Chuck is a subscriber to Stewart and is a great contributor.. he does our maps and is a good friend.. *IF* he makes it to the DCHomecoming2000 in June 23,24, 25 , He will do a performance for us!! Keep our fingers crossed.. I really think this is interesting and hope you do too... Come to the Homecoming and see him in action!!!! Cher Hey y'all, As you know, Jan has asked me to expand on my reenacting, so here goes. I have had many experiences in reenacting and living history, and can't possibly put it all in one post, so with your permission I will do a series of post when I can about the subject. If y'all don't mind, I may even do some reminising in period letter form, and some will just be regular post explaining some of the clothes, uniform, gear, and accoutrements used during the time period I am talking about. Expect more material on the War Between the States(or if you are a Virginian, The War of Northern Aggresion), as that is where most of my experience is. I will start now by explaining what it is exactly that I am talking about. I got my start in reenacting in January of 1986, I was at the Dairy Dip in Dover talking to a friend of mine Jimmy Steppe. He mentioned that the next day that he was going to meet a man over at Fort Donelson to talk about CW reenacting. My first question was what in the world are you talking about. He explained a bit about it, so I said that it sounded like fun and if I could join him. I went and after 5 min. of talking to him, I was hooked. He said that what his group did was dress in authentic reproductions of period uniforms, drilled, pertrayed camp life, and of course actually refought the battles of the war. In 1987 I joined the Navy and left Stewart Co., but continued whenever possible to take leave and reenact, even joining up with a unit the 3rd Miss. down in Pascagoula for a time. I eventually ended up here in New England, and even went home a couple of times from up here just to do some reenacting. The 135th Anniversary of Shiloh in '97 was one of those times. Then a couple of years ago I left Mass. and came up here to New Hampshire, and nowadays it is just too hard to go home to do a reenactment, so I started looking for a good southern unit up here. I couldn't find one that I liked, so one day on the web, I came across a web page for the ALRA, American Long Rifle Association. This group portrays the colonial period from the F&I War through the Federalist Period. I researched and worked up a longhunter character, sent in my application a couple of months ago which is still pending. I have come to find out that the ALRA is a very precise organization, that demands excelence and documentation in your character portrayal. Since I have gone to a couple of rendevous with my longhunter persona another group of people up here took notice, and have asked me to join their organization as well. This group is the NEMM, Northeast Mountain Men, so I am in the process of working up a mountain man character for that. My longhunter roams the hills and hollers of my own home of Middle Tennessee, and the Mountain Man character I am working up will be an ole' boy from Tn, in search of the riches of Beaver Fur in the late 1820's. My CW character is just a dirt farmer from down on Crocketts Creek, that went across the river to Linton then on to Cadiz, and joined the Ky boys in a CS Brigade that they were getting up. This is a bit about where I am coming from. Some of the reminices will be actual information with a smattering of my own character(meaning fiction) in it. I will try to remember to put footnotes at the bottom to let you know what is real or not. If I am going to far with this just let me know, because I have a habit of taking a thread and turning it into rope if given half a chance(hehe). Chuck