Restaging Civil War battles can get complicated

WISE, Va. – A few weekends a year, these men change their blue jeans for wool britches. Women swap out tank tops for hoop skirts. And families trade in microwaves for campfires.

Cell phones are stowed away. Coffee is consumed out of tin cups, not Starbucks mugs.

During a Civil War re-enactment, the name of the game is authenticity.

But sometimes, that authenticity is delivered in a Ford pickup and a trailer.

“We’ve been here since about 9 a.m. and we’re still setting up,” re-enactor Capt. Joey Verbal said about noon Friday. He and the rest of his company, the 50th Co. H from Wise, were getting their canvas tents set up, and fixing a few lanterns in preparation for a weekend of battles at Wise. The camp was set up in the field at L.F. Addington Middle School.

“It takes a lot of work and a big truck,” said a private in the company, Tom Smith. The company’s soldiers and their wives hail from Kingsport and Piney Flats, Tenn.

“Everyone does it a little different,” Smith said. “Some come with what they have on their backs and then there’s those like us, what takes two trucks to haul everything.”

The company has been participating in Civil War re-enactments for about five years, and Verbal said he got into it because his son started when he was a teenager.

“It’s a good hobby if you enjoy camping,” Verbal said. “It’s a real good family hobby. I’ve got one [son] now whose got a grandbaby on the way in November, so I guess he’ll [the baby] be wearing gray by this time next year.”

A few yards away, the 1st Confederate Division of the Confederate States Medical Department tent was set up. The men in the division, Col. Buddy Eller and Maj. Jim Eller, both of Bristol, Va., said they’ve been participating in Civil War re-enactments for 23 years.

Jim Eller said he also got involved because of his son, who in high school did re-enactments with former Tennessee High School teacher Carl Jenkins.

“By the time we got into it, we were over 50,” he said. “So we formed a medical group, and we’ve been collecting Civil War surgical instruments.”

Eller said it takes the pair about three hours to get set up – they have a 15-by-15-foot tent, which is a replica of a field hospital tent. They also have crates full of Civil War era surgical tools, and two rope beds to sleep in.

Eller and Eller go to about 12 or 15 events a year, Jim Eller said.

“Where else can you see 74-year-old men outside, playing, and drinking by a campfire?” he said. “We’re going to do it until we’re 80, anyway.”

A company of families from Tennessee, the 43rd Tennessee Co., set up their tents in the corner of the field.

Ron Hornsby, of Speedwell, Tenn., said he got into re-enacting about six years ago because, at an event in Jonesborough, a friend handed him a rifle and a uniform and told him to get involved. He said he most looks forward to the people he encounters at re-enactments, and participating in living history for children.

“They’re not aware of any history, whatsoever,” he said. “The Civil War was not about slavery, it was about taxation and state’s rights.”

Uniforms can be purchased by re-enactors and the public alike at the sutler’s tent, where, during the war, men could buy bread and other things the army did not provide them.

“This is a little different from the sutler’s tents,” said Ohioan Ron McClintlock, sutler for the weekend, adding that he sold uniforms, “everything from the shoe to the hat.”

All his clothing is handmade, he said, and a dress hanging on a rack near the tent’s entrance was priced at $35.

He said he used to do re-enactments but has been working the sutler’s tent for about seven years.

He said doing Civil War re-enactments like the one in Wise this weekend is important.

“When you go to school and you take a history class, you read about it,” he said. “Reading about it and then stepping into the clothing, you learn a lot more than in the classroom.”

But in addition to the living history and interaction with the public, the re-enactors said they enjoy socializing with each other.

“My favorite part is late at night after everybody’s gone,” said Sue Verbal. “We build a campfire and just tell stories – just sit around and talk.”

arobinson@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-3385

WEEKEND SCHEDULE

When: Today and Sunday

Where: Wise, Va.

On the Web: www.townofwise.net

Today’s events:

* 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. – Camps open to the public

* 10 a.m. – “Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln” at the Lonesome Pine Public Library

* Noon – “Robert E. Lee: His Life and Times,” on the camp stage, L.F. Addington Middle School

* 6 p.m. – Capture of Gladeville, Capture of the Wise Courthouse, Main Street