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Living story by
PATRICIA E. ACKERMAN
photography by
LARRY HARWOOD
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s a boy, Boo Hodges read stories of Civil War soldiers becoming so disoriented during battle that they mistakenly fired on their own troops. He never understood how this could happen until he participated in a reenactment of the 1864 Battle of Wilderness, deep in the woods of Virginia. There, Hodges stood in the middle of two 3,000-man armies firing at one another from both sides. “Black powder smoke from our muskets filled the woods and just hung there,” recalls Hodges. “It became so thick that troops on both sides were disoriented. We were totally messed up and surrounded by chaos. It was in that moment of confusion that I truly understood the stories I had read.” Hodges, a partner doctor at Salina Women’s Clinic, says he became “hooked” on Civil War reenactments on a family vacation in 1988, when he saw the 125th anniversary reenactment of the Battle of Mobile Bay at Fort Morgan, Alabama. Upon his return to Kansas, Hodges joined the nearest reenactment group, at that time in Missouri, before he founded the Eighth Kansas Volunteer Infantry in 1989. After just two years, he helped co-found the larger Frontier Brigade and then helped it organize within the First Division reenactment group in 1994. Since then, Hodges has traveled to reenactment and demonstration events in Murfreesboro, Middleton, Gettysburg, Manassas, Vicksburg, and Nebraska, Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Hodges frequently serves as Colonel and Chief of Artillery Reserve for the First Federal Division. Both his sons, Ted and Grant, have served as drummer boys for the Eighth. Hodges and his sons have stood in the ranks with several Salina-area residents throughout the years. Retired Lutheran pastor Frank Pekarek and his son had a memorable first outing with the Eighth Kansas Volunteer Infantry in 1994. “Our first reenactment lasted nine days, deep in the woods of Louisiana. It was Easter and it
Tony Bell and Boo Hodges. Frank Pekarek, photo courtesy Kim Bear Photography
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Kim Bear Photography
To Arms! To Arms! If you are interested in enlisting or learning more about the Eighth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, you can attend their meetings on the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. in the Prescott Room of the Salina Public Library.
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Kansas Battery Blair’s Artillery Group
rained all week,” reports Pekarek. But father and son stuck it out, because, Pekarek explains, “reenactors want to feel as close to what the Civil War troops felt as possible.” Pekarek went on to serve six years as coordinator for the Civil War Roundtable of Salina, a meet-up and historical discussion group for reenactors and Civil War enthusiasts. Pekarerk also lectures on Civil War themes in addition to putting on his uniform for reenactment events. “It’s better than just reading books,” says Pekarek. “We feel some of the things they did: the sweat and even some of the battlefield trauma.” Pekarek recently handed over roundtable coordination duties to John and Jennifer Tillman. John, who works as a civil engineer in real life, regularly portrays a major in the Frontier Brigade and trains four to six mules to pull artillery cannon for the Kansas Battery Blair’s Artillery Group. “It’s quite a trick to work with mules,” explains Tillman. “They’re smarter than a horse and it requires more intelligence to train them than you would need with a horse.” John credits his love of history as his primary reason for participating in Civil War reenactments. Through genealogical research, he learned that two of his great grandfathers fought on opposite sides of the war and he now owns both of their Civil War rifles. He attended his first reenactment in 1987, and he met his wife Jennifer through reenactments. A CFO of a local medical clinic, Jennifer serves as a member of the Frontier Brigade’s medical corps where historical accuracy and modern medical knowledge are equally valued. “We use real swords, knives, and bayonets,” adds John, “so medically trained personnel are essential. We also experience occasional heat-related incidents and black-powder burns.” But it’s worth the small risks, say the Tillmans. For them, some of the most memorable events occur when their roles bridge the past and the present. John proudly recalls that in 2003 the Eighth Kansas Volunteer Infantry presented a posthumous Medal of Honor to an Abilene family whose Civil War era ancestor never received his award. “It got the man the honor he earned, allowed his family the prestige of being Medal of Honor descendants,” says John, “and it made me proud to be a presenter for such a high honor.”
Tony Bell John Tillman
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