The Farb, the Farb!!!!!

[emb021]

"If one were to do a truly historical event the public would be appalled."

 

 

Hmmmm.

 

Am reminded of an issue of Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" comic. One of the recurring characters was an immortal who was born in the middle ages. In one issue, he was shown in modern times with his then-current girl friend going to a Ren Fair. His comments were interesting. He was saying if they wanted to be "really" authentic, they ought to spray everyone with **** , and everyone was too healthy compared to people of that time, who many times were sickly, had boils and other things.

 

 

I've also heard of people being upset when re-enactors tried to more correctly show the slave trade (such as slave auctions). The worse were the african-americans who protested it. You'd think they'd want this, to show to people how horrible it was.

 

[Hal_Crawford]

No matter how much attention is paid to period detail most reenactments leave you with the impression that the Civil War was fought by men in their forties and fifties (or even older). You see precious few of the teenagers who made up the bulk of the combat troops.

 

Visit Colonial Williamsburg and ask yourself what the city and the people would look like if the streets were historically accurate (not paved), especially after a day or two of rain.

 

A certain level of inaccuaracy is pretty much inevitable.

 

Hal

 

[le Voyageur]

No matter how much attention is paid to period detail most reenactments leave you with the impression that the Civil War was fought by men in their forties and fifties (or even older). You see precious few of the teenagers who made up the bulk of the combat troops.

 

Visit Colonial Williamsburg and ask yourself what the city and the people would look like if the streets were historically accurate (not paved), especially after a day or two of rain.

 

A certain level of inaccuaracy is pretty much inevitable.

 

For the Gods and Generals shoot we had to meet weight, and physical type requirements. Overfed, and out of shape re enactors with their huge bellies weren't considered, or hired....even though I'm F&I, was able to hobble together a presentable persona which found meself, having experience with blackpowder cannons and mortars, working a rebel gun crew.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZWAmsdGBiE

 

and beefing up the ranks for Pickett's charge

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iT0Hmu5bXY&feature=related

 

great fun, but the experience of this shoot left me greatly humbled

 

 

(This message has been edited by Le Voyageur)

[GaHillBilly]

Voyageur, there's not much we seem to agree on, but I found this post both informative and interesting.

 

As my sons approach adulthood, I'm increasingly aware the impact of 'main stream media' and main stream 'infotainment' on their view of the world, society, and science.

 

Fortunately, they are getting the message. My older son's first reaction now, to a new natural history guide book, is to see how many errors and mis-identifications he can find in it. We've reached the point where we no longer make plant or animal ID's based on a single text: there are just too many errors in the popular ones.

 

Having spent a good portion of my life in contact with research on technical chemistry dealing with water treatment, I've developed a very healthy skepticism about 'scientists'. I've read too many journal articles with serious and obvious errors or oversights. I can't claim the expertise in other areas to judge accurately the value of the materials presented, but I have no reason to assume that other realms of science perform better than the chemists do.

 

But most people today, and especially most young people, form their views about science and history, not from contact with actual science, but from a hodge-podge of science fiction movies, main stream media reports, and seriously flawed high school texts. Even worse, hardly anyone has the mathematical background to understand how terribly uncertain most presentations of frequency or risk are (including, but hardly limited to, AGW).

 

That's not a new problem, I suppose. You may be able to correct me, but it's my impression that the majority of decision makers on both sides of the Civil War believed, in the beginning, that the war would be over in 6 months or less.

 

The more I understand about the uncertainties of the information we receive, the less I find I know for sure.

 

 

GaHillBilly(This message has been edited by GaHillBilly)

[Eagle92]

GHB,

In reference to good materials for a foundation for plant and animal ID, get some of the older BSA pubs, or even some of Seton's and Beard's work. And let's not forget Green Bar Bill. In addition to all his BSA work, he did publish a few non-BSA works that are quite excellent I'm told. I admit I'm not too much of a "ecogeek nature freak" being a "COPESTER," "Aquarat" and "trading post freak" when I worked summer camp, but the wife is and she's read the GBB book in our local library.

 

As some may know, I'm interested in doing a little reenacting, if I can find the time between Cub Scouts, OA, and district/council responsibilities, . SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

 

Hello, ny name is Eagle92 and I'm a FARB...My capote has toggles and fringe on it, and I have the wrong period footwear (plains moc boots), and my knife may be 20 years out of period. HELP ME!!!!!!! lol

 

 

[SSScout]

And don't attend your local Renaisance Festival, you will be blinded by the farb.

 

 

In the spirit of the season, hohohohoh

[Eagle92]

Yep and if you are authentic they WILL kick you out. True story, My wife borrowed my sis-in-law's leper costumer she made for the college theater. Wife and I go to the local ren fair, and of course goes all out as a leper, including wooden begging bowl and clapper, foul smelling, dirty clothes, and the clincher was the decaying flesh created by layers of superglue, makeup, and paint. It was awesome. We go the fair, hang around for a bit, but then some big wig with the group sees my wife, blasts her and her costume, and kicks us out.

 

[Stosh]

Over the holidays I toured historical sites in the south. If one wishes to know what farb is, go to the Shiloh battlefield and view the 1956 video in their interpretive center. It is so bad I couldn't help laughing. As far as I could tell, the smokeless bolt action rifles weren't invented for at least 50 years after the Civil War, but were plentiful after WW II in 1956. I won't even start on the uniforms in the film...

 

On the other hand 25 miles to the south at Corinth, MS a new interpretive center opened up there for the Battle of Corinth that had a preso that was absolutely fantastic! I liked it even better than the one they made for the new Gettysburg visitor center that opened up last year. The Corinth people really know their stuff.

 

Eagle92: there's no such thing as too much research. Once you realize you have the wrong stuff, then you are on your way to a great impression. It's those who don't know that create the biggest problems and perpetuate incorrect information to the public.

 

Stosh

[JoeBob]

I think the absence of blackpowder smoke is a HUGE farb!

From Cowboy Action Shooting I've seen blackpowder competitors have to wait for the air to clear in front of their guns so they can see to take a second shot. Since it's a timed competition, on still humid mornings when the smoke hangs heavy, they'll try to remember where the targets were and shoot through the wall of smoke.

Can you imagine two opposing lines of War of Northern Aggression skirmishers? 1) You wanted all your men to fire at once so that everyone could still see the enemy. 2) There must have been a huge advantage in being the side to fire first.

 

[Stosh]

War of Northern Aggression???? I suppose you're one of those guys that think damnyankees is all one word!

 

If one studies the tactics of the era, a full volley was not used very often. It meant that the whole company/regiment was going to be totally unarmed for the next 20 seconds. Ever wonder how far a cavalryman could close the gap in ranks in those 20 seconds? Usually the commands were fire by rank which would mean half the men would shoot and the other half remained loaded. Once the smoke cleared the other rank could fire. The average infantryman carried 40 rounds in his cartridge box and another 20 in his pockets. Those 60 rounds if fired at 20 second intervals, which is how long it took to reload, they would run out of ammunition in 20 minutes. The rate of fire was far less than one would imagine from today's movies. Fire by file was the most common form. The first two men on the far right of the company would fire together, then the next two men to their left would fire so on down the line. With 50 pairs firing, by the time the first two men were reloaded the smoke had cleared and they could then fire once more. This meant that the company could as a whole keep up a constant firing against the Seee-shesh for quite some time with no breaks.

 

Stosh

 

[OldGreyEagle]

Wait, you mean a capote is not supposed to have fringe on it? I used this for my directions:

 

http://www.inquiry.net/OUTDOOR/WINTER/GEAR/CAPOTE.HTM

 

It shows fringe on the shoulder and the top of the hood, are you saying this is not accurate?

 

 

[le Voyageur]

 

 

OGE

 

My source for capotes is the Canadian artist Cornelius Krieghoff...here's a few images of different styles of capotes...

 

http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/ObjView/M977.90.1-P1.jpg

 

http://www.totalsnowshoes.com/c010696k.jpg

 

http://images.mayberryfineart.ca/med/1165957064_hunterandfamily.jpg

 

http://images.mayberryfineart.ca/1165957656_hunterandsquaw.jpg

[Eagle92]

OGE,

le V mentioned that capote's of the F&I war period didn't have fringe. That was in another thread. Doing some searching online only, I noticed that he was correct. Grant you I didn't do a lot of searching and haven't looked in all of my books and elsewhere, but he seems to be correct.

 

Now the capote with fringe seems to be an 1800s thing, possibly Native American in origin.

 

As for the site you listed, that was one of the sources I sued in makign my capote, the others being the Missouri River pattern I borrowed and the Whispering Wind Craft Annual.

 

The link above and the other sources said use buttons, but I couldn't break down and cut up the blanket any more, plus I wanted the "just right" feel to it, ie the capote felt comfotable to wear and WARM. So I used toggles, rope, thread, and imitation sinew instead of buttons.

[Eagle92]

Looks like leV and I were writing at the same time.

 

In reference to doing my own research, some advice I received from a website for reenacting newbies is to talk, listen, and take notes from those who have been doign it awhile as they do have a wealth of information, but use what they told you as a springboard for your own research. You still need to do your own research.

 

Not trying to discount le V one bit, in fact he is a wealth of information and would love to meet him at an event if possible, but thorough research is still needed. An example of that is my current capote with fringe.

 

 

[Eagle92]

le V,

 

Is that a matchcoat in the link here?

 

http://images.mayberryfineart.ca/1165957656_hunterandsquaw.jpg