Keeping History Alive

Scott and Patti House smile for a portrait during the reenactment Monday, May 28, 2018 at Ford D in Cape Girardeau.

Kassi Jackson ~ kjackson@semissourian.com

Scott and Patti House re-enact the Civil War time period

When Scott House was 6 years old, he went to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. While there, he and his parents toured Gettysburg National Battlefield, the place of the turning point of the Civil War.

The experience changed his life.

“I asked too many questions,” he says, standing amongst the six shelves of Civil War books in his home library. “So my parents bought this book for me, thinking that would answer my questions, and it just led to more questions.”

The book was “The American Heritage Picture History: The Civil War.” It now looks well-worn, and Scott has purchased a second copy to use as a reference, so as not to ruin his original.

Patti House gathers supplies to prepare lunch during the reenactment Monday, May 28, 2018 at Ford D in Cape Girardeau.

KASSI JACKSON ~ kjackson@semissourian.com

Scott met his wife Patti House at a National Geographic Society meeting in Washington, D.C., and the two elementary school teachers — who are now retired — were married in 1989. They enjoyed attending re-enactments as spectators, and thought it looked like fun to actually participate.

The re-enactments

In 2002, the couple moved to Cape Girardeau — Scott’s hometown — and discovered Fort D on Fort Street in downtown Cape Girardeau had fallen into disrepair. They decided to do something about it and spearheaded the site’s interpretation, creating signage for visitors to learn about the site. The first re-enactment they participated in was the one they planned at Fort D in 2005.

Now, the Houses participate in an average of eight re-enactments per year, as far-ranging as Bentonville, North Carolina; Perryville, Kentucky; and Booneville, Missouri.

The re-enactments last anywhere from three to seven days, and are a completely immersive experience. The Houses get their Civil War period clothes from sutlers so they look authentic and sleep on the ground in sleeping bags with wool blankets in a canvas tent. No modern amenities like cell phones are allowed, and even political talk must be kept to the Civil War time period.

Scott House observes other reenactors during the reenactment Monday, May 28, 2018 at Ford D in Cape Girardeau.

KASSI JACKSON ~ kjackson@semissourian.com

“For the re-actors, it’s sort of like suspending belief,” Scott says. “You’re dependent on yourself for cooking. There is no option of ‘I’m tired, let’s call Domino’s.’”

Scott and Patti are members of the Turner Brigade, a re-enactment group focused on keeping the German Unionist tradition alive. It is based out of St. Louis with more than 100 members. Scott is a member of the First Missouri Engineers within the brigade, while Patti is a civilian.

The men in the camp fire cannons, cook using cast-iron and steel skillets, and maintain weaponry during living history re-enactments. The women, who camp nearby the men but not with them as it was during the Civil War, cook, do mending, knit, sew, quilt and are laundresses. At one re-enactment, they even washed people’s hair, which was a luxury since the re-enactors usually do not bathe for the length of the re-enactment.

One question the Houses say they often are asked is if the layers of clothes they wear are hot.

The answer is yes.

“After a while, you just get used to it,” Scott says.

The key, he says, is to put it out of your mind and accept it’s OK to feel sweaty and smell bad.

Living history

While the Houses learn the most about the Civil War from participating in re-enactments, they also read many firsthand diary accounts of the war, as well as other books on the subject. The Houses say most people who passed through Cape Girardeau during the Civil War had good things to say about the city they called the “Fine City of Brick,” which was a refuge thanks to the forts. One diarist even called Cape Girardeau a place of “beautiful houses and beautiful women.”

Patti and Scott also have personal connections to the Civil War. Two of Scott’s relatives were in a Union regiment during the Civil War; one of them died at age 49 in the Siege of Vicksburg. Patti, who is originally from North Carolina, had a great-great-grandfather who was a Confederate soldier captured at Fort Fisher, North Carolina.

The Civil War is so important, Scott says, because it made the United States a world power.

“The Revolutionary War created the United States, and the Civil War confirmed it, that it would be one nation,” he says. “One nation rather than a collection of states that could do whatever they wanted.”

Journal entries from the Civil War have confirmed the way citizens understood the United States changed after the Civil War.

“Before the Civil War, people referred to the United States as plural, saying, ‘The United States are,’” Scott says. “After the Civil War, people started referring to it singularly, saying, ‘The United States is.’”

The Houses enjoy the camaraderie of camping primitively amongst re-enactors, coming together with people from different backgrounds over a common interest. They also enjoy teaching others about the Civil War era in our nation’s history.

“It’s keeping it alive,” Patti says.

Speak the Language

Here are a few words and translations Civil War re-enactors use in camp:

Farby (adj.): inauthentic

Farb (n.): someone who is inauthentic

De-farb (v.): to hide away all inauthentic items