I'm working on a post on a fun event we attended this weekend, the County Fair Civil War style.  We saw a Medicine Show, learned about Negro Spirituals, saw a political debate from 1859, and saw a vintage baseball team playing by gentlemanly rules!  We also got to see how a camera worked in the Civil War era. I was fascinated by the process. It's one thing to read about the process, but another entirely to see everything in action...or um, non action.  LOL  

     There was also a reenactment group of Civil War soldiers.  We met a group of reenactors from the Confederacy at Manassas a few weeks ago. However this time we met with the Union Army! Yea!  They were wonderful and I had a strong sense of authentication. My husband asked lots of questions about the rifle and I learned all about the rifle at Manassas from the reenactors, yet I was struck by a fresh sense of accuracy here. In short, (details are forthcoming in the big post about this great event) the kids and I got recruited by the Third US Regular Infantry to portray the Army of the Potomac!  We are not Civil War buffs at all, but our leanings are towards the Union. You all know how I am a huge fan of Colonial Williamsburg, but there aren't many reenactment groups that I can find for the Revolutionary War and well, the Civil War is huge around here so I guess that's where the reenacting opportunities lie.  The first seargeant gave me literature about the reenacting and they strive towards authenticity and that's precisely the type of group I would want to be with.  

     Even though we don't feel confident in our abilities, despite the interest, we were suddenly presented with the opportunity!  My son had a question but the surgeon was gone for the rest of the day, so the First Seargeant gave us a schedule of other events they would be doing. I was adding information to each piece of information, that we had done that tour, we were planning on attending that one, etc.  We told him we had recently moved here from Texas and are still learning the area and they were in fact representing their time in Texas in 1859.  He looked up some details for us and he apologized for our waiting while he looked up one tiny detail on Texas.  I told him I didn't mind, as I taught public school before homeschooling and I wrote our own Texas curriculum. I know what it's like to know one tiny detail is in the wealth of pages somewhere.  Besides, I'd rather hear the right thing than something made up.  In fact I'd rather here "I don't know." than something made up. Then he got some paperwork and had me sign it and said I could mark any interest I have in reenacting. What did I hear?  Wow! Well that spurred lots of questions, to which we received proper assurances that this is volunteer, on our schedule and we'd be trained.  I told him that the kids and I had been asked to reenact at the Alamo but then we moved.  We are excited! It's great to be asked!  

     My daughter and I portrayed Florence Nightengale and Clara Barton at our Civil War unit celebration, so we had a lot of questions along those lines when we met with the surgeon earlier. Therefore I signed us up for the medical. My son was asked how old he is. We all laughed, because my son was repeatedly asked this by the British at Colonial Williamsburg's Under the Redcoat. At age 13, he's old enough for the infantry. Not so in the Army of the Potomac, where he has to be 16 to handle a rifle for demonstration. But he is the right age for the music, as in a drum or fife!  Really? He is self taught on the fife! They like experience but it is not required, so my son signed up for the music.  

     I told the kids this would be a natural extension of the unit celebrations we do anyway, and is the next new challenge for them.  Well, we'll see where this takes us!