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Given our recent discussions, I think it is a good time to look back at the roots of authenticity in reenacting. This was posted on Dave Thomas' Facebook feed. It is an excellent introduction to the beginnings of the authentic movement for the newer members of our community. Click Here to Visit the Thread on CivilWarTalk.
Thomas' Mudsills - Posted on CivilWarTalk By James N.
Back around the time of the Bicentennial of the American Revolution in the mid-to-late 1970's Civil War reenacting as we have come to know it was still in its infancy. In states that could boast no Revolutionary War connections the Civil War was universally embraced as the period of choice by the majority of reenactors. Lacking no national organization to compare with the Brigade of the American Revolution, few Civil War reenactors aspired to anything like authenticity and seemed to be satisfied by becoming and remaining what was derisively being termed "farbs" by the few that hoped to improve; at least that was true here in Texas where I began my reenacting career in 1976.
Things began to change for the unit I belonged to as we began to travel farther afield in our reenacting and became exposed to more progressive ideas and ideals. At that time the unit that we were most impressed with and ultimately influenced by was the group of authentic Federal reenactors known as Thomas' Mudsills commanded by Captain George Derenberger, a pioneer in authentic reenacting. He is pictured above left conducting an open knapsack inspection at Billie Creek Village, Indiana, and below at Jefferson Barracks outside St. Louis, Missouri; his Lieutenant John Zaharias who was probably better-known as a sutler is sampling the contents of some recruit's knapsack, to the amusement of the captain and the other soldiers. This level of authenticity and activity was at the time a novelty, captured here by our unit photographer, Carol Marrs. A third officer was later added to the Mudsills in the person of Kal Kinzer.
At this time most units were recruited locally and known for a famous regiment or local hero. The Mudsills were instead made up of (mostly) Midwestern authentics from various states - the forerunner of National organizations - and added the derisive Confederate term for Northerners to that of probably the most significant Union leader in the region, Maj. Gen. George Henry Thomas. (Other similar Confederate organizations around the same time were called Cleburne's Command and Breckenridge's Brigade which were largely from Tennessee and Kentucky respectively.) The first time I saw them as a new recruit to reenacting at Corinth, Mississippi in May 1976 there were only a few present but they were the only ones to have anything like an authentic camp, as seen below. One important fact to remember is that back as far as this there were few sutlers and anything like authentic uniforms and equipment was very hard to find and in many cases actually had to be hand-made. (Zaharias manufactured a number of the items he sold; I still have my first tarred haversack I bought from him back then.) Nothing was being imported from overseas, especially China, and C & D Jarnagin was probably the only source for correct commercially-made uniforms.
Thomas' Mudsills were remarkable at the time for the authentic camps they erected as well as the drill they routinely performed. Above is their camp at Billie Creek, unlike anything seen in Trans-Mississippi reenacting; below at right they are drilling in front of our gun line and reproduction mountain howitzer. At left below is a companion photo to one at top showing them performing the maneuver forming square to repel cavalry.
One indicator of the degree of acceptance the Mudsills acquired was that they were among the first - possibly the first! - to receive invitations from the National Park Service to conduct Living History demonstrations on battlefields like Chickamauga where they erected a Memorial Day weekend camp at the Snodgrass House. I attended this event as a member of The Confederate Guard which was vouched for by Derenberger to the NPS as an authentic Confederate unit; we camped at the Brotherton House, site of the Confederate breakthrough. From there we marched to meet them for a joint Memorial Day commemoration.
It was largely on the battlefield where the Mudsills made their greatest impression on us, however. Here above and below in the battle at Jeff Barracks their regimental formation advances against our admittedly farby battery of scaled-down reproduction artillery, again captured by Carol Marrs on film.
It is my belief that members of the original Mudsills went on to organize what became by the time of the 125th anniversary events in the 1980's the Western Battalion of Federal authentics. Anyone having additional reminiscences of George Derenburger or Thomas' Mudsills is encouraged to share them here with us and possibly correct any misrepresentations I may have inadvertently made now forty years after the events described!
CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE ORIGINAL DISCUSSION AT CIVILWARTALK
Thomas' Mudsills - Posted on CivilWarTalk By James N.
Back around the time of the Bicentennial of the American Revolution in the mid-to-late 1970's Civil War reenacting as we have come to know it was still in its infancy. In states that could boast no Revolutionary War connections the Civil War was universally embraced as the period of choice by the majority of reenactors. Lacking no national organization to compare with the Brigade of the American Revolution, few Civil War reenactors aspired to anything like authenticity and seemed to be satisfied by becoming and remaining what was derisively being termed "farbs" by the few that hoped to improve; at least that was true here in Texas where I began my reenacting career in 1976.
Things began to change for the unit I belonged to as we began to travel farther afield in our reenacting and became exposed to more progressive ideas and ideals. At that time the unit that we were most impressed with and ultimately influenced by was the group of authentic Federal reenactors known as Thomas' Mudsills commanded by Captain George Derenberger, a pioneer in authentic reenacting. He is pictured above left conducting an open knapsack inspection at Billie Creek Village, Indiana, and below at Jefferson Barracks outside St. Louis, Missouri; his Lieutenant John Zaharias who was probably better-known as a sutler is sampling the contents of some recruit's knapsack, to the amusement of the captain and the other soldiers. This level of authenticity and activity was at the time a novelty, captured here by our unit photographer, Carol Marrs. A third officer was later added to the Mudsills in the person of Kal Kinzer.
At this time most units were recruited locally and known for a famous regiment or local hero. The Mudsills were instead made up of (mostly) Midwestern authentics from various states - the forerunner of National organizations - and added the derisive Confederate term for Northerners to that of probably the most significant Union leader in the region, Maj. Gen. George Henry Thomas. (Other similar Confederate organizations around the same time were called Cleburne's Command and Breckenridge's Brigade which were largely from Tennessee and Kentucky respectively.) The first time I saw them as a new recruit to reenacting at Corinth, Mississippi in May 1976 there were only a few present but they were the only ones to have anything like an authentic camp, as seen below. One important fact to remember is that back as far as this there were few sutlers and anything like authentic uniforms and equipment was very hard to find and in many cases actually had to be hand-made. (Zaharias manufactured a number of the items he sold; I still have my first tarred haversack I bought from him back then.) Nothing was being imported from overseas, especially China, and C & D Jarnagin was probably the only source for correct commercially-made uniforms.
Thomas' Mudsills were remarkable at the time for the authentic camps they erected as well as the drill they routinely performed. Above is their camp at Billie Creek, unlike anything seen in Trans-Mississippi reenacting; below at right they are drilling in front of our gun line and reproduction mountain howitzer. At left below is a companion photo to one at top showing them performing the maneuver forming square to repel cavalry.
One indicator of the degree of acceptance the Mudsills acquired was that they were among the first - possibly the first! - to receive invitations from the National Park Service to conduct Living History demonstrations on battlefields like Chickamauga where they erected a Memorial Day weekend camp at the Snodgrass House. I attended this event as a member of The Confederate Guard which was vouched for by Derenberger to the NPS as an authentic Confederate unit; we camped at the Brotherton House, site of the Confederate breakthrough. From there we marched to meet them for a joint Memorial Day commemoration.
It was largely on the battlefield where the Mudsills made their greatest impression on us, however. Here above and below in the battle at Jeff Barracks their regimental formation advances against our admittedly farby battery of scaled-down reproduction artillery, again captured by Carol Marrs on film.
It is my belief that members of the original Mudsills went on to organize what became by the time of the 125th anniversary events in the 1980's the Western Battalion of Federal authentics. Anyone having additional reminiscences of George Derenburger or Thomas' Mudsills is encouraged to share them here with us and possibly correct any misrepresentations I may have inadvertently made now forty years after the events described!
CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE ORIGINAL DISCUSSION AT CIVILWARTALK
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