Living History:

Historic Washington State Park holds annual Civil War weekend

OLD WASHINGTON, Ark — The sharp crack and popping sounds of Civil War firearms could be heard for two days at the Historic Washington State Park as it held its 28th Annual Civil War weekend.

The event, which the park started holding in 1991, featured about 50 re-enactors — a collection of Civil War history enthusiasts who split roughly evenly into two separate groups to represent both sides of the conflict.

With the use of at least two acres of the park’s land, both Union and Confederate Army soldiers engaged in small, arms-fire skirmishes with rifle and pistol shots — shots that sent random smoke puffs drifting over the park’s tree-shaded landscape.

For many of the re-enactors, the brisk fall weather seemed appropriate for the thick wool uniforms used by the both armies.

“The weather seems to have varied over the years each time we’ve held these re-enactments,” said Leita Spears, supervisor of interpretive programs at the state park. “We’ve been pretty fortunate to usually have moderate temperatures in 40 and 50s.”

Spears added that through the years, the park has been able to

expand the scope and focus of Civil War re-enactment to not only share the battlefield experiences with audiences, but also the war’s effect on the nation’s civilian population — mostly women and children who became displaced refugees during and shortly after the war.

As for the the re-enactors themselves, this year included several from Louisiana.

“We usually have about six or seven different re-enactments, in different areas, to be in each year,” said Wilbur Snellings, who usually portrays a member of the Confederacy’s 11th Louisiana Infantry Regiment. But this year, Snellings elected to wear the Navy Blue federal uniform on the

Washington State Park battlefield, just to ensure that both side were being represented equally.

As for having to occasionally represent the Union side, Snellings said he then becomes a member of 28th Iowa Infantry Regiment.

Ray Meshell, also from Louisiana, said that he has participated in a re-enactment of the Battle of

Gettysburg at the actual location with about 12,000 other re-enactors on the actual dates of the real battle — July 1 to July 4.

“It was 83 degrees during that time in Pennsylvania,” Meshell said. “But to us 83 degrees felt like air conditioning since we were from the south.”

Staff photo by Greg Bischof ■ Confederate soldiers attempt to thwart a Union Army advance during a Civil War re-enactment Sunday at the Old Washington State Historic Park. The event marked the 28th annual Civil War Weekend since re-enactments began in 1991.