Have Re-enactors Created a Cottage Industry?

This article was published in the Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky on May 25.

“Rooted partly in a 1960s centennial commemoration, Civil War re-enacting… across the nation has grown to include hundreds of battles and roughly 40,000 hobbyists — some of whom will spend $30,000 on a working cannon, spend hours practicing how to look dead and crash-diet to resemble a starving rebel.”

“"People think we’re strange. I guess because you do things like sleep outside with a blanket when it’s 17 degrees,” said Tim Hubbell of Alabama, who came to the Kentucky battle dressed in a hand-sewn surgeon’s uniform and carrying 1860s syringes, bone saws and castration scissors. Re-enacting is big business for outfitters, including some in Kentucky, selling everything from 19th-century toothbrushes to 2,400-pound cannons. They even sell condoms packaged as period “French envelopes.”"

“Its popularity has helped fund and preserve historic battlefields.”…

full article.