Have you ever wanted to be somebody else? Maybe just for a moment, a day, or even a lifetime?? It can be tempting especially on a bad day. Personally I know that I could stand being President just for a day or two so that I could take a ride on Air Force One and sleep in the Lincoln bedroom. I also wouldn’t mind being one of Lisa Vanderpump’s many pets as they live the glamorous good life in her mansion on the West Coast. Finally I truly wish I could blink my eyes and be a New York Times best-selling author. If I could click my heels three times I for sure would not go to Kansas under any circumstances but then again I don’t have my Auntie Em looking for me.
I think I
can understand just about any person, object, or location you would want to be
as long as you have a reason. I don’t need to understand or relate to that
reason but as long as you know why you feel the way you feel I can sympathize.
However there is one group I don’t think I could ever relate to.
Certainly
if I had a day to spend as someone else I don’t think it would involve a war
that ended over a hundred fifty years ago. This makes even less sense when you
want to portray the side that lost. To me this seems more like an act of mental
illness that role-playing. I was therefore determined to find out why and when
Civil War re-enactors do what they do.
Surprisingly
there is A LOT of material containing these phrases. But as I began to comb
through them it was more rhetoric than an act of clarification. I was getting
confused and sucked into a line of highly illogical thoughts. My favorite was
whether the North really won the war?! I couldn’t bear more than a paragraph of
that. I tried to follow the theory but got lost someplace when I “learned” that
slavery was not the cause being fought over. I guess the epitaph over President
Lincoln’s monument in D.C. is wrong.
Perhaps a
healthy dose of denial is key factor creating the urge to re-enact? It makes
more “sense” that way. At least there are reasons, even if they are delusional.
This
statement and question was on Yahoo and I couldn’t love it more:
“I mean
people from the South, do they realize that they lost? And why do they justify
it by saying "There were some brave Southern soldiers fighting", well
I am pretty sure there were some brave Nazis also, does Germany celebrate?”
When you
put it like that re-enacting such a deadly war seems unfathomable. But imagine
people impersonating Nazis? Could you envision the public outcry?
My
personal interaction with re-enactments in my adult life has only occurred
during the annual Battle of Brooklyn celebration at Greenwood Cemetery. I went
in 2012 and had a blast. I even got my photo taken with one Benji Franklin. I
can call him that because we are close. I have even been to his house in
London, which was recently featured in episode of Mysteries of the Museum. In a
six degrees of separation moment it was Don Wildman, the host of that show that
got me hooked on events at Greenwood Cemetery in the first place.
The day
of the battle re-enactment my father got his picture taken with a lady who was
either Benjamin Franklin’s wife or mistress, I am assuming.
A second
highlight from that day was watching the men on horseback in full retro gear
fighting on the cemetery grounds (the battle proceeds the cemetery). I had
taken the tour so I had already been to all of the spots in that area where the
battle was fought and won. Greenwood Cemetery is truly a magical place. I could
go on and on but I have already written two blogs about that place so see the
links below for more of this tangent.
Re-enactments
as far as I can tell started during the 1960’s. No matter where you are in this
country you can look up the closest battle re-enactment going on and sign up. I
couldn’t believe that I found more of those sites than ones dealing with the
reasons behind it. Apparently the adage “ignorance is bliss” prevails.
“Folks
like that are still on the battlefield, but lately, a more diverse group of
people — with a broader understanding of Southern history — have begun to push
reenactments toward deeper, truer purposes.” - S.E. Curtis
I would
like to think this thesis is correct but it seems at best it is fifty percent
old and fifty percent new age thinking.
For
example consider this fact:
“In 2010,
for instance, Texas school officials made the news by insisting that Jefferson
Davis’s inaugural address be given equal prominence with Abraham Lincoln’s in
that state’s social studies curriculum. The following year, Virginia school
officials were chagrined to learn that one of their state-adopted textbooks was
teaching fourth graders that thousands of loyal slaves took up arms for the
confederacy.” - Tracy Thompson
Sometimes
there are no words. I continue to reread that paragraph and each time it does
not fail to amaze me.
The most
coherent explanation I have found thus far to explain the re-enacting
phenomenon was found on a website called Bitter Southerner, of all things. He
may be bitter but he is also brilliant.
Paul
Singleton III, an African-American art therapist and poet, said:
“By
dressing up and taking part in battles and other historical events, re-enactors
can work through the pain and loss their ancestors may have felt. White
Southern re-enactors may feel oppressed and conquered because their Confederate
ancestors lost the war. At worst, their families have had to suffer through not
only defeat, but also Reconstruction and 150 years of socioeconomic hardship.
So they use an aesthetic means in the present to examine this past in the hope
of creating a different future. In their minds, they are the underdogs. Through
this kind of performance, they are yearning for catharsis and a change in
outlook.”
Waverly
Byth Adcock added:
“We
cannot pick our history,” he told the crowd. “In order for us to learn from our
mistakes or triumphs, we must embrace the entire story of our past. The good
and the bad, all of these things make us who we are today.”
I
couldn’t agree more. I think that’s why my love of history is so strong and
apparently why there remains to be Southern Civil War re-enactors.
Tag,
you’re it followers!! The next Find Out Friday topic is on you. That means
start twitting, emailing, or posting your suggestions. I want to know what you
need to know.
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