CIVIL WAR RE-ENACTMENT Battle of Boardman Park

By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- The tranquility and open fields of Boardman Township Park have been transformed over the last two weekends into battlefields reminiscent of those seen during the Civil War.
Men draped in heavy wool, carrying large-caliber rifles and wearing rosy red cheeks that silently tell the temperature, could be seen marching through the park -- their arms perched on their shoulders.
No, these are not ghosts from an era long gone and sometimes forgotten. They are about two dozen members of the 19th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Company B, a group of Civil War re-enactors.
The group has set up camp here in the park for the last four years.
The scene: Bob Lehman of Trumbull County wears the traditional garb of a Union soldier, complete with worn knees from pitching tents. He takes on the duty of explaining the importance of the camp scene to a group of curious onlookers.
Lehman steps past his colleagues who are sitting on bales of hay around an open fire for warmth and stops next to an open "tent" more closely resembling a rough blanket tied to a tree.
He explains the material was standard-issue equipment to Union soldiers, but many soldiers would combine the material into one large sleeping tent for everyone, complete with sides to keep out the breeze. Other times, he said, soldiers would just lie in the grass under the material.
Authenticity: According to Lehman, every aspect of the replicated "Civil War Street," the area where the camp was set up, has significance to actual events.
Atop the open fire in cast-iron pots and skillets is the food the soldiers will eat. The meal consists of beans, coffee, a type of dried bread called hard tack and salt pork.
Re-enactors spent their down time just as actual Civil War soldiers did -- playing games and singing songs. Lehman said soldiers also spent a good deal of time gambling, but got rid of the evidence before returning home to families that frowned upon such activity.
There was also a routine "mail call."
The re-enactors do face one major difference -- curious onlookers peering into the scene as if they were looking through the window of time. But it is for these spectators that the re-enactors go through drills, stack guns in tepee fashion and live the life of soldiers some 140 years ago.
Why they do it: "We just like doing this and keeping the history alive," said Lehman. "Most of the guys who re-enact know for sure they had family who actually fought in the war. For the rest it is a camaraderie thing of getting together with a bunch of guys you like."
The 19th OVI has taken its name from an actual infantry unit made up of men from Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana, Ashtabula, Stark, Geauga and Summit counties.
Lehman, who has been involved in re-enacting for several years, said it is a hobby that brings satisfaction. As one starts to get older, however, it can also bring a stiff back from sleeping on the hard ground. Another hardship, he said, is the cost. Basic equipment costs about $1,000 and the guns are an additional $400 each.
"This is definitely a young man's hobby, but old men are often the ones who can actually afford it," said Lehman.
jgoodwin@vindy.com