By becoming a member of the 17th Infantry you accept this responsibility. To faithfully portray a Soldier or Laundress requires a commitment. It is expected that all our members will work to enhance te reputation of the 17th Infantry. This means that at all times our uniforms, equipment, drills, campsite, and personal demeaner will be in the best traditions of the 17th Infantry. The regulations, by-laws, field and bussiness officers of the 17th are there to help you achieve this aim. Adherence to the 17th's policies, by-laws, and orders are expected to be followed. Re-enacting is a rewarding and enjoyable persuit. In order to enhance this experience, all members of the 17th must be willing to contribute their time and energy to make the 17th a success. We are all members of a distinguished unit and we owe it to ourselves and the the original 17th Infantry to do it right.
Who are re-enactors/living historians?
"Re-enacting is not a glorification of war, rather it is a rememberance of those who died for our fredoms", Charles M. Wojahn.
"We are people to whom the past is forever speakeing. We listen to it because we cannot help ourselves, for the past speake to us with many voices. Far out in that dark nowhere, which is the time before we were born, men who were flesh and bone went through fire and storm t make a path to the future. We are part of that future that they died for. They are part of the past that brought the future. What they did and the lives that they lived, the sacrifices that they made, the stories they told and the songs they sang and finally, the deaths they died, make up a part of our oun experience. We cannot cut ourselves off from it. It is as real to us as something that happened last week. It is a basic part of our heritage as Americans", Bruce Catton.
Re-enacting may be defined as organized groups of folks who, on various occasions and over weekends throughout the year, get together to re-create the atmosphere and living conditions (as closely and safely as possible) of the men who fought in the campaigns of War over one-hundred thirty years ago. For each re-enactor, the motivation to participate varies. You may have an interest in history and want to experience first-hand how life was lived in those years. Your interest in history may be enlivened by the knowledge that you had an ancestor who fought in the War Between the States or Indian Wars. You may find that your enjoyment lies in camping out and eating meals cooked over a wood fire, and smelling the smoke of gunpowder of the Rifles and when the cannons roar. Your interest may lie in portraying either a historical or fictional persona of someone who lived - or could have lived - known as a "first person impression". Or you may simply re-enact because it's something new and novel, and it looks like a great deal of fun. Whatever the motivation, re-enacting is an exciting and consuming hobby.
We do not suffer the painful separation from home, loved ones, and friends as those men did. We are not plagued by disease as they were, and we need not go hungry or even endure inclement weather as they did. We have the luxury of returning to the present century any time we choose to do so. But re-enacting brings us closer to the way those men and women of the Victorian era lived and the way the men fought, and gives us a clearer understanding of the causes for which they contended.
Re-enactors are a diverse lot of people but we all have one common bond: an interest in life and events during the Civil and Indian Wars.
Re-enacting is the way we are able to gain a personal experience of the way our ancestors dressed, ate, sang, played, camped, marched, slept, and waged war against one another in one of the most defining periods of our nation�s life. It is the way we go beyond the starkness of words on a printed page or the superficial gloss of the movie industry�s depiction of those days and those people. Through re-enacting we not only learn more accurately about life then, but our efforts enable spectators to glimpse a bit of that life when they tour our camps and watch our mock Skirmishes. It is one way we can touch the past, and the past can touch us. And it is a way in which we make the declaration that those men - did not die in vain for their causes, and the millions of men who fought for both sides are not forgotten. The past becomes more real and alive to us than ever.
There are essentially two types of events in which you will have the opportunity to participate: Re-enactments and living histories. Each has its advantages and appeals, and all have aspects in common with each other. A re-enactment is commonly a weekend-long event which includes camping, cooking over a wood fire, drills and skirmishes; a Saturday night social event which may be a communal meal and perhaps a ball; or maybe just a lot of socializing throughout the camps and sitting together singing, playing period games, telling stories and getting to know each other better.
Re-enactments are public events. Frequently, re-enactments are used to financially aid a park, or historical site. Most events begin Friday evening when re-enactors start setting up their equipment, and continue through Sunday afternoon. It may include living history demonstrations, drills of the troops. While all participants do a military impression, some adopt a "first person" impression, adopting the persona of a person who did or could have lived during the event being re-enacted.
A weekend event may include tenting with your Company, Infantry drills on the rifle, skirmishes, singing, a Saturday night dance or ball, visiting the sutlers (merchants who cater to our hobby), cooking over wood fires, perhaps a brief Sunday morning "period" church service, and whatever else you may wish to do in your spare time. Often there will be one or more types of demonstrations. Cavalrymen demonstrate their riding skills, sometimes shooting at targets while riding past them, or fighting with swords while on horseback. Artillerymen drill for the folks and explain the various parts of the piece, and sometimes fire the cannon for the spectators. Infantrymen execute their marching formations and drill, and let kids handle wooden rifles and let them try a bite of hardtack (a hard piece of leather-tough cracker made of flour, salt, and water).
There may be a ladies� tea or social at an event. Sometimes the ladies give exhibitions of the clothing (including the many undergarments) worn by women of the Victorian era, discussing jewelry, personal hygiene, the fabled sign language of the fan, etiquette, mourning, and family matters. You may see a woman working on her spinning wheel, at her loom weaving cloth, candles being dipped, food being cooked over a campfire, or any number of necessary daily tasks being accomplished. At various events, there may be displays of mock court martials and even executions by firing squad. Some events have demonstrations of children�s activities of the period, including playing grace hoops, and many other amusements. Mostly it is just a lot of fun for the entire family, and a window into our past.
Although re-enactments take place throughout the country all year long, most events in which 17th Infantry will participate as an organization run from mid-May through mid-September. Our participation in events as a group is generally limited to those within fairly reasonable driving distance. Most events begin on Friday evening with the erection of tents accurately styled after the originals and ends early Sunday afternoon. We dress the entire weekend in accurately-styled uniforms made of materials which are reasonably historically accurate, and modern items are hidden from the view of other re-enactors and spectators alike. In this fashion we keep ourselves as much as possible in sight of 1872 - 1875.
Strictly speaking, a living history encompasses both re-enactments and tacticals. Within re-enacting circles, though, the term "living history" denotes a third specific event type. It will have a skirmish and even gun firing. The primary focus of a living history is to display to the public the manner in which folks of the period lived and worked, often with an emphasis on "first person" impressions.
Although not included in this grouping of events, from time to time we have the opportunity to participate in a live fire in which we actually load live rounds into our rifles and shoot at targets. Those occasions are normally competitions, too, in which the 17th competes with other groups or individually.
If there is only one common thread to these types of events, it would be this: that in all we do, we strive for reasonable accuracy in portraying life as it was during the Indian War. We are as much living historians as we are anything. Our hobby is fun, but there are times when there is an air of solemnity about it, too, when we find ourselves standing on sacred ground where men who first wore the uniforms of blue suffered and died. Spectators have a reasonable expectation of our comporting ourselves properly and giving them a glimpse of history that will make history seem so much more real, vital, and relevant to them. Our portrayals seek to make each type of event a real form of living history.