A Perfect Civil War Weekend Defined

For a guy like me, who has a passion for the study of the Civil War, listening to famous authors can feed that passion. Looking into an artist rendition of a battle or soldier’s event can evoke an emotional response, creating an emotional reaction to the human drama of “Devil’s Den” or “The Outpost.” Going to a reenactment where the sound of a band wafts through the fall air mixing with the bellow of officer’s voices above the rip of musketry can resonate long after the truck has driven him home. This weekend I was privy to all three experiences thus making the title, A Perfect Civil War Weekend. I have to share with someone so here is my weekend: Saturday the Kenosha Civil War Museum hosted an extraordinary day for Civil War students. Dr. James McPherson, author of the Pulitzer prize winning piece, Battle Cry of Freedom offered a brunch then later a lecture on naval war covered in his latest piece War on the Waters, a book on the naval war during the Civil War. The beginning of this perfect day began when I was introduced to Mr. McPherson by Doug Dammann, the director of the museum. The hand shake and small talk was great and all I expected. Later, as I walked into the room where the brunch was held there sat Mr. McPherson with an empty chair next to him. Score. Between bites I asked him questions about Lee, Antietam, and his next work as well as listening as the other four folks at the table talked to our guest. The poor fella was barely about to eat. He was a gracious host to our questions. His talk offered me a tour of naval war with the focus on DuPont and Farragut’s efforts- a topic I have not read much on. Leaving the lecture hall, the second guest of the museum waited behind the book signing table, Kieth Rocco, nationally recognized historical artist was there to open a gallery of his work that the museum will host until April, including some original works done specifically for the museum’s Old Northwest theme- a 24th Michigan piece and one on the 11th Indiana. Bringing a copy of Gettysburg in Art and Artifacts for him to sign I reminded him that I had posed for him way back in the early 90’s; an event not worth remembering for an artist who has amassed a portfolio of over 400 Civil War pieces, by his calculations. Still he was warm and personable-a really nice guy. I later listened to his talk on how he composes his works-another world I don’t know much about. Sprinkled amongst those two events I had a nice conversation with Rob Girardi, the author of the Gettysburg piece in which Mr. Rocc’s art was showcased and many other Civil War related books, again a really cool guy who was a pleasure to talk to. And so ended my academic feast so I headed home to prepare to the chaperone our homecoming dance at the school I work at. Not much Civil War in supervising teenagers at a dance but it makes for a segway. At midnight, as the last of the well dressed teenagers left the school, I headed to Old Wade House for a Civil War Reenactment. The group I belong to, The Hogg Mess, has always prided itself on studying then sharing unique facets of Civil War soldier history. At Wade House we were going to revisit an old theme- winter quarters. 12 years ago the Wade House gave us permission to build a winter cabin then to interpret the life of the winter soldier to the public. This year they again gave us permission to build some new cabins. For three weeks, led by Eric, we cut the trees and began the process of building three cabins. On Friday and Saturday of the event the Mess finished two of the cabins so that when I arrived at around 2:00 am to a sleeping camp of my mates, I came upon two amazingly authentic structures of notched log, daubing, canvas roof and chimney. Those guys had worked their tails off and thanks to that, Sunday we presented the life of the winter soldier to curious spectators and amazed reenactors. Eric, Todd, Brandon and Kyle deserve all the credit-great friends and living historians. So what does a perfect Civil War weekend consist of? Spending time with nationally recognized experts in their fields, learning new stuff, doing something unique (cabin building) and educating folks on something they probably had never seen nor thought about before.