Civil War Reenactors –

Some Still Serve With Passion In A War Long Over

By Jeff White

One hundred yards from the gleaming Hondas parked in the middle school’s back lot Tuesday they erected a white canvas tent and stoked a small fire in a hole created by a sharp spade. Their scratchy wool uniforms greeted students dressed in shorts and tee shirts.

And their polished long-rifles made them stand out.

Modernity was all around them, but Bob Grave and Victor Scalora were firmly entrenched in the 1860s, in a war that entrenched a nation.

These two Newtowners are a part of a fraternity of Civil War enthusiasts who take their love of history and graft it onto a desire to actually experience a lost era. What started as a unique way to commemorate the Civil War’s centennial in the 1960s has swelled into what many call the fastest growing hobby in America.

Every year, some 40,000 Americans addicted to “period rushes” charge across battlefields reenacting the many battles and skirmishes of the Civil War. There are the “hardcore” who starve themselves to achieve the weight comparable to actual Civil War soldiers of that day. Still others prefer to wait out battles with some modern comforts, like a Walkman.

Mr Grave, an attorney by trade, and Mr Scalora, an engineer, lie somewhere in the middle.

They are members of the 2nd Connecticut, an artillery unit based in Woodbury. Throughout the year, they journey to regional battlegrounds and join other Union outfits reenacting campaigns against Confederate troops. When they are not busy taking on Johnny Reb, the 2nd Connecticut puts on “living history” demonstrations in area towns. At the middle school this week, Mr Grave and Mr Scalora, in full dress, lectured on Gettysburg, the life of a Civil War soldier, and the history of the 2nd Connecticut.

“We all do it for different reasons,” explained Mr Grave about his love for Civil War reenacting. “First of all, you have to have a passion for it, a passion to go beyond the reading and the movies.”

For Mr Grave, it was not that hard to develop the Civil War bug; he grew up in Virginia, where they “beat it into my head. You either loved it, or you hated it.”

He loved it, as it turned out, so much so that when he relocated with his family in Connecticut, he began to attend lecture series on the Civil War. He remembered one presentation in particular, about the 2nd Connecticut, and he decided to go for it. That was some time ago, and for the last three years, he has been a member of that unit, in which he currently holds the rank of Corporal.

Mr Scalora was bitten in a similar fashion. “Since the eighth grade, I’ve always had a passion for history, especially military history,” he recalled. Mr Scalora too got hooked while attending Civil War lectures, and when he saw a dress reenactment during a visit to Gettysburg, “I practically signed up on the spot,” he said.

Changing Roles

But what was it about the 2nd Connecticut that drew these two men into its fold? Like the men that make up the modern day unit, the original 2nd Connecticut was comprised of men who ended up playing different roles than they were trained for.

 As the war of secession smoldered on in the south, the 19th Connecticut mustered in Litchfield for a March toward Washington. Upon arriving at the nation’s capital, the 19th changed its number to the 2nd, and the artillery unit took up position guarding many of the forts that fanned out around Washington like spokes on a tire. Much of the war for the 2nd Connecticut was spent holding down forts and performing minor policing duties.

But in the spring of 1864, General Ulysses S. Grant was given command of the Union army, and soon undertook a dogged attempt to track down and defeat Robert E. Lee. As the Union army pressed south and suffered numerous defeats at the hands of the great southern commander, the 2nd Connecticut was drafted into Gen Grant’s army not as an artillery unit, but as infantry. In its first battle, at Cold Harbor, Virginia, 323 men from the 2nd Connecticut were slain in just seven minutes.

“That was their baptism by fire,” laughed Mr Grave, as he recounted the tale to scores of middle schoolers who have been studying the Civil War in their social studies classes.

The remainder of the 2nd Connecticut stuck with Gen Grant for the remainder of the war, and was present at Appomattox for Gen Lee’s surrender.

One hundred thirty-five years later, Mr Grave and Mr Scalora spend much of their time trying to recapture that era. The irony of their love of reenacting is not lost on them. “These guys would have done anything not to do this, and here we are paying good money to do it,” Mr Grave pointed out.

On average, the hobby is quite expensive. Between the uniforms, the genuine Enfield rifles used by the original company, and much of the accessory equipment, most men in the 2nd Connecticut have spent close to $2,000.

And then there are the time commitments such a hobby requires. Mr Grave and Mr Scalora attend five full-scale reenactments every year, many of which are in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. These mock battles are made as authentic as possible. Soldiers rise at daybreak, march to the battlefield, and meet the enemy. Shots are fired, and men do go down, though usually because their rifles have jammed or they are out of ammunition – it is reenactment etiquette that when your weapon fails, you “take a hit and die.” On particularly hot days, playing dead often offers reprieve from an unforgiving sun. Once a cease-fire has been called, the armies go back to their camps, where they eat authentic meals and dance to period-appropriate music.

Although the time commitments of reenacting could put stress on family life, it has worked out well for Mr Grave and Mr Scalora. Both of their families have encouraged the hobby, and both have children who are active in the 2nd Connecticut. Mr Grave’s two sons are cadets (a title given to children under 16 years of age), and Mr Scalora has one daughter who is also a cadet. Cadets typically pull camp chores during reenactments, but also march in battles, carrying flags or beating on drums.

Aside from weekends spent on the battlefield, they march in parades and lecture to both students and adults about various aspects of the Civil War.

Middle school students this week learned about how Civil War soldiers lived during long marches between battles. They tried on the heavy “frock coats” emblazoned with the red trim that symbolized an artillery unit; they fingered hardtack and Union currency; they were treated to booming gunfire from a pair of Enfield rifles.

“For a lot of people, this is the only time they are going to see this kind of stuff,” explained Mr Grave. “They’ll read about it, but they may never experience it.” Mr Grave explained that although much of reenacting is about pursuing an individual love of history and events, there is a large element of education also involved. “[The 2nd Connecticut] has been designated by the state as an educational organization, and that’s a big part of what it is we try to do. We got into it because we liked it and wanted to have fun with it, but I didn’t realize how much of an educational slant there is to it when I first got into it.”

Past And Present

For both Mr Grave and Mr Scalora, Civil War reenactment is about marrying the past and the present. To that end, they are trying to locate the graves of Newtown men who fought with the original 2nd Connecticut. They estimate that close to 20 Newtowners went south with the 2nd Connecticut during the war, and that six of them are buried in town. Mr Grave and Mr Scalora want to locate their graves and place flags as a sign of commemoration.

Commemoration, after all, is at the heart of what they do. Although they love to fill the hobnailed boots of a Union soldier, both Mr Grave and Mr Scalora realize that they are merely visiting the past; at the end of the day, after a tough battle, they can still go home to their families.

“Part of me would like to have lived in that time,” Mr Scalora confided. “It would be interesting to see the romance of that era. But for the stuff they had to deal with, the diseases and all that other stuff, it’s terrible. I wouldn’t like that.”

“It must appear to a lot of people a little odd,” Mr Grave admitted of his hobby. But however strange it might appear, nothing could take away from the feeling he gets when he is on the battlefield. “It’s a rush, and I don’t care how many times you do it, every one’s different, always a rush. You get out there, you just get lost, and the noise, and the smoke, and you forget how hot you are and how thirsty you are, you are just so focused.”

As carefully as they built their camp on the middle school’s softball field, Mr Grave and Mr Scalora repacked their haversacks and slid their rifles into long, white canvas holsters. They mounted up, and marched to a pickup truck and SUV that would take them home to their families.

“It’s really play acting,” Mr Grave said. “We’re all little boys at heart.”