Smoke filled the air from campfires as Patricia Salassi of Bunker Hill and other Civil War re-enactors talked outside their tents late Friday night.
By lantern lights, people from across the region and as far away as Missouri lived in a way similar to the way soldiers and civilians survived more than 150 years ago. They were all part of the annual Ford’s Encampment that featured a variety of demonstrations for those in attendance Saturday at the John Ford Home in Sandy Hook. On Friday, many of the people had shown area students the ways of old.
Salassi, who has reenacted for 28 years, spoke about her passion for the activity.
“My husband and I were both history buffs,” she said. “He was from Vicksburg. When we went to the 125th anniversary of Vicksburg, we were bit by the bug and went to somebody and asked how we could get in. Until he died five years ago, we were both into it.”
Salassi still travels around dressed in 1860s garb, playing a part in about a dozen events a years in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.
“We re-enact the War for Southern Independence. We are a cavalry unit,” she said. “We have a wonderful group of people. We have grown and enjoy each other’s company. We have a total of about 30 people. We’re like a family.”
Salassi said members of her group help others discover clothing for their own re-enacting.
“If someone new gets into it and wants to fall in with us, we’ll help them,” she said. “Most of us have extra clothing and extra weapons. I have four rifles with me this weekend. We will allow them to use those until they get their own. This is an expensive hobby to get into. You can’t just buy everything off the bat. The rifles themselves will cost anywhere from $800 to $1,000.”
Salassi said she loves being a part of the unit. She said she was asked after her husband died if she was giving it up but said she can’t imagine leaving what she calls a “way of life” and a “family.”
“My husband chose the gentleman that is now our commander before he died. I told him, ‘You’re the military commander, but this is still my unit,’” she said.
James Young of Natchez is now the commander, and he stood in the historic Payne’s Chapel on the grounds of Fordsville as darkness fell Friday and talked about reenacting. He’s done it since 2000 and actually plays both sides at times.
“On my Confederate jacket, I’m a major. On my Federal uniform, I’m a captain. We dress in either,” he said. “Our unit does two impressions. It’s hard to do an event when you have all of the guys dressing up as one side. The two units we portray actually fought against each other.”
Mark Bowman traveled from Springfield, La., to participate and since retiring he’s spent more time sleeping in his tent and reenacting. He’s been doing it ever since he was a junior in high school 33 years ago and his civics/Louisiana history teacher took students with highest grades to a reenactment.
“I’ve been all over the world. I’ve gone a lot of places that you don’t think there would be Civil War reenactments. You’d be surprised how much interest there is in this time period in France, Germany, Poland, England … places that you wouldn’t think, like Italy and Spain. I wouldn’t have believed it until I saw it myself,” he said. “We’re in downtown London, and there is a little guy pushing a hot dog cart and he’s got a Confederate bumper sticker on his cart. It’s shocking the interest in the European nations on this time period.”
Bowman said he has learned a great deal of history and had unforgettable experiences.
“How many people can say that during the production of the movie ‘Gettysburg’ in the 1990s, that they would have gotten to do Pickett’s Charge? Most people get to do it once or twice – we did it 10 times in a day to satisfy the director. You can’t beat that,” he said.
Lori Watts, president of the Marion County Historical Society, and Kelly Roberts, vice president, spoke about the success of this year’s event as it drew to a close Saturday afternoon.
“I think it has been an awesome day,” Roberts said. “We have had wonderful presentations. When Andrew Jackson rode in on a horse with the Choctaws behind him and met John Ford, it was great. The Chickasaw elder from Oklahoma was a wealth of information. He gave great history remarks. The duel, and the dance and the battle … it was all there.”
Watts said she was excited about the number of re-enactors who came out.
“We had many new presentations and people this year. It just grows every year,” she said. “We’re very proud that we’re trying to put this site on the map and that we’ve had more participation across a broad range of people. We love the fact that we are covering from 1812 through the post-Civil War era. The history of this place reaches into even the early 20th century. It’s just a great spot to get some living history.”
Pictured Above: Reenactors fire shots over the dead on the battlefield Saturday on the grounds of the John Ford Home. | Photo by Mark Rogers
