The
introduction to this 1999 Chronicles Magazine article states: “Civil
War reenactments are more popular today than at any time in the 135
years since “the late unpleasantness” came to an end. Recent news
stories, however, have been less than favorable to reenactors.” Some
fifteen years later, the reenactments and the Sesquicentennial
observances of this war continue unabated. Writer and director of the
motion picture “Gettysburg,” Ronald F. Maxwell, explained this
phenomenon to the 14,000 spectators at Gettysburg in 1999.
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
Civil War Reenactments -- Pathways Between Generation
“I’ve
been going to reenactments for more than 20 years, so I’ve had a chance
to observe this phenomenon up close. In a time of all-encompassing and
oppressive political correctness, when the ruling elites and their media
acolytes control most of the information we get and tell us what to
think, what opinions to hold, what to buy and what to wear, even when
and where to go to war . . . there are some, the audacious and irascible
few, who persist in thinking for themselves.
Just
who are reenactors? The mainstream media has described them a weekend
warriors, Civil War fanatics, even misfits, who should, as they say,
“get a life.” What they really mean to say is “get their life,” fit into
their worldview – the New World Order.
In
their worldview, which now dominates the academy as well as the media,
all the old heroes are to be discarded. Thomas Jefferson, we are told
with sanctimonious relish, was a seriously flawed person who may have
fathered offspring by one of his domestic slaves. Lee and his generals
were part of the same corrupt bondage system.
For
these crimes, the generation of 1776 and their grandsons of the 1860’s
must be hollowed of their humanity and gutted of their greatness,
brought down and reduce to the paltry, squalid place inhabited by more
than a few present-day politicians and so-called leaders. Then,
discredited, they are to be diminished and eventually deleted from our
history books, except perhaps as footnotes to the revisionist history of
America.
Why
this attack on these two generations in particular? Could it be that
these same elites want to stop us from looking up to men who questioned
authority and fought for liberty? Who did so brilliantly and
courageously? If they are to succeed in their goal of transforming
citizens into consumers, to reduce us from those who would defend
liberty to those whose only concern is for celebrity and fashion, they
must teach us to avert our gaze from the likes of Washington and
Jefferson, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, and Robert E. Lee.
What
I admire most about reenactors is that they refuse to forget. They are
not weekend warriors, for that implies frivolity and a lack of
conviction. They are a living embodiment of an American spirit that is
still alive and well despite pervasive and well-financed efforts to
belittle, ridicule, marginalize, and neutralize it. They are warriors,
as in Lee’s great series of victories, seven days a week.
There
are still those among us who cherish the sacred memory of our
ancestors, who value the traditions tested by the generations, whose
lives vibrate yet in the distant chords of memory. These reenactments,
entertaining as they are, fun as they are, are pathways between the
generations, connecting old antagonists with new witnesses in an
atmosphere of conciliation, compassion and understanding.
Take
from us our media, our universities; take from us our libraries and our
books; take our newspapers and our textbooks – take it all. With malice
towards none and charity for all, we are here today and will never
forget. We here today will long remember.” Ronald F. Maxwell
(Civil War Reenactments, Ronald F. Maxwell, Chronicles Magazine, October 1999, page 6)
