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For these three and many others, the engagement is about walking in their ancestors' footsteps on the battlefield and experiencing 'The War' for themselves.
Watch Video: With General Lee escorting the bride down the aisle, a New Salem couple exchanged vows Saturday in real Civil War style.
BUTLER TWP. -- The rebs
The three boys from South Eastern Kentucky slipped on the mud, rifles over their shoulders, as families waited in line for their seats high over the battlefield.
"I want to watch the Yankees drill," Chad Wrinn said.
They stopped and looked across the grounds of the Gettysburg Battle Reenactment to a field where Union re-enactors practiced marching.
"They're in shirt sleeves," Wrinn said.
"It presents the type of soldiers they are," said Brian Chastain, who stood next to him.
"I like to take my black shirt off so I look like a white target," added Mike Warrix, pitching his voice higher. "I dress in brown. I'm a tree."
They are members of the 5th Kentucky, the Breckinridge Greys. Normally, they travel to battles in the Western theater at places such as Chickamauga, Ga., and Richmond and Georgetown, Ky.
This was the first time they came to restage the definitive battle of the Civil War.
All three had ancestors who fought in The War, as they call it. When they arrived Thursday, Wrinn and Chastain walked the actual battlefield, where their ancestors fought and one of Chastain's relatives -- James B. Walker of the 2nd Georgia -- fell at Devil's Den.
Saturday
"When we go out there, we're thinking about our ancestors," said Chastain, who wore period-authentic wire-rim glasses. "It's most fun to re-create something as close to possible to what actually happened. It's very fulfilling.
"Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of fun. But we're not just making a lot of noise and smoke."
They found a pair of trees off the re-enactment field and settled in before the cavalry took the field. The sun was just coming out and they set their jackets and hats, which were still wet from Thursday night's rain, in the grass to dry.
For a moment, Warrix looked up one of the trees and thought about shimmying up it
"I reckon General (J.E.B.) Stuart would like a sharpshooter up there, but I don't think it would be appreciated," Chastain said.
As they watched the cavalrymen ride into position, Warrix played a harmonica and Wrinn smacked a crude set of bones, two sticks threaded between his fingers. The battle started with a skirmish in the middle of the field between two small units of dismounted cavalrymen.
As the Confederates made their first charge and were repelled, the announcer told the crowd the battle on July 3 was the first time the Union cavalry proved itself.
"Proved themselves outnumbering us two-and-a-half to one," Chastain said.
Once the cannons started booming, two Union soldiers dismounted by the
"You're supposed to ride the horse, Billy Yank," Wrinn yelled. "Uncle Sam needs you to get out and fight."
As the charges and counter-charges continued, Warrix squinted at the field.
"You got a big horse party," he said. "Horses off to the left, horses off to the right. I can't tell who's who. I'm lost."
"So were they," Chastain replied, to which Warrix and Wrinn nodded.
After it was over, and the Union horsemen took applause from the crowd, the three walked the half-mile back to camp, where Wrenn would cook the 11-once hunk of bacon that he had kept in his sack since Thursday.
Their tent was near a makeshift baseball game, where men in shirtsleeves hit a soft ball with a
Wrinn's mother, Lisa, sat at the table next to their tent entrance, with her three small children.
"You boys find a battle today?" she asked.
"This afternoon," Wrinn said.
jfrantz@ydr.com; 771-2062
BRECKINRIDGE GREYS
For more details on this unit, visit breckinridgegreys.org.
TODAY'S EVENTS
Battle of Gettysburg
Day 3
9:30 a.m.: Period worship service and Catholic service
10:30 a.m.: U.S. Gen. Winfield Scott and Gen. John Gibbon
10:30 a.m.: C.S.A. Gens. Robert E. Lee, George Pickett, J.E.B. Stuart and more
11 a.m.: Cavalry battle, "We Must Cross the Potomac to Virginia"
Noon: Live mortar fire demonstration
12:30 p.m.: Gen. James Longstreet, portrayed by living historian/actor Ron Hawkins
1 p.m.: Gen. A.P. Hill, portrayed by living historian/actor Patrick Falci
1:30 p.m.: Drum and bugle demonstration
2 p.m.: Jeff Shaara on "The Killer Angles" and the movie "Gettysburg"
3 p.m.: Battle, "The High Tide Crashes," Pickett's Charge
4 p.m.: Gettysburg Ghost stories
--- General admission tickets ($30 adult; $15 youth; $12 children 6 and under) can be purchased at the gate. --- For directions and more details, visit gettysburgreenactment.com.
