What is the procedure for becoming a part of a reenactment?

Note to new reenactors and persons wanting to become reenactors.
Unfortunately, we cannot be a clearinghouse for new reenactors and are not able to refer you to specific groups. There is no central clearing house of units and some units come and go making maintenance of any such list become quickly outdated.

We can refer you to periodicals such as The Civil War News, Camp Chase Gazette and Civil War Courier for notices from units seeking new members. Going to numerous civil war web sites and chat rooms would be another good source for reenactor information. These periodicals all have websites available by using the search function on your web browser.

The best option may be to go to reenactments or living history demonstrations and talk to unit members. Reenactors are normally very gracious in sharing their knowledge and experience.

Independents that do not belong to an affiliated unit, upon acceptance of the registration, will be assigned to each army's "provisional unit" established and overseen by U.S. and CSA command. We encourage reenactors to make every effort to affiliate with an organized unit and register as part of that unit, with the unit's permission.

Civil War News: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or www.civilwarnews.com

The Civil War News runs a recruiting/calendar section in their January issue each year but that only includes units that submit information for recruiting ads. Some units will run recruiting ads in the classified section during the year in the regular issues. The Civil War News Website has links to reenactments and living history groups as well as to a site called Civil War Reenactors. By talking electronically to various groups you can usually get a helpful referral.

The specific location you want is: www.cwreenactors.com/recruits.htm

Keep in mind you cannot tell the geographic location of a reenactor unit based on the unit's name. They could be the 5th Alabama and be based in New Jersey. This will require you to do some web surfing and visit chat rooms. Most unit sites will give the history about the original unit, which will aid you in learning some history while trying to identify a unit you may want to join. There are a few umbrella groups such as the Alabama Division which many assist you in locating individual units to join. www.alabamadivision.org
Recruitment officers for the Host Units can be found at their websites: www.jeffdavisartillery.org  www.4thalabamainfantry.org  www.the31stalabama.com