Three living historians spoke with WTVA 9 News during the recent reenactment and shared how the reenactment helps them and others better understand history.
LEE COUNTY, Miss. (WTVA) – Three living historians spoke with WTVA 9 News during the recent reenactment and shared how the reenactment helps them and others better understand history.
Oxford’s Jessie Honeycutt played a soldier in the 38th Mississippi Infantry in the Confederate Army. Photo Location: Lee County, Mississippi. Photo date: June 9, 2024.
“We do this to make sure history stays alive and isn’t forgotten,” said Jessie Honeycutt, of Oxford, who played a soldier in the 38th Mississippi Infantry in the Confederate Army. “We do this to keep history alive. And that’s one of the reasons they call us living historians.”
Kevin Duke played a second cavalryman from New Jersey. Lee County, Mississippi. Photo date: June 9, 2024.
“Being on the real ground is always inspiring. We do a lot of reenactments, but there aren’t many that you can do on the actual terrain. So that’s an important touchpoint,” said Kevin Duke, who played a second cavalryman from New Jersey. “It is a beautiful park. I started recreating here when that little monument was all there was here. That there is so much here preserved and interpreted is a wonderful thing.”
Ryan Anderson, from Arizona, played a soldier in the Union 7th Tennessee Infantry. Photo Location: Lee County, Mississippi. Photo date: June 9, 2024.
“I think these kinds of things are necessary both as a historian and as an American. This is part of our history. The good and the bad,” said Ryan Anderson, who played a soldier in the Union 7th Tennessee Infantry Regiment. “Yes, bad things happen, but a lot of good things come up too. “In events like this we not only learn from it, but also how we honor those who fought and died.”
All three showed that it takes effort, time and passion to bring history to life.
Anderson came all the way from Arizona (a 24 hour drive) just to be there.
“Size is a big thing. There are not so many people anywhere. There was only one Civil War battle in Arizona that we fought,” Anderson said. “There are smaller events in the surrounding area.”
He shared what it was like to be where the war saw the most intense fighting.
“Dead” Confederates during the reenactment of the Battle of Tupelo at Brice’s Crossroads National Battlefield. Photo Location: Lee County, Mississippi. Photo date: June 9, 2024.
“It’s amazing. And you could read about it in books, you could see it on TV and stuff. But when you’re here and you experience it, only then do you really understand what they were talking about,” Anderson said.
Honeycutt pointed out the costs of gunpowder, caps, canisters and gas.
Confederates advance during the Battle of Tupelo reenactment at Brice’s Crossroads National Battlefield. Photo Location: Lee County, Mississippi. Photo date: June 9, 2024.
But despite the costs, there is a personal reward that goes along with the educational one.
Honeycutt said this is the immersion every re-enactor feels at some point in their career.
A “killed” Union soldier during the reenactment of the Battle of Tupelo at Brice’s Crossroads National Battlefield. Photo Location: Lee County, Mississippi. Photo date: June 9, 2024.
“When I was at 155th Shiloh,” Honeycutt said. “I was there, my company was in reserve. “We saw the units ahead of us march into a fog-covered field and the men marched through the fog and disappeared,” he said. “And all you could see were flashes, gunshots, men screaming, and you were there in the middle of waist-deep wheat grass, and it was just dawn and you got the chills. “It’s the same ground battle that 35,000 people died in and you’re there and you feel like you were there.”
And for Honeycutt, a reenactment helped change his life.
“I met my wife doing this. I met her at the Battle of Port Hudson shooting at her,” she said. “We always make the joke: What hobby allows you to kill your wife and get away with it?”
They were enemies by day, but at night, a dance united them.
“A year after I met her I proposed to her on the same battlefield where I met her,” he said.
They now have a three-year-old son who they hope will one day join them on the battlefield.
That’s how Anderson began recreating.
Union reenactors during the reenactment of the Battle of Tupelo at Brice’s Crossroads National Battlefield. Photo Location: Lee County, Mississippi. Photo date: June 9, 2024.
“My dad was a Civil War reenactor. He lived here in the Mississippi, Tennessee area. So I grew up recreating. When we moved to Arizona we contacted them,” Anderson said.
Honeycutt said history was always interesting, but added that having an ancestor who served in Confederate forces in northern Mississippi helped.
Anderson said he wants people to remember that more Americans died in the Civil War than in any other war in American history.
You can read more about the Battles of Tupelo and Brice’s Crossroads by following this link.
See video of the recreation by following this link.
See more of WTVA’s history highlights by following this link.
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