RICHMOND, Va. — In the passionate world of Civil War re-enactors, authenticity is everything — from uniforms with historically correct stitching to hardtack made from scratch.
A battle re-enactment last month pushed realism to the limits: a retired New York City police officer portraying a Union soldier for a documentary film was shot in the shoulder, possibly by a Confederate re-enactor.
The shooting sent the 73-year-old to the hospital and left the Isle of Wight Sheriff’s Office in rural southeastern Virginia with a Civil War- style CSI case. Investigators used film to piece together what happened and have narrowed a suspect list to one re-enactor.
The Sept. 27 injury sent ripples through the re-enactment community, which can be understandably sensitive to public perceptions of thousands of enthusiasts toting swords and firearms in rough-hewn uniforms, often on horseback.
“We were sort of freaked out because this hits the hobby hard,” said Ed Hooper, editor of Camp Chase Gazette, a monthly magazine aimed at re-enactors. “It is so out of the norm.”
The shooting of Thomas R. Lord Sr. in a Suffolk park violated the cardinal rule of re-enacting: no loaded weapons. Black powder brings the flash and bang to the pageantry, but even that primitive explosive is used gingerly.
Re-enactors said Lord’s shooting might have happened in part because walk-ons were used. These are re-enactors who typically are not affiliated with a unit and unfamiliar with the chain of command or safety rules.
Lord’s shooter was among several Confederate re-enactors who showed up at the filming, said John C. Jobe, a member of Lord’s unit who witnessed the shooting.
Re-enactors who have worked in filmed battles said the camera might have been a factor, saying filmmakers sometimes put realism over safety and ignore the hobby’s strict rules of engagement. The re-enactors who were there when Lord was hurt said they weren’t sure whether the film crew checked for loaded weapons before the battle commenced.
Sheriff C.W. “Charlie” Phelps said he didn’t have evidence that the filmmakers were negligent.
“I can’t say that anybody dropped the ball,” he said.
Lord was shot in the shoulder while portraying a member of the 7th New York Cavalry. The unit answered an Internet casting call from a film company called Alderwerks.
Witnesses said Lord was raising his arm in victory when a musket ball ripped into him. “I felt like I got hit in the shoulder with a baseball bat,” Lord told The Daily Press of Newport News.
War games banned on real battlefields
The hobby of re-enactment has come a long way from its ragtag origins to the near-fanatical authenticity modern purists demand.
The National Park Service allowed 2,500 re-enactors to stage a battle in 1961 on Manassas National Battlefield Park, in what some view as the birth of Civil War re-enacting. A horse-drawn caisson bolted and had to be chased down, and someone was knocked down by a cannon blast.
The Park Service no longer allows battlefield re-enactments.
