Reenactors devote countless hours to re-creating Civil War battles. Last year s event at Arbor Lodge, for example, included reenactors from Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Colorado and Nebraska. Some invested two days travel each way to participate in the two-day event. Their cash outlay for equipment, alone, is considerable. Some reenactors buy dress uniforms as well as field garb, and many have both Yankee and Rebel outfits, changing when one side or the other is short of manpower at an event.
Reenactors typically belong to organizations that are reincarnations of Civil War military units.
Their uniforms and equipment are reproductions of those used by the original units, and they carry the units colors. The Battle of Chalk Bluff reenactment at Arbor Lodge is the handiwork of the one such unit, the modern 1st Nebraska Infantry Volunteers. Like the original 1st Nebraska, the group draws most of its members from the Omaha and Nebraska City areas. Most reenactors do it out of love for history. Many had ancestors on one or both sides of the Civil War, said Steve Jipp of Omaha.