Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

[Brent Dacus]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

I am thinking of an event right now... how far in the future should I plan? 2 years?

[Pennvolunteer]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

I personally don't see my enthusiasm waning, and I agree, the key is to get young folks in the hobby while many of us reach the end of our functional roles as infantry due to age (and other reasons, which is why I just joined a facebook page on re-enactors committed to losing weight!). At PM our company had 3 young men in their 20s, and we were supposed to have 5. We have 6 regular young men in our company, and just recruited an 18 year old. That is the future, getting them involved, teaching them what right looks like and building enthusiasm. The other thing is folks get sick of the politics and posturing. I don't think it is as bad on the AC side as on mainstream, where some goofy Farb sets himself up as a bde commander, or where some company commander will insist on wearing his straps when he has 5 guys at an event. I've seen guys on this side of the hobby play officers at one event and then be a private at the next. To me that is evidence of guys who are doing for the right reasons, the love of history and just want to be a part of a great event. That needs to be the attitude.

[Mtjoyce]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

Ive been following this thread since the beginning and I agree with the points raised and the solutions offered. I do think that a major hinderance to this side of the fence is the cliquish atmosphere demonstrated at times regarding the support of events put on by the very people that are supposed to be stepping up and trying to host events. If certain groups of us don't endorse an event, (if it actually takes place after that) it will not get the same support from our community that it normally would. Kind of sad. It appeared when I first became involved with this side of reenacting that it was a brotherhood of sorts. We had a common goal of trying to present history as it was and having a good time doing it. Not always the case the days.

Why would anyone ever try to put on an event if it gets pushed aside or worse yet ignored or even supplanted by one of the "in" crowd's events?

[Strawfoot]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

I will piggy back on what Frank said, and also allude to the fact our particular unit the 24th Missouri is event driven. Our uniform guidelines on our website even state as much. This is why I value the contributions of the guys like Pat Landrum, Herb Coats, Harrison Holloway, Chris Anders, Matt Woodburn, Will Eichler, Skip Owens, and anyone else I've missed. It is the quality events, plus the commitment to said events by quality individuals and organizations, which keep us going. The X factor is momentum and enthusiasm, which is a big reason I miss The Chawls. For all of his malfeasance he was in essence the straw that stirs the drink for us. If our attentions waned, he would be there to fan the flames again. And hopefully he wouldn't burn down the house.

[coastaltrash]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

Well said Joyce. Well said.

[Tom Craig]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

The hobby has shrunk in terms of numbers, and judging from the people around me I would say enthusiasm is at a low ebb in my reenacting experience (which goes back to 1989).

The decline in numbers has many factors: Compared to the swell that happened in the mid 90's anything seems small, the economy, long running wars occupying many guys with deployments etc, and the aging out of the baby boom. Most of that can't be helped by anyone in the hobby.

The decline in enthusiasm is another thing all together. I think a couple of factors are at play there.
1) the 150th and the rise of the adjunct: The "best and brightest" of our hobby and the energy and attention of the rest has been consumed with these damn adjuncts. They've stolen the energy and room for anything else, and perhaps with the exception of Shiloh, have given less in return than they have taken. Speaking from a cavalry perspective, there are NO events on any calendar that I've seen this year that qualify as a C/H/P cavalry friendly event. From a general perspective there was only 1 high quality C/H/P event, and that was B100.

2) The lack of events: The late Mr. Heath was a major advocate of having 1-2 "national" EBUFU-C/H/P events a year, and was a huge force of pressure in deconfliction. I actually argue that that model was and is detrimental to the health of the hobby. Certainly you don't want competing events in the same state or small region stealing participants from each other. But beyond that I would argue that more events is better, and gives more people a chance to get involved in the hobby. If you only have 2 "national" events a year, and rely on units to do there own things, here is what happens...If a guy can't make the national then he is out of good events for the year, and his local group is lazy and relies on national events, so they sit home, or they go to mainstream events.

If you look to the fast food model of economy you find an interesting point. Most places where you see McDonald's you also see another fast food joint. They choose to do that on purpose knowing people are lured in by choice. If we give people more options rather than less, then we get more people having a chance to participate, and something to look forward to, which leads to enthusiasm.

Now we just need to get more folks to put on events...

Take care,
Tom Craig
1st Maine Cavalry

[Ambrose Bierce]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

Both salient points, Tom.

[Brent Dacus]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

What the goal of this Post? I am sort of wondering who we are talking to or what is the focus. let me recap so far I think its this.
1 We are worried we all won't meet somewhere and keep doing this thing we call enacting or anyone will even want to.
2 We want new people. We are not sure we want to look for them or just hope the will get interested.
3 The folks that Host events now would really like someone else to do it. We not sure who those new people are, if there worthy, and hope they pic stuff up by osmosis.

What did I miss? Am I close to the point? Are we hoping all the right people are reading this?

[Steve Acker]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

A child/family, career and coaching keep me from doing the number of events I used to do, but my heart is still in the time period and the hobby. I am often religated to local events for me uniform/campfire fix.

Using a coaching analogy will best fit my point. As a coach I constantly worked my freshman athletes for they were the feeder system by which my varsity built its success. When I look at the state of the hobby at the local level, at least my local level, I see groups that don't drill as much, don't use the military aspects as much, not much campaign camping and the battles I've seen are not much more than two different colored groups of guys shooting at each other for 20 minutes then going back for a cold one. Are the local events really training young guys for the next level of the hobby?

My analogy is to point out that the better the feeder system the better the team.

Not meant to start a bashing effort, but to expose my perspective.

Enjoy,
Steve Acker
Former member of a bunch of units:

[Cal Kinzer]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

I haven't posted on this forum in quite a while, but can't resist this very important thread. So please allow me to offer my 2 cents worth. First of all, I am VERY thankful to Herb Coats and his pards for all their hard work on Pickett's Mill. Despite the weather and the inevitable snafus that always seem to come up with an event like this, I thought they did an outstanding job and I had a great time. I had recently been sort of dispirited about reenacting in general, but this event helped revive my enthusiasm. Thanks, Herb!

I attended my first event in the spring of 1971 at the beginning of the 110th anniversary cycle. Since that time, the hobby has gone through eight more of these five-year cycles. Towards the end of each, there has always been a lot of worrying and hand-wringing about whether it was all over, whether everyone would move on to other things, and (with the exceptions of the 1990 and '95 transitions), why so few young people seemed to be getting involved. Yet, for all of this, Civil War reenacting managed to survive and, some would even say, prosper. I suspect that the same will be true after the 150th. Yes, there is always a decline in numbers towards the end of each cycle, as some of the older men take the opportunity to call it quits and groups recruit new ones to take their place. But that is nothing new and a normal part of the ebb and flow of the hobby.

Likewise, there has always been an "underground" movement of authentics - this goes clear back to groups like George Gorman's 6th North Carolina and the old 1st Virginia during the Centennial, as well as to the western groups like the 1st Arkansas (later Cleburne's) and the Mudsills that were offshoots of them. What we didn't have in those days was a means of communication such as we have now with this website and through other Internet sites. That has allowed the small and very widely separated authentic groups around the country to have much greater contact with each other than before, and has been the real spark behind the h/c/p movement.

But we do still suffer from too few troops who are spread way too thin geographically. I don't know that there is any ready solution to this. But it does seem to me that our side of the hobby could benefit from a bit more organization, at least at the overall level. The big mainstream events are possible because umbrella organizations like the Blue-Gray Alliance, First Federal Division, and Cleburne's get together and have winter meetings, screen events and sponsors, focus everyone's attention on a few events and do their best to avoid crippling date conflicts. Would not the h/c/p side also benefit from such organizational planning?

Cal Kinzer
24th Missouri Vol. Inf.

[chris stevans]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

Honestly, gents, I think much of our mustering problems are as Nathan alluded to. We're losing to the technology boom. It's made many, if not most, of the younger generation out there soft. They can't conceive of being with out their smart phone, twitter or being 2 minutes away from a facebook post. If we're going to get new blood to fill the ranks, we need to look at the niches where they're hiding. History classes, National Park visitors, gun shows (?) in order to dig them out. I expected a bump from the 150ths, but it didn't materialize. No "Gettysburgs" to pique their collective interests. Units we associate with are in similar situations. The dumbing down of our history lessons in school isn't helping either. Another option may be to associate with a few local mainstream units in order to "advertise" ourselves and siphon off those looking for a more authentic experience. Regardless, it is a disappointing state of affairs.

[Spinster]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

But we do still suffer from too few troops who are spread way too thin geographically. I don't know that there is any ready solution to this. But it does seem to me that our side of the hobby could benefit from a bit more organization, at least at the overall level. The big mainstream events are possible because umbrella organizations like the Blue-Gray Alliance, First Federal Division, and Cleburne's get together and have winter meetings, screen events and sponsors, focus everyone's attention on a few events and do their best to avoid crippling date conflicts. Would not the h/c/p side also benefit from such organizational planning?

Cal Kinzer
24th Missouri Vol. Inf.

Cal, having come up under the old western umbrella North-South Alliance and its ubiquitous five year plan that let me know when and where I was going for years into the future, I was quick to latch on to Charles Heath's master calendar, help to feed it when it existed, and cheer Peter Berezuk's work to take that idea into the future.

One of the harder tasks I've dealt with in working with the Blue Gray Alliance had to do with the lack of a master calendar for the c/h/p end of the hobby. As the BGA plans at minimum of two years out, January often found me in a hotel lobby, messaging and calling, trying to get dates for events I'd 'heard' about , so that BGA leadership would have information available to make sound decisions on scheduling. Sometimes that lack of information resulted in an absolute event train wreck for those of us who provide infrastructure for the BGA and wished to also enjoy the history-heavy end of the hobby.

And there are troops who are loyal to a local unit, and participate in a full calendar. Scheduling further out by the c/h/p and coming to a good consensus on what to support allows these soldiers to fully participate, offer new opportunities to those in their units who are ready for more adventure, and refrain from making this a 'must choose' situation for men who would rather do both.

To answer Brent Dacus' question--it depends ;) Who do you have behind you organizationally? Do you have a large solid organization with a track record of working together, making commitments and keeping them? Then you can put together events in a shorter time frame. If you are the Lone Ranger, along with your two man mess, then you will need more time and still won't be done. And, if you don't have a track record of going to other people's events, don't expect them to turn out for yours.

Rob Murray, Gerry Barker and I put together a week long event with 13 months from the point Barker pulled the vision out of a jug of white whiskey at a rained out event until the wagons rolled and the infantry marched across the Cumberland Plateau. From start to finish we had to replace major event staff positions twice and were still short staffed. Life happens. This was not enough time, and it nearly killed us---had I not been Daddysitting during the period, and thus available for detail work and ration manufacture, it would not have been enough time. Had the many folks who said 'Hey man I'm coming" actually signed up, ummmm, yes that would have been a problem too, as we would have likely picked up folks who were not up to the trip given the limited infrastructure we could provide. We rolled out with a bare minimum of folks and a financial structure that was simply disastrous due to those low registrations. We've never been sorry we did it. But every organizer should carefully weigh the amount of support they can really count on, and the amount of risk they are willing and able to take.

On a larger scale, the Blue Gray Alliance prefers to have land contracts fully in hand and signed two years or more out. Every organizer has to learn and relearn the Heath Maxim: Its the Land, Stupid. If you don't have the land secured , you can't announce. Even if you have the land, and have the contracts, things still happen----I've seen more just plain squirrelly stuff come up on land use in this cycle than I ever could have imagined. You must have a plan B. And plan C. And you'll likely execute plan G. Insurance, water, sanitation, medical, -all the considerations are there whether you are taking 25 guys into your granddaddy's deer woods, or 10,000 guys to a major battlefield.

And occasionally, you read all the history you can find, write the event plan, put all the parts together, document the foodways, make the word files, get all the resources together---and just put the whole thing into a nice electronic box --or big paper file---against the day when you find the land.

( And yes, for those of us who did choose to wrap wagons around us as a new way to experience the hobby during the 150ths, we are reading a lot of westward expansion. There is a lot more opportunity for adventure in the West.........)

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

... Who do you have behind you organizationally? Do you have a large solid organization with a track record of working together, making commitments and keeping them? Then you can put together events in a shorter time frame. If you are the Lone Ranger, along with your two man mess, then you will need more time and still won't be done. And, if you don't have a track record of going to other people's events, don't expect them to turn out for yours.
.......Every organizer has to learn and relearn the Heath Maxim: Its the Land, Stupid. If you don't have the land secured , you can't announce. Even if you have the land, and have the contracts, things still happen----I've seen more just plain squirrelly stuff come up on land use in this cycle than I ever could have imagined. You must have a plan B. And plan C. And you'll likely execute plan G. Insurance, water, sanitation, medical, -all the considerations are there whether you are taking 25 guys into your granddaddy's deer woods, or 10,000 guys to a major battlefield.

And occasionally, you read all the history you can find, write the event plan, put all the parts together, document the foodways, make the word files, get all the resources together---and just put the whole thing into a nice electronic box --or big paper file---against the day when you find the land.

Johnny, ask for help. In 2004, all I had was a site - Rich Mountain. John Cleaveland and Coley Adair said they would help and they did. It really isn't overly complicated, but it is a helluva lot of work.

To piggyback on Mrs. Lawson's post above about the land subject... my take on it in an answer to Eric.

2 points are on here and shouldn't be confused:

Now, the above you refer to is friends coming together to help make better events, that is easy enough...

BUT securing the sites is another issue bearing upon the connections subject... to do this can be a major issue with liabilities, urban overgrowth of old farms where we used to have events, etc. Site owners (state parks, private farms, usually) have to be able to TRUST the event organizer and this comes only with time.

I wish it were that easy sometimes. I know of a few people complaining on this thread the hobby is too cliquish and this leads to units, both mainstream and authentic, to lay claim to sites they work frequently with- which is only aptly so. Those groups enjoy connections needed to make an event. By default, it is these groups with connections to sites that do the best job at organizing events and can do so pretty easily.

Bottom line: Getting friends to help organize an event is relatively easy... getting sites to cooperate involves time, connections and trust with the site owners.

[Eric Tipton]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

Johnny, I can only speak from personal experience, so I'll tell you a little snippet about Rich Mountain. I am hoping to get guys jacked up about putting something on, so please take this story as such. I would love to see the new ideas that are out there. As a hobby, we need them right now so we can get off the ground running after the 150ths. Doing an event is hard, but is isn't complicated. Here is kind of how it went for me... trying to start an event from scratch:

At the end of Pickett's Mill in 2004, I had the chance to talk to John Cleaveland and Coley Adair, of Critter Fame. Coley and John put together PM in 2001 and 2004. They had previously offered to help me with an event. After completing Pickett's Mill, I was sky high and ready to tear it up. They told me some quick do's and don'ts to get started and told me to call them before I contacted anyone at Rich Mountain. We left the event, but had to make a stop before we got on the highway.

The Mess No. 1 guys had a hankering for some Georgia Peaches as they had promised their wives to bring some home. I stayed behind in the car and pulled out the 6th Ohio Regimental History, which I HIGHLY recommend and started to re-read about the Battle of Rich Mountain.

You see, the 6th went on the Western Virginia Campaign along with a lot of other units from the Midwest. Like most, I had focused on the east as the beginning of the war, so I paid little attention to this particular campaign other than the fact that McClellan was promoted there and so was Robert E. Lee. I also knew that the first general in the war to be killed was Robert Garnett CSA.

When I read the regimental, I just kept thinking how cool it would be to go out there. It is right between the east and west and the scenery they described in the regimental was just mind-boggling. These are corn-fed guys from the Midwest who stumble through the mountains, impassable ravines, undergrowth, lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

When the guys returned from getting their peaches, I told them that we were going to do Rich Mountain. We talked it through as we drove home and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it. The other boys were a little more skeptical. Supportive, but skeptical. We had never done an event. We were a mess with 8-10 regular guys and we didn't control any sites. The event site was five hours away. Really good idea. Good scenario. A LOT of work. Maybe too ambitious for our first try.

By Monday, I called Rich Mountain. Now, this was a critical juncture, because, yes, first you need the site. Rich Mountain - privately owned by a foundation. State Road going over the top. But more importantly, you need someone on the who can become your champion to the deciding group. In my case, the person who answered the phone was not very excited about the event and a little confused. "No spectators?" She asked. "How are you going to do that?" she added.

I explained the whole concept of an EBUFU event to her. She explained to me that they did an event at the site every two years already. After talking to her for a while, I felt a bit dejected. Felt like the air had popped out of the balloon.

A couple of days later, I got a call from someone named Chelley Depp. She said that she was the person who ran the battlefield for the foundation. She asked me about the event. She explained to me that they already did an event there every two years. She asked me how we could do it without spectators. But, I sensed that she was a little excited about it as I explained exactly what we were going to do. "We want to do the entire flank march and follow in their steps." I said.

She explained to me that there was a Board of Directors and that I would have to convince the Board. I told her that I would put together a proposal, but first, I wanted to come visit and see the site, as soon as possible. She said that they were having a festival with a book signing by Hunter Lesser. Hunter, she said wrote the book on the Western Virginia Campaign. Great, I said. I will see you in a few weeks!

Jake Dinkelaker tagged along with me as we rehearsed what we needed to say. The President of the Board, Chelley had told me, was an ex-Marine, and I was more than a bit nervous. How was I going to be able to explain this concept? Well, what I did was ask Coley and John about a thousand stupid questions about how to deal with these guys. How did you do this? How did you do that? I felt well-prepared.

We arrived at what used to be General McClellan's headquarters in the middle of tiny downtown Beverly, West Virginia. A festival was going on and there were people coming in and out of what was now the headquarters and museum for the Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation. To our left, as we came in, I spied Hunter Lesser, signing copies of Rebels at the Gate. I have to admit that I was a little geeked-out to meet him.

During a lull, I went over and talked to him. "Hunter, I am the crazy guy who wants to do the flank march." He looked at me and said "Like they did it?" "Yep", I said. "Did you know that the Federals dropped their knapsacks before the march up the mountain? Are you going to do that?" "Yep". I said.

We spent the next hour or so talking about the battle. I had tons of questions. What uniforms were they wearing? Which units were in the center of the action? Who owns all that land up there? At one point, Hunter turned to me and said "I have wanted to see somebody do this since I was about eight years old."

Later, I met Rick Wolfe, the President of the Board. He was definitely an ex-Marine. He was also very nice and seemed genuinely curious and interested in our concept. "So, how do you do it with the spectators?", he asked. ;)

Other than the fact that Jake decided to drop some f-bombs during the meeting (Jake was about sixteen or seventeen at the time), it went very well. I agreed to put together a proposal and meet with the board about a month later to present the idea formally.

Every single thing I did was pirated off of Pickett's Mill. There was some other stuff in there, but I copied the financial model and essentially the skeleton of the event and switched it to West Virginia. We added one part. Our expense goal would be ZERO. We would get everything possible by donation, trade, whatever it took. At the point I was doing this, I was an event staff of one plus the Critters.

I put together a formal proposal and included a preliminary budget based on a few events around that time, including Pickett's Mill. I will attach the spreadsheet to this post, so you can see it. The goal was Pickett's Mill plus 50-100 people. I laid out the marketing strategy - HEAVILY RELYING ON EXPOSURE ON THE AC, web site, fund-raising, etc.

Now, I had the guys in the Mess really jumping in. Between Joe Liechty's reenacting experience, regimental history knowledge and common sense, I could have never pulled it off. Without Ken Cornett, I would have had no one doing the administrative things like registration, communication. Without the guys in the Mess behind me, I would have had nothing. BUT, it started with something I saw in a regimental history that I thought would be cool to do. Anyway, back to the story...

I went to meet with the Board and make my formal presentation. This time, I talked Mark Jaeger, of infamous Hoosier Fame to accompany me. You see, Mark Jaeger has done more research on Indiana Units and assorted other things than anyone alive. Mark is also an ex-Marine. ;) He also knew Hunter Lesser, because Mark helped him research his book.

We met with the board. I made the entire presentation, including a rough timeline, budget and projections on numbers, logistics, etc. They listened intently, but I could see some at least slight skeptics in the crowd.

After I completed the presentation, I opened up to questions. The first question, "I am a little confused. How are you going to do this without the spectators?" The next question, "What's in it for you? We get the money. You do all the work. What's the catch?"

AH! I explained to the board that we pay for the privilege to be on the original battlefield. "Here is the deal," I told them. "In exchange for letting us play on your battlefield, we will give every net cent after expenses to you. That is the trade." "But, we get to do a lot of stuff that isn't typically done at reenactments. We will draw rammers. We will fix bayonets, as they did when they attacked."

They also brought up the fact that the land we would be traveling over was owned by various mining and foresting companies. Fortunately, Terry Jones, form their board was a former employee and a resident at the base of Rich Mountain. If you went to the event, we passed through his yard to start our climb. I can't remember how many land owners there were, but maybe 6-10. Terry said he would knock on doors and make calls and sort it out. That was BIG for sure. An inside person for land permissions.

Their last question was the tough one. "How do we know that you can do all of this? There are two of you. What you are talking about will take a tremendous amount of work. You are going to need water, volunteers, a whole staff."

"Well," I said, I work in real estate. We do quite a bit of development. I see this kind of as a development. We have a site, a staff and a plan. That's first. Second, we represent a WHOLE lot of people. I think when we tell them this idea, they are really going to like it. They will come from all over the country, and maybe from other countries to be here. I think this is a great site and a great cause and I think this would be really cool to do."

They thanked me for my presentation, and told me that they would consider it and let us know. In the meantime, we all went to dinner together. It was Rick Wolfe, Hunter Lesser, Mark Jaeger and myself. While Hunter and I were drooling over the prospects for the event, Mark and Rick engaged in some kind of Marine lingo of which I am not familiar. Hunter and I stopped and listened to them and busted out laughing. I love Marines, but you guys have your own language for sure.

Mark and I went home in good spirits the next day. We de-briefed about the meeting and wondered if they were going to go for it. "This is freaking crazy." I thought. "I can't believe we are really going to try and do this."

I can't remember if it was the next day or three days or whatever, but they finally called me back and said that they wanted to go for it. "Can I officially announce it?" I asked. "Yep, go ahead and announce it." Rick said. I was ecstatic. I told the other boys the good news and got it out there on the AC in post haste. The event was born.

My advice - not just to you Johnny, but any of you guys who are thinking about it. Start with an idea and a site. Imagine what you can do there and start a crusade to convince other people. If you really believe it is something that is worth doing, then go for it. If you are afraid that it will fail. Don't do it. If you don't have the time, don't do it. But, if you think you have an idea and a site that might work, as Mr. Landrum suggested, pick up the phone and call whoever runs the site and take a shot. If you get a friendly voice on the other side of the line, you have your first ally. Every event starts with an idea from a small group. The better the idea, the larger group you will attract. I understand the difficulties, and trials and tribulations (and I haven't even mentioned Bummers. ;), but I would say go for it. Johnny, Brent, any of you guys who want to do something, you will find that there are more than enough people to help. But, START WITH THE IDEA.

Just my two cents...

[Strawfoot]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

Eric,

Thank you for sharing such a fulfilling experience with us. From your play-by-play, it seems to be very fresh in your mind! Personally, I remember when this event was announced. The most impressive aspect, and what gave it instant credibility, was the FANTASTIC work you guys did on the website. I really thought that was the difference maker right there.