UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title What They Fight For: The Men and Women of Civil War Reenactment Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/73w01958 Author Bates, Christopher Bates Publication Date 2016 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles What They Fight For: The Men and Women of Civil War Reenactment A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Christopher George Bates 2016 What They Fight For: The Men and Women of Civil War Reenactment by Christopher George Bates Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2016 Professor Joan Waugh, Chair Abstract This study examines the three generations of Civil War reenactors: the veterans, the centennial reenactors, and the modern community. It argues that they are an excellent case study for examining the evolving memory of the Civil War, particularly when considered in the context of five interpretative traditions: the “Lost Cause,” the “Union Cause,” the “Reconciliationist Cause,” the “Emancipationist Cause,” and the “White Supremacist Cause.” At the same time, a careful analysis of the modern community illustrates the myriad ways in which contemporary individuals interact with and utilize the past. - ii - The dissertation of Christopher George Bates is approved. Janice L. Reiff Gary W. Gallagher Joan Waugh, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2016 - iii - - iv - Table of Contents ______________________________________________________________________________ Introduction ..................................................................................................................................1 1: “Grand Armies of the Republic”: The Veteran Reenactors .....................................................25 2: “Peace Between the Races Has Not Been Secured”: The Centennial Reenactors ..................69 3: “Rebels With a (Lost) Cause”: Modern Reenactors ................................................................103 4: “Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground”: Why People Reenact ......................................143 5: “Mystic Chords of Memory”: Why People Love the Civil War .............................................192 Appendix ......................................................................................................................................215 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................217 - v - Acknowledgements ______________________________________________________________________________ For every graduate student who reaches this point in the process, it is a difficult task to put into words one’s appreciation for all the people who have given so generously of their time and expertise. But, we try. To start, it is a lucky grad student indeed who is able to include one of the titans of their field on their committee. I was privileged to have two. Professor Joan Waugh, it’s been a long, strange trip—as they say—and I am forever grateful to have had your support, your guidance, and your indefatigable patience. I hope there really is such a thing as good karma, because you’ve earned a lifetime supply. And Professor Gary Gallagher, it is remarkably uplifting and gratifying for an academic who is as junior as it gets to be treated as an equal by someone of your stature. If ever someone was worthy of being called a scholar and a gentleman, it is you. And the hamburgers were good, too. To Professor Jan Reiff, I thank you for all your time and advice, and in particular for reminding me with both your words and your actions that it was important to be the scholar I wanted to be, and to say the things that I thought were important to say. To Don Worth, I am sure that you know that without you, this project could not have happened. You gave me the idea for this dissertation with a long-ago classroom visit, you helped turn that idea into an actual research project by connecting me with the reenactment community, and you provided invaluable feedback throughout the process. And, to top it off, you were never a farb. So thank you, pard (if I may be so bold). - vi - To all the reenactors who participated in this project, I appreciate your time and your honesty. Given the treatment you’ve often received at the hands of outsiders, your assistance represented a “leap of faith” that I hope I have repaid with a fair and non-judgmental study. I am indebted to several people who provided advice and moral support in the early stages of the process: Professor Eric Monkkonen, Barbara Bernstein, Shela Patel, and Professor Greg Urwin. Your kindnesses have not been forgotten. I am similarly indebted to those who helped me keep going as I approached the finish line, and my proverbial gas tank was running low. This includes my superb research assistant Gina Risetter, two generous scholars and teachers in Professors Neil Malamuth and Greg Bryant, and three members of the UCLA staff who were unfailingly kind and helpful despite the headaches I created: Tammy Van Wagoner, Hadley Porter, and Jane Bitar. Cheers to all of you! And finally, I express my gratitude to my mother and stepfather, Debra and Jerry Hayes, for their support (and their typing skills). And to my grandparents, George and Jean Stewart, for infecting me with the “history bug” in the first place. - vii - Vita ______________________________________________________________________________ Education Ph.D. candidate, University of California, Los Angeles M.A. in history, University of California, Los Angeles, 2002 B.A. in history, magna cum laude with high honors, University of California, Los Angeles, 1996 Publications “Civil War Reenactment” in The Civil War in Popular Culture: Memory and Meaning, edited by Lawrence Kreiser, Jr. and Randal M. Allred (2014, University of Kansas Press) “Manassas and Gettysburg, 1961-1963: The Centennial Reenactments and The ‘Radical Reconstruction’ of Civil War Memory,” Directions in Cultural History (Fall 2006) Encyclopedia of Global Social Issues (2012, M.E. Sharpe), co-editor Encyclopedia of the Early Republic and Antebellum America (2010, M.E. Sharpe), editor Encyclopedia of Postwar America (2006, M.E. Sharpe), contributor Facts on File Encyclopedia of the Civil War (2003, Facts on File), contributor Professional Experience Lecturer, Department of History, California Polytechnic University, Pomona (2004-Present) Teaching Fellow, College of Letters and Sciences (2003) Teaching Assistant, Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles (1998- 2003) Awards Distinguished Teaching Award, California Polytechnic University, Pomona (2011) Teacher Quality Enhancement Grant for California History (2007-08) Instructional Enhancement Initiative Grant, UCLA Office of Instructional Development (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2014) Carey McWilliams Fellowship, UCLA Department of History (2003, 2004) Special Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching, UCLA Department of History (2001) - viii - Introduction ______________________________________________________________________________ Who knows but again the old flags, ragged and torn, snapping in the wind, may face each other and flutter, pursuing and pursued, while the cries of victory fill a summer day? And after the battle, then the slain and wounded will arise, and all will meet together under the two flags, all sound and well, and there will be talking and laughter and cheers, and all will say: Did it not seem real? Was it not as in the old days? 1 This passage—an apt description of Civil War reenactment, if ever there was one—was penned by Confederate veteran Berry Benson in 1880. It is apropos that the sentiment that serves as coda to both Shelby Foote’s three-volume history The Civil War: A Narrative and Ken Burns’ The Civil War should introduce this study, for Foote’s and Burns’ stories end where this one begins. After his military service was over, Benson—like countless other veterans—took an active role in organizations and activities that tried to recapture the camaraderie of the war years while also interpreting the meaning of the war for contemporaries and for posterity. He wrote articles, attended reunions, served as the model for the most prominent Civil War monument in his hometown of Augusta, Ga., and marched in Woodrow Wilson’s second inaugural parade in 1917. 2 By definition, the passing of Benson (in 1923) and his comrades-in-arms marked the end of living memory of the Civil War. The “history” of the war—and, thus, Burns’ and Foote’s narratives—was then complete. But with their postwar activities (and sometimes even with their during-the-war activities), the veterans were the starting point for a contest over the memory and meaning of the war that resonates to the present day. At the same time, they were also the first generation of Civil War reenactors. They may not have carried arms (at least, not usually), but they did don their old uniforms, they did return to the old battlefields, and they did climb into their “time machines” in an effort to travel back to bygone days. At least two dozen times, Union - 1 - and Confederate Veterans did this together; these “Blue-Gray Reunions” took place until the late 1930s. Meanwhile, gatherings where only one side or the other was present continued through the 1940s, concluding with the final encampment