Gettysburg, Pa.: Time plays tricks, despite reenactment hardships

When you’re you’re with Civil War reenactors, it’s sometimes hard to remember what era you’re in.

I was invited to join the Confederate contingent as an observer to see the war play out. It is the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, and we are in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania when I realize there are still moments when I’ve lost track of time.

I forget about ice, water, the summer heat and how badly I need a shower. In the 1860s, those wouldn’t have been such pressing concerns.

Early one morning, I was strolling through the Confederate cavalry camp -- strung out on a wooded hilltop -- when I heard music from a cluster of tents in a small grove of trees.

Not the young boys who practice fife and drum at odd times every day, but adults -- a gathering of uniformed men and hoop-skirted women softly singing hymns to the tune of a violin.

I thought it was another reenactment -- a church service, maybe, since people depict all aspects of life in the Civil War era, civilian and military.

They were just finishing “In the Sweet Bye and Bye,’’ which was touching enough, but the next one was “My Old Kentucky Home,’’ and it brought me to tears.

Suddenly, I was thinking of all the young men who would never come home from this war, and I had to remind myself -- “They’re not dead! They’re not going to die! This is not that war!’’

Far from it, in fact. What I saw wasn’t a reenactment of anything -- it was real: Confederate commander Maj. Gen. and Mrs. Terry Shelton were renewing their wedding vows, while their children and the soldiers looked on.

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