A Family Of Civil War Re-Enactors

www.countypressonline.com ^ | 09/12/2003 | By Eileen Shomo

[Tribune7]

Brandon Kelly watches dad Scott cleans his musket as Catherine Kelly repairs a Confederate jacket under the watchful eye of her daughter, Megan. Photo by Eileen Shomo It took only one visit to a Civil War event 10 years ago for Brandon Kelly, then 5, to become hooked.

Brandon came home, said his mother, Catherine, and went right to his closet to find some clothes he could wear to another event, which would make him look like a re-enactor.

"He came down with a navy blue jacket, turned the collar up and asked for a haversack (to hold his powder) and we went back," said his mother with a smile.

Brandon was promptly captured by a Confederate group because he looked like a Yankee, whereupon he decided to join the Confederate ranks. "He really likes doing this," said his dad, Scott, a Garnet Valley High School graduate, now residing in Claymont, Del.

"It took him a year to save up to buy clothes, a uniform and a musket," he added.

Scott said each side outfitted its soldiers with a jacket, shirt, suspenders, under drawers, socks, a flannel shirt for winter and shoes called Jefferson brogans so re-enactors attempt to wear clothing as authentic as possible.

[Tribune7]

ping

[Tribune7]

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[AppyPappy]

A musket??

[azhenfud]

bump

[stainlessbanner]

Hurrah!

[RebelBanker]

AP,

Brandon's musket is a toy, one of the cap guns they sell the tourists in Gettysburg. I know the Kellys and have been to quite a number of events with them. They would not consider letting Brandon play with a real musket.

Reb

[Indrid Cold]

15 is old enough for a musket in my book. Kudos to their family for finding a great way to play and learn together.

[Capriole]

These people are farbs. I have to wonder why the paper ran an article on mere farbs.

[Core_Conservative]

These people are farbs. I have to wonder why the paper ran an article on mere farbs.

because they don't know any better. I would rather have somebody farbing out - and learning the right way (I started out as a farb - takes time to purchase all the proper gear - and a LOT of money) Hopefully someone will take this family under their wing and teach them - not yell at them - teach them the appropriate way to reenact the Civil War.

[RebelBanker]

Sorry, I was talking about his "first" musket. I guess it has been longer than I realized...

[Rebelbase]

I caught some Farbs at a JEB Stuart Homeplace re-enactment a few years ago. The guys left their tent flaps open and you could see sleeping bags, cooler and snack bags.

[Tribune7]

What is a farb?

[flying Elvis]

Reenactors have a pecking order based on authenticity. I suppose everyone needs to have someone to look down on. I have heard many different translations of Farb, the most common being "Far be it from authentic." See Tony Horowitz' "Confederates in the Attic" for all the proper grammatical usages of Farb. It's a hoot.

[KantianBurke]

"I think I need a drink."

[Capriole]

A farb is someone who takes up historic reenacting but pursues it in a frivolous way, without due respect for the past, for historic accuracy, or for the people whose lives and struggles and sufferings we are attempting to represent--someone who does not trouble to educate himself about the issues or the material culture and social psychology of the times. A farb wants to go to a reenactment or living history event and will spew inaccurate nonsense to curious spectators who query him, instead of admitting honestly that he doesn't know the answer. A farb won't take the trouble to dress in an appropriate manner, and will thus spoil the appearance of the event by wearing modern clothes around at a time when we are meant to be portraying the people of the past. A farb will bring a cooler full of beer and Doritos to an event that is supposed to be an accurate representation of life in the 1860s. He doesn't study, think, and learn, but regards reenacting as camping-and-beer-while-wearing-funny-clothes. Farbs give the serious scholars a bad name and embarrass us all.

It's not ignorance or poverty that causes people to be farbs. You can reenact very cheaply indeed; my family spends almost nothing. Farb-hood is caused by stubbornness.