#Huntington beach civil war reenactment professional

But professional historians trace their origins to efforts that began long after the war to valorize the Confederate cause. Reenactment groups call what they do “living history,” with a mission to educate the public. For example, she explained, while differences over slavery certainly factored into the war, the average Confederate soldier yearned only for states’ rights.Īsked if some reenactors hold genuine admiration for the Confederacy, Iacono balked: “OK, well, when you say Confederacy, you have to give it, I mean, pro-Southern? Because all of this drama’s been over a flag.”

Shawnee Iacono, a Confederate reenactor who grew up in the Central Valley, said she gravitated to the hobby through her love of the South as expressed in romantic depictions such as “Gone With the Wind.” Civil War reenactments aim to restore “the truth,” Iacono said.

Walk through the parking lot at a Civil War reenactment and find any number of bumpers plastered with NRA, Maga, and “Don’t Tread on Me” messages. Participants say they are drawn to the events for several reasons - camaraderie, love of history, sartorial escapism - but for many, personal political views play a role. “Mostly it’s below the surface,” he said of the ideological undertone, “but it’s just below the surface.” Politically, Tauszik said, the reenactments tend to be conservative spaces in one of America’s bluest states. Visually, the settings introduce jarring anachronisms - such as redwoods and sequoias - in a hobby that prizes fidelity to the 1860s South. It was the incongruity of it all that caught the eye of Oakland photographer Brandon Tauszik, who spent three years immersed in the world of Civil War reenactments in Northern and Central California. About half a dozen groups hold roughly 20 mock battles a year from Half Moon Bay to Huntington Beach and beyond. Never mind that the state is located more than 150 years and a world away from the main theaters of the conflict: Many Californians, it turns out, are really into the Civil War.

Huntington beach civil war reenactment