19th Indiana Company A is a civil war reenacting group based in the Battle Ground, Washington area with reenactors in places such as Seaside, Oregon.
Our soldiers and civilians portray infantry, families and U.S. Christian Commission.
Mostly, we portray the year 1863. This is the choice of the umbrella organization we belong to, the Northwest Civil War Council (NwCWC) but as an independent organization with the goal of preserving history and historic places through living history and history conservation, we recreate some events from 1861, 1862, 1864 and 1865, as well.
Our proudest moments are when we stand together at a school demonstration and see the look of awe on a child's face, and hear them say the to their teacher, "War is scary and I am glad that I don't have to live through it." May no person ever have to see their homes torn apart by a total brother-against-brother war again. Sadly, somewhere in the world someone live the life of war every day.
We do not attempt to glorify war. First-person accounts by the people who lived the war, the diaries and letters of soldiers and doctors, nurses and relief workers, officers and politicians as well as secondary documents like biographies and On Many A Bloody Field by Alan Gaff, speak to how awful war is.
The time period also speaks to us of international issues. During the civil war, the United States was the focus of European attention. Would Europe get involved? Who was right, North or South, Confederacy or the Federal Union. Blockades limited international trade. And the American war spoke volumes to the world about how to rebel, how to dominate and how to fight.
Advanced weaponry with primitive tactics caused for massive loss of life, battlefields full of dead, families torn from entire generations of men.
The era is also characterized by the clothing, the social opinions and the political reasoning. Considered to be the early Victorian period, modest and shape altering garments like corsets and hoops spoke of the day. Most material still came from Europe, but domestic fabrics and fibers began to arise.
But as is true with any situation, not everyone was like that. The dresses in Gone With the Wind and North and South are exaggerations. Woman wore everyday clothing, too. Stays (the equivalent of the sports bra) replaced corsets for housework and most of hospital duties. Slimming petticoats replaced hoops in private and hoops were banned from most hospitals for the accidents they caused. And barefoot was commonplace at home when boots were expensive.
Similarly with soldiers. Many brought gear, guns, blankets and luxuries from home, or bought them on their travels. Uncomfortable gear was casually "lost" and uniforms were altered.
As reenactors and historians, we try to only portray things that are documented or can be extrapolated from historical texts. It is no more appropriate for a union soldier to wear grey pants as it is for a woman to be seen in public in her undergarments, but undoubtedly it happened.
We want to respect the memory and honor of those who live, not make a mockery through lame theatrics. Beyond the battlefield events we volunteer at local schools to give demonstrations of camp life, what the military looked like, and to give the children the idea that the war was not about slavery, though slavery was an important issue that many fought over. The war was fought to see who has the right to make laws, to make their own decisions. The war was truly to determine who is free.
We would like to encourage everyone to read this site, talk to us, and study the American civil war. To discover what people have lived and died for, something that may help you focus your own life.
Updated 05/07/05