Doing a First Impression

[rebelmcal]

Hi All,
This is my first time going onto a site like this, so please be gentle! I am from Ireland and have been doing ACW,(C.S.) over here for the last ten years or so (with frequent visits to US events). I am looking at doing a "First Impression" for next year's "season" in Ireland and would like any tips.

I alreads have the accent:), and would have details of life in Ireland prior to immigrating, but what else would I need to carry it off?

Thanks.
Liam McAlister
Co. Cork,
Republic of Ireland

[tenfed1861]

Re: Doing a First Impression

Liam,
Since you have the research and the accent,I say just the right attitude.Have the knowlegde.Research the attitudes of Americans towards the Irish in the "area" of the south your character comes from.Also try looking up jobs in the area that might have been had by the lower classes.If your character is from New Orleans,then try having him working on the docks.
I already said it,but the right attitude.That is key.It doesn't matter how much research you have.If you have a poor attitude,it is for nothing.

Hope this helps.

[TMAN]

Re: Doing a First Impression

Welcome Liam

I would study the people and trades of the 19th century Ireland. Then pick one specific trade, story etc. to use for your persona. Also try the search function, it has lots of first person information.

Corp. Tim Fretwell
10 LA Co.C

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Doing a First Impression

Hallo!

A "First Person" military impression (persona)? Or...
A "First Person" civilian impression (persona)?

If you have thought about what you see yourself doing and where you see yourself fitting in... start by asking yourself these questions:

1. Who am I?
2. How did I get here?
3. What am I doing here?
4. When and where is "here?"

Then you will be able to flesh out the bare bone skeleton and add to that over time crafting a Believeable Image.

Slainte!

Curt
Last in County Cork in 1996 Mess

[Gallo de Cielo]

Re: Doing a First Impression

Get in touch with the Lazy Jacks if you haven't already. They are among the finest folks out there and they'll teach you much.

[Gallinipper]

Re: Doing a First Impression

To second those thoughts, I think a good "first-person" knowledge of the Great (Potato) Famine in mid-19th century Ireland would be extremely uselful in building your impression, particularly the years 1845-47 and the resulting mass emigration to North America.

Welcome to the A-C and good luck!

[PogueMahone]

Re: Doing a First Impression

start by asking yourself these questions:

1. Who am I?
2. How did I get here?
3. What am I doing here?
4. When and where is "here?"

I've asked myself those questions a few times in the past and it had nothing to do with reenacting.

:p

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: Doing a First Impression

This is Virginia's spouse posting.

One topic that a person who did Irish first person mentioned was knowing about religion. Since most of the Irish immigrants were Catholic, you should know who the pope was, probably the name of the bishop of your diocese, and the parish you belong to in whatever community you are supposed to live.

Michael Mescher

[Shantyman]

Re: Doing a First Impression

There is a research artical titled Playing Paddy Right
you ought to give that a look.

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/links/browselinks.php?c=11

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Doing a First Impression

I'm going to put in another plug for studying up a little on army paperwork:

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9874

This kind of information helps considerably if you ever play the role of a first sergeant or officer -- both of whom would have considerable responsibility for property management. It also helps the average soldier to a certain extent, though more in the federal than the confederate army, perhaps, due to the growing disparity in pay over the course of the war.

Knowing that your clothing belongs to you, but your ordnance to the captain, and your "camp and garrison equipage" to the company, and the relative value of stuff provides all sorts of material for conversation. It also generally involves things that you've already learned something about, and that will come up more naturally at an event than, say, the ins and outs of wheelwrighting or crop cycles in Alabama.

I've attached something else that you may find useful: information on the value in gold of a Confederate and federal dollar over the course of the conflict.

Since your pay as a Confederate private ran $11 a month, only rising to $18 much later, this table gives you an idea -- depending on the event -- of just how greatly your status has changed from the reasonably well compensated volunteer of 1861 to the later conscripted moral equivalent of a serf who stays in the ranks for the sake of his comrades more than anything else.

I hope soon to have a "market basket" of U.S. and C.S. prices that I can share with folks, but this will get you started in thinking about your material condition as an enlisted man.

Anyway, hope some of this helps.

[DocReynolds]

Re: Doing a First Impression

Liam:

If you're protraying an Irishman in America, remember that the Catholic immigrants from the Hunger were, well not kindly recieved. In New York city they were clustered in the FIve Points section of Manhattan. (The carinal of that era was Cardinal Hughes.) If though, you portray an Irish Protestant, things may be different: if you are one who has been in the states for a time, you may be mero acclimated (and perhaps chanegd the spelling of your surname). e.g.one libe of my family were Phibbs, who changed the spelling to Phipps around the time of the Famine; my maternal great grandfather spelled his name Kirgan, but was most likely a Kerrigan.

A few books that provide some insight into part of the Irish Civil War Experience are Daniel Conygham's "The Irish Brigade and its Campaigns", Father William Corby's "Memoirs of an Irish chaplain" and "Irish Green and Union Blue" (The Civil War Letters of Peter Welsh).

As for your persona, there's ltos of advice from otehrs. I would add, go with what you know, tis easier to work with. (My persona is Peter Reynolds, I am an Anglo-Irish American, whose family sent him here as a young boy; I learned some blacksmithing from my maternal grandfather, but did not take up the trade. I am though an agent for MAtthew Vassar's brewery in Poughkeepsie NY etc. ) These are all things that are already part of my 21st century story, such as my heritage and my knowledge of blacksmithing: I learned it on my own for a job a held but I do have the skill; I know about Beer, and Vassar, so it fits.

If you have a political bent, you could be a member of the Fenians (e.g. like Thomas Kelly, 10th Ohio, who was leader of the movement in the U.S. after the War). It is a chapter of Irish and American history often overlooked..anyway, them's just my thoughts.

Pete Bedrossian
150th NY/3rd NCT