This year, as America celebrates its 250th anniversary, Arizona is highlighting community-led events, many showcasing state history.
In the first of a two-part series, reenactors recently descended on an abandoned mining town to relive the days of the Civil War and the lesser-known Indian Wars.
While the western-most Civil War battle took place at Picacho Pass, 50 miles northwest of Tucson, these few dozen reenactors brought their tents and muskets to Vulture City — a preserved ghost town abandoned decades ago after its gold mine closed.
Their goal wasn’t to re-live an actual battle, but instead use their knowledge to show an audience what a historically accurate battle would have looked like if it had taken place on the outskirts of Wickenburg.
Dave Williamson is the president of the nonprofit Arizona Civil War Council. Here in Vulture City, he’s captain of the 1st U.S. Infantry Regiment, Company D — on the Union side.
“The point is to let people see kind of the history of what’s going on,” Williamson said. “So it’s not necessarily ‘oh, bang, bang, look they’re bang banging at each other.’ It’s the maneuvers that they do, the uniforms that they wear and sometimes kind of the tactics.”
Devon Ross, 29, is the captain of the Helm’s Arizona Guard — the Confederate side. Reenacting since childhood, Ross says this battle is more of a skirmish.
“Tactically it’s a little different, there’s not a lot of commands when it comes down to skirmishing,” Ross said. “It’s more of just fire and forget. And then the Yankees were more of in a file line where you’ll get a lot more commands for you, ready-aim-fire.”
The guns are replicas, but they do work — firing blanks. The reenacting soldiers and allies range in age from teens to seniors. Some are women, some are Natives, some are related to each other, and some are veterans.
Leadership picks the battle’s winner beforehand, kind of like a WWE wrestling match.
“Usually the officers will get together in the morning and they will plan out what the event is going to look like,” says Gilbert Alonzo from Phoenix, who portrays a Union soldier. “And they say who’s going to win the battle, and how do they go back and forth, and how do we go around the buildings and do things safely.”
Alonzo’s two sons and daughter-in-law are in the Union army, too, though she is disguised as a man, as some women historically did in the Civil War.
His eldest son got him into reenacting 20 years ago, and Alonzo has since discovered a family connection.
“My ancestor, his name was Senovio Cordoba, Hispanic man in New Mexico. And he was in a spy unit,” Alonzo said. “And they would spy on the Confederates, infiltrate their camps. If they had been caught, they would have been hanged as a spy. But they were on horseback, they’d go up and down New Mexico. They were called the eyes and ears of the army of New Mexico.”
Their uniforms, garb, weaponry and gear range in authenticity, but still it could run the bill up into the thousands. The reenactors wear modern day ear plugs for protection. Some also wear modern footwear or glasses.
Under the Arizona sun, these Union soldiers are in wool uniforms, while the Confederates are not. And that was enough for at least one club member, Andrew Kuhl, to switch sides.
“There's a lot more individuality on the rebel side,” Kuhl said.
He’s been reenacting since high school, a Union soldier back East, and without the desert temperatures.
In Confederate garb, Kuhl wears prescription glasses customized to look historically accurate. He also has two lip piercings.
“We got more colors to choose from, different clothing options, you know all that great stuff, probably use different more guns,” Kuhl said. “It’s just a lot more fun. If you like playing Civil War Barbie, then be a rebel.”
In this club, politics are left at the door. Why a person joins the Union or the Confederacy doesn’t just rest on personal preference, it’s also about having even teams. Indian Scouts, portrayed by actual Apaches, joined the Confederate side.
While in character, Massai Leon spoke to an audience to justify the scouts' choice.
“So usually we fight for the Americans, blue coats in this case, but the Confederates gave us this Confederate $5 bill,” Leon said. “So my uncle and I here have no concept of money, but our interpreter, here was like, ‘sure, we’ll go fight for you guys for five Confederate dollars.’ Little do we know, in a couple years, it’s not going to be worth anything.”
As for the Confederate flag, often associated with white supremacy movements, it’s actually nowhere on the battlefield.
“That was never flown in Arizona so historically-wise, we run what’s called the First National Confederate flag, which is basically bars and a couple of stars in a circle,” Williamson said.
With the avoidance of politics, the reenactors are left with the comradery of it all. Some called it camping with a theme. Others like Ross, an Army vet, say it reminds them of the good times in their own military experience.
“It really speaks to the veteran, I mean like if you’re just sitting there thinking, ‘oh man I wish I could be a soldier for like one weekend,’ but, you know, not have to have those responsibilities, this is a great place to do it,” Ross said. "Because you get that military structure, you have rank system and then you also have that fun comradery of meeting your unit and having your own little mess.”
As the skirmish ends, the reenactors who lay dead moments before help each other up to a trumpet cue — ready for the next war.
