Reenacting the Civil War

The boys in blue, taking shots at the "rebels".

Hot and sweaty. That's how I would describe Civil War reenacting. My dark blue sack coat and sky blue trousers trapped the heat from a ninety plus degree day in the sun. The leather belt and cartridge pouch tightened my jacket around my torso and roasted me for six or seven hours.
I don't know how many times I emptied my canteen. I know it was less than the number of times I "died" in battle. The first thing I did after I geared up, was learn drill and musket manipulation. Afterward there was a parade in which both "armies" marched around the camp area.

After the parade, there was a church service, delivered by a genuine Christian pastor. The morning battle was a Union disaster. The blue regiments were fed into the battle in a peace-meal fashion, chewed to bits by Confederate artillery and musketry. I died twice, the second time as the 69th New York Regiment was overrun and cut down to a man by a group of Texans...
And we resurrected to kill and wipe out the Confederates in the afternoon. At the peak of the day, when it didn't seem like it could get any hotter, some friends and I joined forces to drag a restored 1863 fire pump wagon and later got hosed down with it to cool off. All in all, I had fun, but I will never, ever, ever, complain about American WW2 uniforms.