AUGUST 30, 2018 // 11
The event, staged by the nonprofit North-
west Civil War Council, is expected to draw
enthusiasts from Washington, California,
Nevada, Idaho and Canada.
In addition to live battles, attendees can
see demonstrations of artillery, cavalry,
music, medicine and clothing of the Civil War
era. In tented villages, craftsmen, cooks and
medics show their work as practiced in the
1860s.
While some reenactors represent a specific
historical character, others portray a general
category of person.
Elsewhere in the country, there’s been
discussion about whether women should
represent male soldiers on the battlefield. But
with more understanding about the numbers
of women who masqueraded as male soldiers
during the Civil War, some reenactment
groups have increasingly accepted women in
military ranks.
Women are represented in other roles as
well, including those embedded within army
units to work as field nurses, cooks and spies.
IF YOU GO
CIVIL WAR REENACTMENT AND
LIVING HISTORY
When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and
Sunday, Sept. 1 and 2; 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 3. Battles: 11 a.m. and
3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; noon
Monday.
Where: Clatsop County Fairgrounds,
92937 Walluski Loop, Astoria
Admission: $8 per person, $5 for chil-
dren, military and seniors. Kids under
5 get in free. $5 parking per vehicle.
More information: nwcwc.net.
ERICK BENGEL PHOTOS
For the 2015 Civil War Reenactment, Steve Holgate, in character as Abraham Lincoln, delivers
a rousing presentation outside the Fort Stevens Museum about the 16th U.S. president’s back-
ground and his trials during the American Civil War. The presentation included The Gettysburg
Address and selections from Lincoln’s political speeches.
Like putting on a play
Julie Bishop, of Dallas, Ore., will play the
part of a Confederate woman.
She was first drawn to reenacting by her
children, who played with the band. Her
favorite part of the weekend, she said, is
enjoying the music and the theater, as well as
“watching the kids running around, getting
dirty and learning so much.”
Wearing the clothing and sleeping in pe-
riod tents helps Bishop “understand what the
women went through and had to deal with in
that era,” she said.
Michael Larsen, of Yakima, Wash., was
drawn to the music. He plays marches on an
authentic reproduction rope-tension drum.
Many of the songs he performs are more than
200 years old and were played during the
Revolutionary War.
Larsen — who has several relatives who
fought in the original conflict — teaches
drum lessons to children and has organized
a kids’ drumming corps for 19 years for the
reenactment. He’s “always impressed with
the knowledge of the local reenactors,” he
said. “They read many journals and letters to
understand what happened.”
Don Benson, vice chairman of the North-
west Civil War Council, was drawn to Civil
War reenacting as a way to connect with his
ancestors: He had four grandfathers and nine
uncles who fought for the Union, including
one who spent seven months incarcerated in
the infamous Andersonville prison.
Benson started with World War II reen-
acting but switched over to Civil War events,
which he said are “more like putting on a play
in that they are more rehearsed and planned.”
Benson serves as company commander
for the 7th Michigan Cavalry Brigade. He
loves the adrenaline of riding on the field,
Safety concerns seem to be valid consid-
ering Confederate reenactors were attacked
with pepper spray during a parade in Newton,
North Carolina, later in the year, and van-
dals knocked over a statue of a Confederate
soldier in Columbus, Ohio. In October, police
had to lock down a reenactment in Middle-
town, Virginia, after receiving bomb threats.
A Cleveland paper quoted Eli Beachy,
a Confederate reenactor from Valley View,
Ohio, who said he believes the controversy is
a result of a misunderstanding of the purpose
of reenactments. “We’re not playing war, and
we’re not promoting hate speech,” Beachy
said. “We’re representing an educational
moment. Re-enacting is living theater, not
promotion of moronic causes.”
Learning by doing
Three new Confederate recruits — Rose Kulla (left), of La Center, Wash.; Mary Kandoll (center),
of Amboy, Wash.; and Moriah Kulla, of Yacolt, Wash. — ready themselves for the afternoon bat-
tle re-enactment at Fort Stevens State Park in 2015.
and started riding horses around the time he
started walking.
Ignited passions
Fort Stevens State Park — which has
an earthen fort built during the Civil War to
guard the Columbia River from potential
Confederate and British attacks — hosted the
annual reenactment for 27 years. When the
park stopped waiving fees for the Northwest
Civil War Council, the reenactment group
decided to relocate to the Clatsop County
Fairgrounds. Reenactors are cautiously opti-
mistic about the new venue, though many say
they will miss the connections to the old site.
Meanwhile, debate over the ethics of Civil
War reenactments extends far beyond the
region.
Last year’s event took place weeks after
the proposed removal of a statue of Confed-
erate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville,
Virginia, prompted a rally by white national-
ists that turned deadly in August 2017.
The city of Manassas, Virginia, responded
to the events in Charlottesville by canceling
their Civil War Weekend that would have
been held a few weeks later. Announcing
the shut-down, Manassas city officials said,
“Recent events have ignited passions in this
country surrounding the Civil War and the
symbols representing it.” They also expressed
concern for the safety of everyone involved.
Many modern reenactors consider them-
selves participants in “living history” that not
only illuminates military history, but gives
attendees the opportunity to learn about the
daily way of life in the U.S. in the 1860s.
Many participants devote long hours and
sacrifice financially to carefully research and
recreate the smallest details.
Individuals opposed to these events cite
concerns over the glorification of war and
concerns for the potential for hate speech and
racism.
Here on the North Coast, such debates
seemed far removed last year as participants
sat in the grass at Fort Stevens listening to a
demonstration on the petticoats women once
wore and the acrobatic movements required
to get into them. Nearby, a teen showed how
to play the fife and drum, and told listeners
that many Civil War drummers were as young
as 12 years old.
“Some people learn by reading, but others
learn by doing,” Earl Bishop, chairman of
the Northwest Civil War Council, said. “This
event is history you can see, touch and smell.
You can feel it.” CW