picture. This was by far the most amazing thing I've ever seen in 20+ years of reenacting.

I see ya, I see ya!!!

I see ya, I see ya! You're the one in grey, right?

Cary

There is even the fence rows at the road, that held up his attack.

Do things ever get out of hand Mike, like "the South will rise again" kind of stuff??

Eric

If Jackson & Lee only had some reenactors...

Bushy, Cary, you've got it!! I'm the guy in the gray coat, with a beard...

Eric, once or twice over the years, at small events, I've seen people go overboard. At one event an artilleryman started swinging his ram rod at the guys about to "capture" his gun. He got mobbed and tackled before he could hurt someone. Might have been some alcohol involved there...

I know of two instances since 1981 where people were actually shot at events, neither fatal. In both cases all of the safety measures had been ignored by the commanders of the unit firing the shot. Once in all my time reenacting I found a cartridge with a real bullet in it in a private’s cartridge box and I had him take it to his car and report back to me before he could continue.

The normal safety procedure before beginning a battle reenactment includes an inspection of all firearms and cartridge boxes. An officer will check each musket for cleanliness (to avoid any dirt or debris leaving the barrel when fired) and will “ping” the ramrod off the breach end of the bore to make sure the musket isn’t loaded. While he does that an NCO inspects the soldier’s cartridge box and cartridges to check for staples, paper clips, etc. A lot of the time troops must leave their ramrods and bayonets in camp.

Safety is taken very seriously at these events, especially the big national ones like Gettysburg.

Wow that is really cool!

I may like to watch..
But I dont think I would like to join in..
Not much into play acting myself..


So, how do you choose who is the "boss", generals, colonels and officers?
do you get to order people around like real ones do?

A unit is usually a “regiment”, portraying a particular Civil War regiment. For example, the group I belonged to portrays the 49th NC Infantry and, sometimes, the 21st Mass. (How do you like that Whittling?) In the units I'm familiar with the regimental officers are elected by the membership, normally after having served as NCOs. NCOs are tested and selected by the officers. Higher commanders, brigade and division level, are elected by the regimental commanders.

It is "play acting" but the drill and maneuvering are real and we use period manuals to make sure we do it right. It’s pretty neat to be part of a large unit executing proper maneuvers on the field. Occasionally we do “tacticals” or war games. One of these a few years back was refereed by US Army troops from Ft. Bragg. They were surprised and impressed at how fast our large bodies of troops in close formation could maneuver through woods and across rough terrain.