Staff Photo by Doug Strickland/Chattanooga Times Free Press – March 23, 2013. Erin Prinzinger, her husband Joseph, and their son Joey are dressed in civil war attire as they sit near a campfire Saturday before the start of the Siege at Bridgeport 2013 Civil War battle re-enactment in Bridgeport, Ala.

Last month, I got to cover the Siege at Bridgeport Civil War re-enactment in Bridgeport, Al.  Believe it or not, despite four years of working for newspapers in the south this was the first Civil War re-enactment I’ve ever covered.  Don’t ask me how I’ve avoided it so far – I don’t know.

Staff Photo by Doug Strickland/Chattanooga Times Free Press – March 23, 2013. Men dressed as Confederate soldiers walk up a hill towards cannons before the start of the Siege at Bridgeport 2013 Civil War battle re-enactment in Bridgeport, Ala.

The Siege at Bridgeport was a fairly large-scale re-enactment.  They had nearly a dozen cannons and full contingents of confederate and union re-enactors.  Lifelike camps and family participants contributed to an immersive, if not necessarily accurate (when would you have seen a wife and baby at camp?) portrayal of 19th century soldiering life.

Staff Photo by Doug Strickland/Chattanooga Times Free Press – March 23, 2013. Men dressed as Union soldiers fire a cannon during the Siege at Bridgeport 2013 Civil War battle re-enactment in Bridgeport, Ala.

Between the cavalry, mock firefights, and huge cannon blasts, the only thing that would’ve made this a cooler event to cover is if I could’ve been in the middle of the re-enactors.  Of course, I’d need a big, heavy, and ancient plate camera for that; you’ve got to keep to period equipment on your person if you’re in the re-enactment.  Maybe I’ll work up a period photographer’s wagon and figure out a way to get my DSLR inside of a fake 4×5 with tripod for next year…

Staff Photo by Doug Strickland/Chattanooga Times Free Press – March 23, 2013. Mike Shadrick covers his 6-year-old son Waylon Johnson’s ears as cannons fire during the Siege at Bridgeport 2013 Civil War battle re-enactment in Bridgeport, Ala.

I did get one photo that actually reminded me of the few photographs to emerge out of the war.  At the time the Civil War was fought, photography was not yet advanced enough to capture action or even slight motion.  Photo-sensitive chemicals were slow working, and even in bright sunlight exposing a photograph often required the “shutter” (at the time period usually a cloth or cap which covered the camera’s lens) to be open for many seconds to allow enough light to expose the chemically-treated exposure plate.  Movement would blur the photograph, and when people were being photographed they had to be careful to stay very, very still.  This meant that photos of the Civil War showed troops posed before battles and the aftermath of battles rather than the battles themselves.  Corpses, as a rule, didn’t move.

Staff Photo by Doug Strickland/Chattanooga Times Free Press – March 23, 2013. Men dressed as Confederate soldiers play dead during the Siege at Bridgeport 2013 Civil War battle re-enactment in Bridgeport, Ala.