War Fair / Playing Soldiers

The war between the states was perhaps the most wrenching event in American history, a crucial turning point for a new nation nurturing democracy.

Civil War reenactment groups painstakingly bring the soldiers’ sacrifices to life through staged battles, realistic encampments and authentic uniforms.

“People can smell the sulfur, hear the noise, see what’s happening and taste my cooking,” said Dale Jacobs, president of the Tarzana Chamber of Commerce, who portrays a company cook in Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor’s Louisiana Brigade, a Confederate unit. Cannon fire, thundering horse hooves and fife and drum music will break the rural quiet at Fort Tejon State Historical Park in Lebec this weekend as more than 1,000 soldiers and support personnel from across Southern California converge on the site for an annual muster.

Battles will be staged at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. on Sunday at the century-old abandoned garrison off the Golden State Freeway (I-5) just north of Lebec. Admission is $5 for adults and $3.50 for children ages 6 to 12.

Beginning Friday afternoon, Union and Confederate troops will pitch tents, tend pots over open fires, play baseball and sing camp songs at true-to-life military camps.

On Saturday, the units will spend most of the day marching, cleaning weapons, repairing uniforms and organizing equipment in preparation for the battle ahead. At nightfall, the men will don dress uniforms and escort women clad in Victorian gowns to a formal dance.

“Sunday is a more military day,” said Steven C. Mata, of Pearblossom, a first lieutenant in the Union Army’s 55th Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment. “The troops will be inspected . . . to make sure their weapons, uniforms and accouterments are in good shape.”

“We are also checking the authenticity of the [equipment],” he added. “We don’t want anything that is not of the period.”

Following inspections, the authentically costumed soldiers will take their positions on the battlefield.

Though the troops will be firing blanks from canons and muskets, the artillery barrage will be ear-splitting.

Union and Confederate soldiers will take hits. Surgeons will treat the wounded or place them under a tree to die. Support staff will relay messages from commanding officers to soldiers on the field. And drummers will sound cadences that are codified instructions for troops.

After the last shot is fired, the “dead” and “wounded” soldiers from both sides will stand and shake hands.

“We are not there to hate each other,” Mata said, referring to the conciliatory gesture. “We are portraying history.”

Civil War reenactors say they are not just grown men playing dress-up, but serious students of the conflict and its underlying causes.

While sitting around the campfire, participants talk about slavery, state’s rights, taxation and representation, all issues that ignited the North-South conflict.

“The South was at its wits’ end trying to make accommodations to offset” the impact these issues were having on the region’s way of life, said Leo Najera, of Lakewood, who is chief of staff for the 3rd Georgia Volunteers Company “G” Confederate Light Guard.

“Going to war was the only way they saw fit to relieve themselves of the unjust burden they felt,” he said.

Taking part in reenactments has prompted some participants to rethink their political affiliations.

“I started on the Confederate side in 1975,” Mata said. But after a stint in the Marine Corps, he changed his position.

“From the stuff that I read, there was no way I could portray the Confederate side from a political and ethical point of view,” he said.

Though ideological debates are part of the reenactment experience, Mata said participants’ main goal is to present a realistic portrayal of the painful era.

“You will definitely get a feel for what happened,” he said. “It is downsized, but just as intense.”