Living Historians  Preserve History
Thomas Fasulo

May 2008 Preservation News

During my 13th summer, I received John Pullen’s classic The Twentieth Maine as a gift. This book changed my life. During the next 47 years, I probably averaged a dozen Civil War books a year. I began college as a history major but switched to political science when, during a year-long American history course, the instructor stated that he would not cover the Civil War, as it “was not important.”

This curriculum change helped me develop an interest in Civil War politics, whereas previously I was only concerned with generals and battles.

In 1992, I attended the Battle of Olustee as a spectator. As I wandered through Sutler’s Row, I heard drums and the tramping of feet. I went to the road and stood entranced as the Confederate Army marched by. However, it was not until 1993 that I sought out a reenacting unit and was surprised to find that one met just several hundred yards from my University of Florida office. I joined just in time to die at 1993 Gettysburg. I was hooked!

It was at Gettysburg that I learned about living history. We arrived just after dawn, dropped off our gear at camp, and then drove to the park museum which had not yet opened. We dozed in the car until the arriving tourists awakened us.

It took us 30 minutes to walk from the car to the museum as the tourists could not believe there were “real” Confederate soldiers there. We were “forced” to pose for numerous photographs and were asked countless questions.

As a university entomologist, I saw a way to use my teaching skills in my new hobby. As a living historian I could teach others about this important period of American history that needs to be remembered and preserved.

(Let me interject here that I believe that all living historians are also reenactors, but that not all reenactors are living historians. If you dispute this statement, then you probably agree that Generals Ambrose Burnside and Thomas Jackson were both great army commanders because they were also soldiers.)

As a living historian I had a lot to learn. First, I discovered that just because I was asked a question did not mean that the spectator wanted a 30-minute discourse on the war. Then I realized my knowledge of the war was lacking in some areas. Later, I would learn it was lacking in a great many areas.

For example, I am not very knowledgeable about weapons used in the war. I remember being asked how many rounds a soldier could fire with a musket. I promptly replied, “A good soldier can fire nine times a minute.”

After making a fool of myself several times, my unit leader took me aside and told me that the answer was actually three times a minute. I learned two important lessons here. Never tell someone something you do not know to be true, because if you are caught in a lie you immediately lose your credibility.

Second, never embarrass another reenactor or living historian in public. If he or she makes a mistake, find time to educate them, and make it a learning experience, avoiding phrases such as, “Hey stupid, don’t you know that...”

Last year I attended a living history event which had a “living historian” who was actually paid to be there. As part of his routine, this “expert” showed groups his officer’s (wall) tent, and then pointed to a dog tent, which he said was for two soldiers.

I  looked for the dog tent but could not see it. Finally, I realized that he was pointing to a distant A-frame. During a break, I identified it to him as an A-frame, used by six to eight soldiers. Hopefully, he listened and learned.
Unfortunately, some reenactors think wearing wool automatically makes them experts. Even worse, event organizers and spectators often think the same.

At one event I no longer attend, a paid “living historian” speaks to spectators over a loud speaker system. Once, as Union soldiers swarmed over the entrenchments, I took a hit and went down. Lying there I heard a comrade say, “What the hell is he talking about?”

When I asked what he meant, he told me to listen to the living historian. This person, during the climax of that day’s battle, was talking about the Korean War!

Every year this living historian told thousands of people the “true story of Taps.” If his version is correct, then the West Point and Arlington National Cemetery Web sites are wrong. This “true story,” that supposedly the music was written by a Confederate soldier and played over his grave, is so well known that I heard it in a National Public Radio interview with the author of a  book on little-known facts of American history.

I now often attend events as 1st Lt. Oliver Norton who, as a bugler and private in the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry, helped Gen. Dan Butterfield, his brigade commander, revise “Tattoo” into the famous “Taps.”

I do not claim credit for creating the story about the four different flavors of hard tack: plain, with mold, with weevils, and with mold and weevils. However, I often use this story because humor has a place in education, as long as it is not overdone.

As an entomologist with access to rice weevils, I actually have weevil-damaged hard tack. I take infested pieces to events, place them on my tin plate and let spectators see the adult weevils crawling out of the bread.

At one event, when I took a break, another reenactor gave the same four-flavor spiel. When a spectator asked what kind of weevils they were, the reenactor replied that they were boll weevils. This is like saying body lice eat roses.

A living historian avoids making up information if he or she does not know the answer. The trick is to change the subject. For example, when I do infantry and someone asks how far the cannons can shoot, I refer them to “one of those fellows with the red piping,” and then tell them about my rifled musket. Not only have I taught them something, but I also pointed the way to additional information.

The important lesson here is that living historians and event organizers have a responsibility to visitors to enhance their Civil War experience. Spectators come to events to experience the Civil War — not the Korean War, or incorrect information often referred to as “reenactorisms.”

If this trip back in time is spoiled by non-period behavior or false information, the impulse to come again, and bring their friends, is lessened.

So, do we require reenactors to pass a 100-point history test before they can put on the wool? This idea is as ridiculous as it sounds, as all reenactors contribute to events. Event organizers also do not have time to police everyone wearing wool.

However, event organizers do have a responsibility to ensure that dedicated living history programs, such as school days or paid or unpaid presentations, are correct, educational and non-disruptive.

As an example, I once participated in a school-day event where a Confederate squad did a good job demonstrating the manual of arms. But the sergeant in charge ended every presentation to the students with the command, “Go out there and kill Yankees!”

This took place just months after the Columbine school massacre. If an adult teacher or parent volunteer was looking for an excuse to stop school visits to such events, that sergeant gave them one.

I often ask living historians who provide incorrect information, “Have you read...” All too often they reply, “I don’t have time to read.” One such paid living historian even told me, “I don’t read books.”

Obviously, we cannot regulate every reenactor, but event organizers need to do so with sanctioned living historians.
All too often, tales told around the campfires are based on myths or even outdated information. It is the eagerness to pass on what you have learned from reading that makes a true living historian. Owning a complete DVD set of the TV series “North and South” is not a substitute!

One of my best friends once asked me to attend a Civil War conference on Gettysburg, which required me to fly to Virginia. I only agreed to go so I could spend time with him and his wife. After all, I was not going to learn anything about the battle of Gettysburg I did not already know.

It took only the second or third speaker to convince me that what I knew about the Battle of Gettysburg was that I knew next to nothing about the Battle of Gettysburg.

One of my memories of the conference was the battlefield guide who told us that if we wanted to be experts on the Civil War, we should read only one book. If we read a second book, that author would not agree with the first, so we would have to read a third book to find out who was right. He finished by saying that after 3,000 books we would only be getting started.

So start reading!

Thomas Fasulo is a life member of the Olustee Historic Battlefield Citizens Support Organization and Webmaster of its award-winning Battle of Olustee Web site at battleofolustee.org. He is an extension entomologist at the University of Florida, which provides the funding for his impressions of Confederate and Union infantry privates and of 1st Lt. Oliver Willcox Norton at living history events.