Civil War re-enactors bring living history to San Bernardino

Photo Gallery: Civil War re-enactors

SAN BERNARDINO - Muskets, swords and men clad in the blue and gray uniforms of North and South all had their places in the city's central library when volunteers from the American Civil War Society came to provide a "living history" lesson.

"At school, they teach you the Civil War was about slavery, and that's really all you get," said David Grimsrud, president of the society.

"These people fought in the war. These people died in the war," he continued.

Grimsrud, who wore the grayish uniform of a Louisiana soldier, said this in a room filled with array of historical artifacts and replicas from the Civil War era.

A visitor to the Feldheym Central Library could have learned that a Civil War soldier may have carried a sewing kit that he called his "housewife," or what the portrait of Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis looked like when printed on rebel currency.

Library visitor Rebecca Gonzales, 41, brought her daughter, Stephanie Quintana, 11, to Saturday's event.

Stephanie said she enjoyed displays of the era's hoop skirts and being taught how soldiers had to rinse the salt from their pork rations before eating.

Gonzales said she was impressed with how heavy Civil War firearms were.

"The guns were really heavy. That's a lot of weight on their shoulders," Gonzales said. "Now I respect them even more."

The day's events also included Abraham Lincoln re-enactor William Peck's recitation of the Gettysburg Address, in which the 16th president declared his hope that "government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from the earth:"at the Nov. 19, 1863, dedication of Gettysburg National Cemetery.

The relics and props included such instruments of death as rifles, pistols and the .54 caliber bullet known to history as the "Minie ball."

"It shattered bone. It's going to come off," re-enactor Debbie Gulledge said while showing both a Minie ball and the kind of wooden leg given to a soldier unfortunate enough to have been hit by such a large bullet.

Gulledge dressed in fashions of the Civil War era, which in her case included a bonnet and a bright yellow ribbon.

Originally from Pennsylvania, Gulledge said her fascination with the Civil War began with her visit to Gettysburg as a 12-year-old. Her husband, Rodger Gulledge, however, is a descendent of confederates.

His ancestor, Thomas Gulledge, joined the Confederate army after returning to Arkansas from California, where he had tried to find a fortune during the Gold Rush.

Rodger Gulledge wore the gray uniform of his ancestor while standing alongside Steven Pavich, who spent his Saturday in the blue of a Union sergeant.

Pavich delivered lessons on the weapons infantrymen and cavalry troopers used on both sides of the conflict. His collection included a 10-pound musket, a 30-pound sniper rifle and a Henry rifle, an early repeating firearm that Pavich said was too costly for widespread use despite Lincoln's endorsement.

"Lincoln actually fired the Henry on the White House lawn, and he wanted all of his troops to have them," Pavich said.

Other re-enactors showed examples of the games, Bibles and cooking implements soldiers used on marches and in camps.

Also, re-enactor Larry Duncan of Redlands, also known as "Doctor Malarkey," spoke to the history of Civil War medicine.

Contrary to popular belief, Civil War doctors did use anaesthesia before operations, Duncan said.

Civil War doctors used chloroform or ether to anaesthetize wounded patients, Duncan said. Surgeons would stuff cotton into a funnel-like device called an ether cone, soak the cotton with anaesthesia and let the patient breathe the fumes emanating from the wide mouth of the cone.

Although anaesthesia provided some relief, soldiers still suffered from the medical ignorance of the day. Doctors had yet to learn that germs cause disease or that they needed to wash their hands before operating.

Saturday's living history event is the first in San Bernardino Public Library's series on Lincoln and the Civil War.

The next event is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday. Don McCue, director of the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands, is scheduled to speak on the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

The Rev. Dennis Morgan Brown is scheduled to appear as Martin Luther King the following day.

Other planned events are actor Robert J. Harper's performance as escaped slave and abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass on Jan. 22 and Cal State San Bernardino professor emeritus Ward McAfee's lecture on Lincoln and the Constitution.

Feldheym Central Library is at 555 W. Sixth St., San Bernardino.

Event information: or 909--381-8201.
