After practicing drills for a time, soldiers on the Union side returned to camp to eat. Some cooked eggs and sausage over the campfires, while others smoked ham and stirred stews.
As they waited for their combat orders, the reenactors talked about history and shared in each other’s company.
Rack Campbell and his son, Aaron, both of Fredericksburg and members of the 4th U.S. Infantry Co. I, sat outside their tent and cleaned their rifles.
The Campbells, who have been reenacting together for at least a handful of years, say they enjoy reenacting because it allows them to step back in time and let go of their worries.
“My family has lived in Virginia for 300 years almost, so we have a lot of roots here,” said Rack Campbell, 45. “We had family on both sides. … [Reenacting] gives us a feeble sense of what it must have been like for them.
“It’s hard to explain to anybody who’s never done it,” Rack Campbell added, “but the first time you go out and 1,000 rifles go off [in the battlefield]. It’s as close to a time machine that you’ll ever find.”