Berdan’s Sharpshooters Company C 2nd Regiment (c) 2008 William Lawrence

This past weekend, Bill and I headed back out to the Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, MD. There were several sites in the park that I hadn’t yet managed to photograph the way I wanted to. After photographing some of the monuments and Burnside Bridge, we noticed there was some activity behind Dunker’s Church.

We headed over and discovered that Company “C” 2nd Regiment of Berdan’s Sharpshooters had set up a small camp and would be doing firing demonstrations during the day. Seven of the members of the living history and reenactment group were at the park on Saturday.

We spent some time talking with and photographing them in their camp. Listening to and asking questions of living history volunteers is a unique way to learn about history. It’s one thing to read about civil war regiments, their uniforms and their lives in a book. You get an entirely different understanding of soldiers’ lives when you see the size tents they used and the heavy uniform coats they wore year round. Then see the amount of gear they carried and feel the weight of one of their sharpshooter rifles – and you begin to realize what you’ve missed by just reading about history.

If you’re ever at one of the National Parks where there is a living history demonstration taking place – but sure to check it out. Most reenactor groups, including Berdan’s Sharpshooters, have websites with their schedules on them if there is a particular group you are interested in seeing and learning about.

Here are some of the photos Bill and I took in the camp area around Dunker Church.

Flags raised beside Dunker Church.

(c) 2008 Patty Hankins

I think there has been a coffee pot over the fire at every Civil War reenactment I’ve ever seen. Gotta wonder if anyone really drinks the coffee they brew?

(c) 2008 Patty Hankins

Originally, all members of Berdan’s Sharpshooters were issues leather leggings as part of their uniforms. Apparently, many replaced their leggings with boots as quickly as they could – or at least when the leggings wore out. One soldier wrote home describing the leggings as “three day gators” – a day to put them on, a day to wear them, and a day to take them off. Imagine having to put these leggings on quickly in the middle of the night.

(c) 2008 Patty Hankins

The remaining photos are single and group portraits we took of the reenactors.

Be sure to look at the buttons on the jacket – they are made of black rubber from Goodyear. The Sharpshooters wore rubber buttons rather than shiny metal buttons as a form of camouflage.

(c) 2008 Patty Hankins

(c) 2008 Patty Hankins

(c) 2008 Patty Hankins

(c) 2008 William Lawrence

(c) 2008 William Lawrence

In case you are wondering how we got the antique look to so many of the photos – we used Nik’s Silver Efex Pro software to create the aged look. Bill’s photos were taken with his Graflex SLR on either Polaroid or Fuji Instant Film, and he used the Antique Plate I style to get the darkened edges on his photos. My photos were taken with my Canon DSLR and I used the Antique Plate II style to get the lighter edges on my photos.

I’m hoping to get some of our photos from the firing demonstration up on the blog later in the week.