SMELL OF GUNPOWDER DRAWS RE-ENACTORS BACK TO BATTLES

Once Walt Larson and Jim Brinker inhaled the gunpowder of a Civil War re-enactment, they were hooked.

"Once you get gunpowder in your nostrils, it becomes a habit that almost turns into a disease," said Brinker, wearing a reproduction Union Army uniform.

"Disease? It's more like a cancer," Larson said. "Only difference is that you get to live to see another Civil War re-enactment the next week or month."

Saturday's Civil War re-enactment in Jackson would become their 10th this year.

"That guy over there has been to six of them in the last two months," Brinker said, nodding in the direction of another re-enactor dressed in a reproduction Union soldier's uniform.

Larson, a Washington, Mo., native who is retired, surveyed the grounds that would be used for a skirmish later in the day, puffing on his cigar and scratching his beard while re-enactors loaded the cannon.

"We'll fire a couple of rounds from the cannon to stop the train and then search for Confederate soldiers," Larson said.

Grains of powder were ignited to give the St. Louis Iron Mountain Railway notice that the Union soldiers were going to search the train for Confederate soldiers.

After a few rounds of blanks were fired, squeals could be heard from inside the train.

"I think the first train has mostly Girl Scouts," Larson said. "Still, we'll do everything we can to play our roles as if there were really a threat of Confederate soldiers on the train."

Later in the afternoon, the Company M First Missouri Light Artillery would be on the train and fall victim to Confederate soldiers.

"Bloody Bill Anderson and his men stopped a train and executed 24 federal soldiers," Brinker said. "Since we have a train running through this camp, we thought it would be good to re-create that episode in Civil War history."

The Civil War re-enactors do their best to come as close to repeating history as they can.

"We use either A tents or dog tents," Larson said. "If the soldiers were only going to be in a particular place for a day or two, they would use the smaller dog tents. If they were going to stay in a camp for some time they would use the A tents."

Larson pointed to his square-toed Booties.

"The shoes were made the same," he said. "You decide which one is left and which one is right when you break them in."

The day began with the Daughters of the Confederacy presenting the city with a monument honoring Col. William T. Jeffers.

The re-enactment started at the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson. Confederate troops arrived to recruit while Union soldiers attempted to drive them away.

The Company M First Missouri Light Artillery Civil War camp was complete with "suttlers." Suttlers sold clothes and material to the soldiers when they ran out.

"You can make a good living selling guns and clothes to people who participate in these re-enactments," Larson said. "It costs to be a part of this, but when you're in the middle of a skirmish and you have a guy dead to rights, it's a real rush."