‘Civil War’ heats up at Historical Park
The battle of Shiloh isn’t quite over just yet.
The National Civil War Association is skirmishing at the San
Benito County Historical Park today through Sunday, and the
bloodshed promises to be plentiful.
‘Civil War’ heats up at Historical Park
The battle of Shiloh isn’t quite over just yet.
The National Civil War Association is skirmishing at the San Benito County Historical Park today through Sunday, and the bloodshed promises to be plentiful.
“It’s pretty dramatic,” said Teresa Thompson of Hollister, who on weekends sometimes sheds her workaday identity for that of a Confederate spy. “It gets intense. We’ve had people faint.”
The National Civil War Association is a Northern California group with nearly 1,000 members.
As this weekend’s gathering will show, it’s not just a veneer of historical authenticity the re-enactors seek. Members are dressed in clothing carefully fashioned as it was 150 years ago, out of homespun and heavy wool.
The “battles” are play acting, of course, but it can be easy to forget that. Cannons roar and charges planted in advance scatter turf where the balls might have landed. Plumes of smoke from black powder arms send choking plumes into the sky. “Blood” smears brows as soldiers fall.
Today’s exhibition is dedicated to local school children, but the fighting breaks out for the public at large on Saturday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Thompson has been crawling back into the Civil War for 11 years – seven longer than the war that divided a nation lasted. She said she got started due to her husband’s love for history. The couple lives in Hollister.
A horse-drawn ambulance will remove the wounded from the battleground to a field hospital, where doctors will care for them, simulating conditions of the time.
By many historical accounts, as many or more soldiers died under medical care as on the field of battle. Gangrene, cholera and dysentery ran rampant. Hygiene was still a mystery. Anesthesia was mostly unheard of. Amputation, done while a patient was very much conscious, was performed with saws.
Nurses were mostly absent, Thompson said. “Nursing wasn’t a very respected profession,” she said. “There really were no nurses in the hospitals. It didn’t change until after Florence Nightingale.”
The horse-drawn ambulance seldome appears at National Civil War Association events, but the group is mustering to make the local re-enactment one of its best, in part because members have a connection to the park where it takes place.
The Historical Park, located off Airline Highway a short distance south of Tres Pinos, contains a village composed of some of San Benito County’s most historic structures, all carefully restored.
“We’ve actually helped renovate a lot of the buildings at the park,” Thompson said.
All the action is not on the battlefield. Gamblers and painted ladies will do what they do in the saloon.
“When you go, it’s really like stepping back in history,” Thompson said.
Park gates open at 9 a.m. and close at 5:30. Parking is $3 per vehicle. Admission is $5, with children 10 and under admitted free. Further information is available by calling 635-0335.
