The First Battle of Bull Run, the first major battle of the American Civil War, was fought in the summer of 1861.
With over 4,500 known casualties from the battle, leaders had to grapple with the possibility that the war could last years.
A Trip to a Civil War Reenactment
Two residents at Gabriel Homes, David and Lucy (first and second photos), saw a Civil War reenactment of the battle in Culpeper, Virginia. Thousands of reenactors traveled from as far as Wyoming and the Midwest to recreate the battle. As a history buff, David has a collection of books and artifacts about the Civil War. He wore a polo, which commemorated the anniversary of the Gettysburg address and the Union’s 1863 victory in the town, to the reenactment.
“I’d never seen a reenactment in person before, but it was exciting to watch! Movies like ‘Gettysburg’ don’t show how big these battles really were. I saw thousands of people in uniform with weapons and gear.”
History Repeats Itself
There was a lot of confusion over which side was the Union, who wore gray, or the Confederacy, who wore blue, during the reenactment. The uniforms’ shades mixed in the sunlight, and David and Lucy struggled to tell the sides apart. During the 1861 battle, leaders and soldiers faced the same sense of disorder as they struggled to see friend from foe.
General William T. Sherman wrote when he was a colonel for the Union Army: “This regiment is uniformed in gray cloth, almost identical with that of the great bulk of the secession army, and when the regiment fell into confusion and retreated toward the road there was an [sic] universal cry that they were being fired on by our own men.”
Beyond the battlefield, the group saw authentic military encampments of the war. Rows of canvas tents lined along the grass, and some tents showed gear inside. Rifles from the era stood stacked with the tent rows. Soldiers, some of whom were on horseback, marched past the residents as the actors formed their ranks. Cannons and rifles fired during the afternoon, and David and Lucy walked to the edge of the viewing area to see the large scale of the battle.
After the reenactment, David and Lucy visited the battles’ original site at Manassas National Battlefield Park. The group hiked two miles along mostly wooded trails. With little shade on the battlefield, David and Lucy were desperate to escape the heat. David said that a quick stop for ice cream on the way home was a delicious way to cool down.
