My country has had a civil war, invasions by the french, by the spanish, more recently a revolution that threw a fascist government, followed by a very colourful period of internal squirmishes between anti-regime forces, but we settled those events and that was that: off to the history books.
What motivates so many people to re-enact battles from the American Civil War?
It sounds cruel. Re-enacting a war where so many died gruesome deaths.
It was a significant event where the good guys won. We like our revolutionary war too but there are fewer Americans victories in it and fewer places touched by it.
I can go visit civil war forts and battlefields any time I want. There is no other war I can do that to and I think the same is true for a lot of Americans. It touched everyone’s lives at the time and I don’t think there is any other war that so completely affected the mainland states.
It’s also one where we’re told that the good guys acted like good guys. Apart from Sherman the union behaved nobly and fought for a righteous cause of unification and freedom and after the war was over Lincoln was merciful and gracious in victory. His reward for humbly leading the States through their most trying time? Assassination. It’s a good story.