
But most of my gear is accurate reproductions of period equipment, most of it made with recreations of the tools, materials and finishing products used then. For example, knapsacks were constructed out of linen or other cheap cloth, and then covered with an oily paint mixture. Leathers were dyed with things like walnut hulls or iron oxidation. Most garments were hand-stitched, too, so you will find that nearly all my uniforms (and I reenact both Confederate and Union) are hand-sewn. While spectators don't know the difference, I do. Does reenacting serve any purpose besides letting guys play in the woods and shoot of cannons? Reenactors have raised large sums of money, often for smaller battlefields like McDowell, VA. These places aren’t always on the radar screen of the National Parks Service or the major preservation organizations like The Civil War Preservation Trust. Development is gobbling up the land around battlefields at a depressing rate. There are even plans to build a casino at Gettysburg! That’s disgusting. Would you go back in time if you could? I seriously want to know. Yes. Not to experience the action, but to learn more about the people. Before Freud, people didn't look for hidden psychological meanings in their own actions and the actions of others. I'd like to just spend time with an ordinary family, perhaps my mother's ancestors in Virginia. But what would you eat? Wasn’t there heavy food shortage during the Civil War? They made do. I’ve already eaten many foods from that era. The most common foods soldiers ate were hardtack (crackers made without leavening) and salt pork (sow belly, preserved with salt to prevent spoilage). At one event, we roasted fresh beef on sticks and ramrods to kill the maggots that had sprouted on it when some flies got loose. No one who roasted their meat got the "old soldier's revenge" that weekend. I’ve even eaten period candies. Lemon drops were a favorite back then, along with hoarhound candies. These were often sent from home in Adams Express Boxes. What’s Adams Express? It was like UPS, but for the Civil War.