The Immortal Imagination (DIGITAL EDITION)

Description

2013 marked the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, the battle that many regard as the turning point in the American Civil War. In three days of fighting in July 1863, and at a collective cost of over 50,000 casualties, the scales of the Civil War tipped inexorably in favor of the North, and as a result, the democratic values that have come to be known as “traditionally American” were both preserved and strengthened in that field of blood. From June 27-June 30, 2013, a commemorative re-enactment of the battle took place on this hallowed ground.

At this re-enactment, John Sheehan, a historian and author at Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3) in New York, and Keith Millman, a photography professor at TC3 and established photographer, embedded with, interviewed, and photographed–with period “tintype” technology–a Southern unit–the 22nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment. During this time embedded within the unit, accoutered in period clothing graciously provided by our hosts, Keith produced the labor-intensive tintypes using authentic equipment, while John marched, drilled, carried the colors, and fought with the unit, in order to share their “experiences” with them, and later interviewed these re-enactors to determine their motivations for re-enacting. These contemporary tintypes and biographies have been matched with archival biographies of the men from the original regiment that fought at and survived, or died in, this horrific, but decisive, sacrifice at Gettysburg.

The photographs, the biographies of the re-enactors, and the biographies of the Civil War soldiers at Gettysburg will together help give new breath and relevance to this story, and thus makes this a project worthy of fruition. This is what the idea of “Living History” is all about.