Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 31, 1990 TAG: 9005310486
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
How can Ayers make such a gross generalization as to say the war means nothing to re-enactors but flags, bugles and puffs of smoke? Many of us (including myself) had family members who fought and died during the war. Not once have I answered the call "to horse" and participated in a re-enactment without thinking of my great-great grandfather, Elisha Argabright, who perished at Cedar Creek.
Does Ayers want to forget the pain and suffering his own ancestor Alpheus Wilson went through? Can he understand the cause that would drive a man to such sacrifice?
We re-enactors fully understand the horrors of that war: the death, the disease, the constant hunger, the mud, the bitter cold and choking heat. The conditions of living and fighting this war broke the most stout of character. We understand this because we have devoted ourselves to the study of the war.
We don't claim to re-create a battle the real way it was; everyone knows better. What we do try to do is re-create to the best of our ability through history. Simply put, we try to educate.
The real bloody truth about the war is that his bitterness blinds him to the honor and nobility of his own heritage through his Confederate ancestor and warrior. Maybe it's time he stopped fighting that proud heritage - and claimed it. LESTER R. YORK III HARDY
by CNB