T.Kern
06-26-2008, 12:11 AM
After recently attending the so-called Brandy Station reenactment I cannot tell you how appalled and disappointed I was. I primarily saw so-called rebels, nearly every group on the east, but what few Feds I saw looked nearly as poor. I have grave doubts about anything of value coming out of the future for historical cavalry recreations. In my nearly 20 years of cavalry living history and interpretation, including 10 years as curator and director at civil war museums, I have never seen a worse column of so-called cavalry troopers. They no more resembled a civil war horse soldier than does Ronald McDonarld. Josey Wales even looked better, though it was a great movie, any educated person knows that was a poor representation of the 1860's. How bad is that?? When Hollywood is better than cavalry interpreters. Speaking of real solders, it was shameful and a disrespectful thing to do to the memory of real men who made real sacrifices. Cavalry has gone leaps and bounds backwards. They are no more representative and accurate of the 19th century than the re enactors of the 1970's. This after all the studies and primary documentation to surface in the last 30 years!
I suppose I should give some examples but there are so many, where to start! There was not one person there who was authentic, but for maybe half a dozen and they left. I'm sure re enactors reading this will think it's someone else,. as they always do, but I'm here to tell you it was you. You had better look in the mirror, then look at original pictures and artifacts, and not look at other re enactors. Those are two different things. I won't even get into little details such as, wrong uniforms for that period of the war, I'll keep it generalized to just an accurate example of anything from that period! The examples went from the absurd; long haired coatless women with cut out modern gauntlets smoking Marlboros riding paint horses, to the minimal; guys with incorrectly detailed kits and function.
Let's start with uniforms. It seems re enactors think all cavalrymen had boots, this we know is not the case. Even more so, they all have those sutler type boots of the wrong pattern and construction. Generally there are two styles of 19th century boots, (Wellington-one piece fronts with side seams and Napoleon- two piece fronts with back seam. Both had a toe that did not look as if it was made around a block of wood.) These people had neither. Shoes, not boots, in huge numbers were being issued in a south starved for leather, the receipts clearly show this. It also seems that most had jackets not patterned after anything, out of poor material, and machine sewn. Apparently, no one has read Les Jensen's definitive work, "A Survey of Confederate Central Government Quartermaster Issue Jackets". Then of course, like any good Hollywood B movie , the hat string! On a crappy hillbilly hat, it just can't be beat! It screams FARB. There is absolutely no evidence this was ever done during the war! Even twenty years later in the west, one study suggested maybe only 25% of the cowboys did it. There are no original hats with holes for that, there are no pictures of soldier using them, and there is no primary documentation for it, but there is documentation to the contrary. It is another reenactorism!
How about weapons! It seems again every re enactor had multiple pistols. Well, this bit of folklore we know is untrue, the supply simply was not there. All one has to do is read any inspection , receipts, or returns. Yes , Yes , some guy wrote about it but that was the exception to the rule. What we have to consider is what was common. Otherwise we end up with a lot of jaguar skin pants! What was most common from issues, first hand accounts, and illustrations is that the vast majority were lucky if they even had one, much less two. For some brigades, less than 50% of the troopers had a revolver. Furthermore, as interpretive historians it is our duty not to show the abnormality as normal. BUT not re enactors, they have 3, 4, 5 all carried in abhorrent representations of holsters on saddles or on belts worn low like some gunslinger in a movie rather than at the belly button where it's intended. The same argument can again be re-directed towards the wearing of sabres on saddles. Again , while there are examples of it being done, there is little evidence of everyone doing it, especially at this point in the war. Otherwise, why are they issuing sword belts with the sabres? Not to mention the first hand accounts and images of guys carrying them on the BELT! Here is one confederate account from the 18th Virginia cav after Gburg," ... we were supporting the batteries, we were all dismounted...they ran us from one battery to the other...we had our side arms and sabres and all the straps, etc., a cavalryman has to carry which made it awful hard on us boys..." it was a hot day for them. While I've heard the "there is a letter" story it has yet to be produced. Either way, I watched all these so-called confederates draw sabres and not one did it properly as prescribed by the manuals. Nor did they have any clue how to hang it on the sabre hook or even when too. As for throwing them away, well, all one has to do is read the accounts of sabre charges during the Appomattox campaign to dispel that myth. Another mistake, these re enactor think CS cav all had Sharps, which again has been disproved beyond a doubt. We know from inspections, receipts, and correspondences that if a trooper had a long arm it was more likely a muzzle loader. From returns and inspection there is not a regiment that doesn't have a variety of long arms listed. Sure Sharps were around but not everyone, but nary a muzzle loader could be seen across the back of these re enactors.
Next, saddlery. Wow! What a poor representation of what 19th century saddlery was. According to these folks. there must have been no other saddle than a McClellan during the war, and those representations were pretty poor. The hoods that looked like buckets hanging from the stirrups. Incorrect patterns and construction abound. Bridles and halters, forget about it! Chrome bits and buckles, big white stitching, and no other bit than the repro1864 US bit, except of course for modern chrome ones. Bits that were improperly fitted in the houses mouth and saddles improperly fitted and rigged on horses backs. Forget about proper packing of the saddle, or even for that matter comfort for the horse. For one, no one knows how to properly roll a sleeping blanket. Everyone carries their canteen on the saddle with a snap hook, a reenactorism! While some accounts of canteens being slung over the bedroll exist NEVER has there been an account of canteen snap hooks, except for one placed on a canteen years after the war by some dealer embellishing a story.. Canteens and canteen strap were issued together. Even better, how do you drink when fighting on foot? One Manual written during the war by Maj. James Congdon of the 12th Pa cav. address' the canteen with one sentence,," The canteen should NEVER be attached to the saddle". That says enough, I won't bother to to mention other regimental General orders that says wear it. Congdon's could help everyone with their incorrect saddling as well as placing the effects. It is the only manual that tells how a McClellan saddle should be correctly fitted.
While we're at it, the horsemanship was appalling. I make my living today as a professional horseman. I won't speak of the poor riding but to the care of the horses. These people should not be called cavalrymen! A cavalryman always puts his horse first, but not these people. They burden their horse with everything they are too lazy to carry. They also bring unfit horses. To top that, on a 94 degree day with high humidity and a three hour ride to Farley, then a two hour lunch break there, they don't even bother to unsaddle or for many even loosen the girth on their horses. Even worse, there was no water for horses at the site and no effort made by many to go to water before they rode back. One day when more horses die at an event some extreme group like PETA will have ya'll's ass. This is nothing new , for years I have seen horses left saddled and tied standing in the sun all day or beaten when their incompetent rider falls off because he didn't work with the horse enough. These people fall into everything the media want Southerners to be portrayed as, and that isn't good.
Should we even mention the camps? The complete lack of anything 19th century atmosphere, and the vehicles of all kinds! It turned into a beer drinking camporee on an original battlefield.
How could this all happen? There was a fellow who had written a book on Breathed's battery. An educated fellow one would guess to have written a book, yet everything he had on was wrong. I don't mean to pick on him, he was better than many, I'm just making a point. So the question is, how does an educated person get it all so wrong? The answer has to be from the top, leadership, or lack of it. Like most he probably got into the first group he found and was not pointed in the right direction. He was not given info on where to find the studies and information on material culture. He was not told where to find accurate makers of such items, not told what was right and what was wrong. This because the leaders don't know and worse, after talking to them, they don't care! They only care about making themselves important by more numbers, and the truth. be damned. They cry, It's too hard/expensive and will drive people away. Both have been proven untrue, but why ruin something with the facts. It is ego and ignorance, and worse, they spew that ignorance on an unsuspecting public who mistakenly trust them because they have funny clothes on. It seems all the leaders who drove to better historical interpretation are gone. There is no leadership is left. The result is reenactments with non-period uniforms, non-period equipment, non-period saddlery, on non-period horses (paints were not commonly bred till later in the century), non-period women ( women when found in the ranks, what few there were, were sent home) using non-period tactics.
I encouraging every historic site to stop devaluing and distorting history by using these purveyors of myth and Hollywood. This is harmful to real history and just like the use of re enactors on the history channel or in the latest J.P. Strain artwork, it is a sell out. There has been a downward spiral of late in the history field. One that places entertainment over accurate history. I realize historic sites are always looking for anything to draw people in, it is a hard job to produce revenue and P. R. at a historic site. Be reminded though, It is just as detrimental to use poor history as to have low revenues. The loss of integrity and historical accuracy far outweighs the flash in the pan revenues, and the stigma of not being considered a serious historical site is hard to shake. Having worked in the museum field, unfortunately most program directors don't know the difference between the good, the bad, and the ugly when approached by re enactors. It is the historians job to reconstruct the picture of the past, yet re enactors are allowed to wear, say , and do whatever, and they get away with it. NO , it is time they are called on it. Called for their deceit and lack of integrity. Program directors should developed standard and stick to them , just as event organizers should too.
Some people say I shouldn't say anything , what good does it do? They won't change, they just want to play cowboys and Indians. I say, if that is so maybe they should just go trail riding or play paint ball and not belittle the memory of our ancestors. If one person re-examines his kit or one site develops new standards, this letter will have served some useful purpose. Though, I'm sure the upcoming Gettysburg will be even worse and nothing will change. Re enactors should be ashamed, but apparently for ego or profit, they have no shame.
Todd Kern
Valley Light Horse
Winchester , Virginia
I suppose I should give some examples but there are so many, where to start! There was not one person there who was authentic, but for maybe half a dozen and they left. I'm sure re enactors reading this will think it's someone else,. as they always do, but I'm here to tell you it was you. You had better look in the mirror, then look at original pictures and artifacts, and not look at other re enactors. Those are two different things. I won't even get into little details such as, wrong uniforms for that period of the war, I'll keep it generalized to just an accurate example of anything from that period! The examples went from the absurd; long haired coatless women with cut out modern gauntlets smoking Marlboros riding paint horses, to the minimal; guys with incorrectly detailed kits and function.
Let's start with uniforms. It seems re enactors think all cavalrymen had boots, this we know is not the case. Even more so, they all have those sutler type boots of the wrong pattern and construction. Generally there are two styles of 19th century boots, (Wellington-one piece fronts with side seams and Napoleon- two piece fronts with back seam. Both had a toe that did not look as if it was made around a block of wood.) These people had neither. Shoes, not boots, in huge numbers were being issued in a south starved for leather, the receipts clearly show this. It also seems that most had jackets not patterned after anything, out of poor material, and machine sewn. Apparently, no one has read Les Jensen's definitive work, "A Survey of Confederate Central Government Quartermaster Issue Jackets". Then of course, like any good Hollywood B movie , the hat string! On a crappy hillbilly hat, it just can't be beat! It screams FARB. There is absolutely no evidence this was ever done during the war! Even twenty years later in the west, one study suggested maybe only 25% of the cowboys did it. There are no original hats with holes for that, there are no pictures of soldier using them, and there is no primary documentation for it, but there is documentation to the contrary. It is another reenactorism!
How about weapons! It seems again every re enactor had multiple pistols. Well, this bit of folklore we know is untrue, the supply simply was not there. All one has to do is read any inspection , receipts, or returns. Yes , Yes , some guy wrote about it but that was the exception to the rule. What we have to consider is what was common. Otherwise we end up with a lot of jaguar skin pants! What was most common from issues, first hand accounts, and illustrations is that the vast majority were lucky if they even had one, much less two. For some brigades, less than 50% of the troopers had a revolver. Furthermore, as interpretive historians it is our duty not to show the abnormality as normal. BUT not re enactors, they have 3, 4, 5 all carried in abhorrent representations of holsters on saddles or on belts worn low like some gunslinger in a movie rather than at the belly button where it's intended. The same argument can again be re-directed towards the wearing of sabres on saddles. Again , while there are examples of it being done, there is little evidence of everyone doing it, especially at this point in the war. Otherwise, why are they issuing sword belts with the sabres? Not to mention the first hand accounts and images of guys carrying them on the BELT! Here is one confederate account from the 18th Virginia cav after Gburg," ... we were supporting the batteries, we were all dismounted...they ran us from one battery to the other...we had our side arms and sabres and all the straps, etc., a cavalryman has to carry which made it awful hard on us boys..." it was a hot day for them. While I've heard the "there is a letter" story it has yet to be produced. Either way, I watched all these so-called confederates draw sabres and not one did it properly as prescribed by the manuals. Nor did they have any clue how to hang it on the sabre hook or even when too. As for throwing them away, well, all one has to do is read the accounts of sabre charges during the Appomattox campaign to dispel that myth. Another mistake, these re enactor think CS cav all had Sharps, which again has been disproved beyond a doubt. We know from inspections, receipts, and correspondences that if a trooper had a long arm it was more likely a muzzle loader. From returns and inspection there is not a regiment that doesn't have a variety of long arms listed. Sure Sharps were around but not everyone, but nary a muzzle loader could be seen across the back of these re enactors.
Next, saddlery. Wow! What a poor representation of what 19th century saddlery was. According to these folks. there must have been no other saddle than a McClellan during the war, and those representations were pretty poor. The hoods that looked like buckets hanging from the stirrups. Incorrect patterns and construction abound. Bridles and halters, forget about it! Chrome bits and buckles, big white stitching, and no other bit than the repro1864 US bit, except of course for modern chrome ones. Bits that were improperly fitted in the houses mouth and saddles improperly fitted and rigged on horses backs. Forget about proper packing of the saddle, or even for that matter comfort for the horse. For one, no one knows how to properly roll a sleeping blanket. Everyone carries their canteen on the saddle with a snap hook, a reenactorism! While some accounts of canteens being slung over the bedroll exist NEVER has there been an account of canteen snap hooks, except for one placed on a canteen years after the war by some dealer embellishing a story.. Canteens and canteen strap were issued together. Even better, how do you drink when fighting on foot? One Manual written during the war by Maj. James Congdon of the 12th Pa cav. address' the canteen with one sentence,," The canteen should NEVER be attached to the saddle". That says enough, I won't bother to to mention other regimental General orders that says wear it. Congdon's could help everyone with their incorrect saddling as well as placing the effects. It is the only manual that tells how a McClellan saddle should be correctly fitted.
While we're at it, the horsemanship was appalling. I make my living today as a professional horseman. I won't speak of the poor riding but to the care of the horses. These people should not be called cavalrymen! A cavalryman always puts his horse first, but not these people. They burden their horse with everything they are too lazy to carry. They also bring unfit horses. To top that, on a 94 degree day with high humidity and a three hour ride to Farley, then a two hour lunch break there, they don't even bother to unsaddle or for many even loosen the girth on their horses. Even worse, there was no water for horses at the site and no effort made by many to go to water before they rode back. One day when more horses die at an event some extreme group like PETA will have ya'll's ass. This is nothing new , for years I have seen horses left saddled and tied standing in the sun all day or beaten when their incompetent rider falls off because he didn't work with the horse enough. These people fall into everything the media want Southerners to be portrayed as, and that isn't good.
Should we even mention the camps? The complete lack of anything 19th century atmosphere, and the vehicles of all kinds! It turned into a beer drinking camporee on an original battlefield.
How could this all happen? There was a fellow who had written a book on Breathed's battery. An educated fellow one would guess to have written a book, yet everything he had on was wrong. I don't mean to pick on him, he was better than many, I'm just making a point. So the question is, how does an educated person get it all so wrong? The answer has to be from the top, leadership, or lack of it. Like most he probably got into the first group he found and was not pointed in the right direction. He was not given info on where to find the studies and information on material culture. He was not told where to find accurate makers of such items, not told what was right and what was wrong. This because the leaders don't know and worse, after talking to them, they don't care! They only care about making themselves important by more numbers, and the truth. be damned. They cry, It's too hard/expensive and will drive people away. Both have been proven untrue, but why ruin something with the facts. It is ego and ignorance, and worse, they spew that ignorance on an unsuspecting public who mistakenly trust them because they have funny clothes on. It seems all the leaders who drove to better historical interpretation are gone. There is no leadership is left. The result is reenactments with non-period uniforms, non-period equipment, non-period saddlery, on non-period horses (paints were not commonly bred till later in the century), non-period women ( women when found in the ranks, what few there were, were sent home) using non-period tactics.
I encouraging every historic site to stop devaluing and distorting history by using these purveyors of myth and Hollywood. This is harmful to real history and just like the use of re enactors on the history channel or in the latest J.P. Strain artwork, it is a sell out. There has been a downward spiral of late in the history field. One that places entertainment over accurate history. I realize historic sites are always looking for anything to draw people in, it is a hard job to produce revenue and P. R. at a historic site. Be reminded though, It is just as detrimental to use poor history as to have low revenues. The loss of integrity and historical accuracy far outweighs the flash in the pan revenues, and the stigma of not being considered a serious historical site is hard to shake. Having worked in the museum field, unfortunately most program directors don't know the difference between the good, the bad, and the ugly when approached by re enactors. It is the historians job to reconstruct the picture of the past, yet re enactors are allowed to wear, say , and do whatever, and they get away with it. NO , it is time they are called on it. Called for their deceit and lack of integrity. Program directors should developed standard and stick to them , just as event organizers should too.
Some people say I shouldn't say anything , what good does it do? They won't change, they just want to play cowboys and Indians. I say, if that is so maybe they should just go trail riding or play paint ball and not belittle the memory of our ancestors. If one person re-examines his kit or one site develops new standards, this letter will have served some useful purpose. Though, I'm sure the upcoming Gettysburg will be even worse and nothing will change. Re enactors should be ashamed, but apparently for ego or profit, they have no shame.
Todd Kern
Valley Light Horse
Winchester , Virginia