Characters / Reenactor's Campfire

On Friday night we will have our "Reenactor's Campfire" where everyone will come "in character". At our previous party this was such a fun and educational time! You won't want to miss out on this!!!

Once you have "enlisted", you may request an identity either on the side of the Union or the Confederacy.

We will do our best to honor your character preference.  Please understand that we need to keep the sides balanced both in number and "battle experience". 

Those who RSVP first will be given priority.  (See "Claimed Characters" Page for those that have already been assigned.)

Once you have your character you will need to learn all you can about him/her.

Here are a few things to help you start your search for information:

1. full name and rank
2. home state
3. military experience
4. Civil War battles
5. reputation
6. physical characteristics
7. childhood
8. adult life (before/after the war)
9. friendships with other characters
10. accomplishments, failures
11. unusual or interesting facts

 

Like the military comrades and West Point cadets back in 1861 who were soon to face their dearest friends across the battle field, we will come together for a few hours of fellowship before facing each other in war the next morning.

Check out these lists:
Union Generals
Confederate Generals

Here is another link with a list of the Generals from the battle of Gettysburg (each name has a link to a bio.):
Northern and Southern Generals at Gettysburg

Ladies, if you wish to attend the Reenactor's Campfire, you will need to choose a character also.  You can be the wife of a General, President, or other married historical figure, or you can choose one of the ladies referenced under "Women and War".

Women and War

Francis Clayton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Clalin

Ladies, you are welcome to be a spectator, but if you choose to be part of Saturday's battle, you have several choices. 

If you do not intend to carry a weapon, you can be a nurse or a water carrier; just be warned that you could be shot.  If you intend to participate in the paintball fight, you can join the few, brave women of history and dress as a man on Saturday*.

Jeannie Hodgers
http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/jennie-hodgers.html

Here are a few links to help you find your character if you plan on attending the Reenactor's Campfire:
Women of the Civil War
Southern Women of the Civil War
Spies of the Confederacy
Women Soldiers of the Civil War
Women at Gettysburg

 *note:  If you are a character who will be dressing as a man and fighting on Friday, please wear your "pre-war attire" and dress in ladies clothing for Friday night.

The Gettysburg Address

Less than 300 words,
taking less than 3 minutes to recite,
Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is one of the most powerful and concise speeches ever given.

So whether this is a refresher or your first time, I hope you will read, listen to, and memorize these lines in anticipation of reciting it together to celebrate the preservation of the Union.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 

 

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
  But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

-Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863

The recitation of the Gettysburg Address is a most significant part of this memorial event. 

Please take the time to practice this with your families. (But, remember this is for fun!  No pressure.)

Get Ready for Battle

You will enjoy the weekend so much more if you become familiar with the three day of the Battle of Gettysburg. 

The simplest approach is to watch the movie Gettysburg.

Here's a clip of the Day 3:  Pickett's Charge



You may want to do a little extra History/Literature and read Killer Angels, an excellent historical-fiction from which the movie Gettysburg was inspired.  (It "just happens" to be part of our required reading for this school year.  I just love how the Lord coordinates our curriculum for us!) 

There are several places to download it for free; here is one link:

 

 

This is a great year to visit the National Park at the Gettysburg battlefield.  The National Parks web-site is an excellent place to scope out before you visit. We printed out their helpful park map and a couple other maps that showed the troop positions each day and found it most interesting to refer to them as we watched the movie. 

 

Day 1 - July 1, 1863

Day 2 - July 2, 1863

Day 3 - July 3, 1863

 

If you find these interesting, the Wikimedia Commons has more detailed maps of the individual battlefields on each of these days.

 

There are countless websites with descriptions and videos about the battles on these days.