HUNTINGTON BEACH : Civil War Is Marching Into Town

Carl A. Clink, 31, is hooked on the Civil War. A distant relative served in the 100th Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteers, fighting in several major campaigns for the Union.

Now, 130 years later, Clink has followed his ancestor’s footsteps. This weekend, he will lead the Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteers and other Northern soldiers in a Civil War battle re-enactment.

Clink calls himself a serious student of the Civil War and promises that the two days of clashes involving about 300 modern-day Yankees and Rebels will be authentic. Civil War-era guns, cannon and tactics will be featured.

Clink has been taking part in re-enactment battles for 16 years in the Fort Tejon area as a member of that region’s historical association. He’s bringing the living history event to Huntington Beach to branch out into more populated areas of Southern California.

“We feel like we’re preserving the history of the Civil War and (having) people see what it was really like, not the Hollywood version,” he said.

The mock battles will be staged in the hilly terrain of Bartlett Park north of the Newland House Museum near Beach Boulevard and Adams Avenue. Camps open to the public at 9 a.m. both days. The battles on Saturday will start at 1:30 and 4 p.m. On Sunday, they’re scheduled at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

There will be demonstrations of artillery and infantry tactics in between skirmishes.

The event is free, and visitors can meet troops, examine a field hospital and go to church at 8 a.m. Sunday.

Clink is an actor who’s appeared in battle scenes of several Civil War films, including “Gettysburg,” which is playing at theaters. He’s been passing out flyers to theatergoers this week to swell attendance at the re-enactment. He said he’s also recruited seven people from the movie theater to perform in re-enactments.

Clink, of Huntington Beach, said he reactivated the 100th Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteers into a living history cast nearly four years ago, when standards of authenticity of his previous outfit began to slip.

“My goal is to teach at least one aspect of the Civil War,” he said. “If I can do that, I am happy.”

Clink said his Great-Great Uncle John Cooper enlisted in the Army in 1862, served in the Pennsylvania Volunteers and fought at Antietam, Fredericksburg and several other campaigns. A Confederate soldier shot off the tip of Cooper’s nose at Spotsylvania Courthouse in Virginia, Clink said.

Maureen Rivers, the president of the board of directors of the Huntington Beach Historical Society Inc., one of the sponsors of the event, said she expects a crowd of about 2,000 over both days.

“My aim is to get as many children as possible (to the re-enactment) to see it and to feel it,” she said.

Rivers said youngsters will be encouraged to mingle with the soldiers, but if they talk about television sets or refrigerators, the soldiers won’t know what they’re talking about.

The soldiers appear to be knowledgeable about the Civil War and dedicated to historical accuracy, she said.

Pete Snetsinger, a U.S. history teacher at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, said he’ll give his students extra credit to attend the re-enactment.

Teachers would be fools to think they can stand in front of the classroom and tell students about the war more effectively than they can learn by actually seeing the soldiers with guns in their maneuvers, he said.

He said he expects about 100 of his students to attend.