Reflecting on the last two seasons of reenacting, major changes have occurred in the authentic side of the hobby.

1999 was the year of the Campaigner - where thousands of reenactors learned at the Chickamauga event that they could do campaign style, and liked it! It led to a lot of shake-ups and break-ups in individual units as more and more men started pursuing the authentic side of reenacting.

That led to the 2000 season when most of us traveled here and yon to various invitation events, trying to find our niche and trying to experience the latest and greatest in authentic reenacting. It started out with a mud march in Bentonville, NC and ended on a cold November day in North Georgia, the Outpost.

I suspect after all of this we may have come full circle. The more and more I talk to other authentics, the more it seems apparent that many of them have a strong desire to go back to their roots in the 2001 season. Not taking a step back in their impressions, but rather taking those refined, honed impressions back to their local events.

Perhaps it is time for the Battle of Such-and-Such to get a taste of what we authentics have known for years - that there is a better side of reenacting. Reenacting can be so much more then big kids with guns and Saturday night keggers.

Reenacting can be standing a picket on a cold, black November night, wondering at the snap of a twig if there's a Johnnie trying to sneak up on you. Reenacting can be a march for preservation, where the greatest impressions in the hobby gather to raise money to save a Civil War battlefield. Who will forget that frigid March morning, when we trembled in the ranks (none so much as G. Keefer) waiting for the command to step-off?! Who can forget the mutual feeling of respect exchanged when seeing another with mud stains on his trousers to match your own?

Reenacting can be so much more then bad uniforms and bad drill. Authenticity can be so much more then stitch-counting and pissing on buttons. So is it time for the authentics to return to their roots? Is it time for us to show the rest of reenacting what got us hooked, to see if there might be a few more who could be swayed?