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Texas Civil War Living History Institute
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Frequently asked questions
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Where are events?
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Most events are held at or near museums, historic sites, and battlefields. Most of our events occur at sites in our home region of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Some events we attend are in Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Check out our Schedule of Events to see where we are headed next!
How much does it cost?
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The cost for visitors to events varies and is set by the event host. Check out our schedule of Schedule of Events to find links to the host page for each event to find out pricing for admission.
New Recruits wishing to become performers should visit our New Volunteers page for more information about becoming a volunteer. We strive to keep the our volunteer's fees low, such that they only help us cover the cost of consumables, upkeep, and insurance coverage. We also work hard to make sure that our volunteers have an exciting time at every event that makes it worth every dollar!
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What do I need to bring to events?
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Visitors to events are recommended to bring clothing appropriate for the weather, comfortable walking shoes that you won't mind possibly getting dirty, a water bottle, and possibly a folding chair or stool. Don't forget your sunscreen!
For our volunteer performers, The Institute provides all the living history equipment that you will need. However, for your health, safety, and basic comfort while participating, we ask that you bring a few modern items with you, which you can fine here. Please bring ONLY those items listed.
What side do you portray?
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Currently, the default impression of the Institute is that of Union soldiers. However, should the situation require it, we are prepared to field Confederate soldiers with the same dedication to historical accuracy.
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How do you know when you get "hit"?
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Being the quintessential question asked by those learning how living history performances work, we get asked this a lot. In short, we have several methods. The simplest is the officers will inform each performer when it is time to "take a hit". In another method, officers will assign a number to each man, and when your number is called, you are to "take a hit". Another method is the officers will carefully control how much ammunition you are issued for each engagement to correspond to the battle combat scenario. When you run out of ammunition, you are to take your hit.
Since wounds and death are the result of any armed conflict, and the Civil War was the bloodiest conflict in our nation's history, we are very careful about how we portray this. While it is important for our audiences to understand the human cost of our new birth of freedom, we also have a duty to the real people who gave their lives for their cause. We strive to portray these situations without either over-acting or sanitizing this trauma. At the end of the day, we hope that our visitors and our performers are moved by the steep price that was paid to give our nation a new birth of freedom.
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How old do you have to be?
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The minimum age to participate as a performer in our living history events is 16 years old. Participants age 12 and up may participate if they audition to be a drummer, fifer, or bugler. Participants 14 and up may participate as soldiers on a case-by-case basis. All performers ages 12-15 must have a parent or guardian participating with them. Younger children under 12 whose parents are participating in a civilian roll may be permitted, subject to approval from program staff.
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Can women participate?
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We strongly encourage women to participate in the roll of nurse, civilian, or camp support. These rolls are under-represented in Civil War living history, and we would love for you to help us tell the stories of the women who fought in their own way in a still very male dominated society. While hundreds of women did fight as soldiers, compared to the millions of men who fought, this percentage is rendered miniscule. However, if a female participant would still like to take the roll of a soldier, we will work with them to assist them in making as accurate a portrayal of this special historical occurrence as possible.
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Is it safe?
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The Institute follows firearm safety principals as established by the NRA and used on live gun ranges across the country. Combined with safety procedures particular to living history events, continuous training and practice of simulated combat scenarios, and well-trained and vigilant officers, our events have a very high safety rating. Additionally, most events have paramedics on site in case of injury, and the Institute maintains its own first-aid capabilities with the proper supplies and training. See a copy of our firearms safety policy here.
Additionally, to keep our youth volunteers safe, we have special Youth Shield policies in place, which you can review here.
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Do you use real guns?
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Our firearms are working reproductions of Civil War era firearms, and are capable of firing bullets. However, we never use or produce live rounds, and only blank ammunition produced by the Institute is allowed. Additionally, our standard practice during force-on-force combat scenarios is to load blank ammunition without the use of the ramrod, thereby removing the possibility of loading any sort of projectile.
Some live-fire activities may be conducted during camp events on an established rifle range, following all NRA recommended safety rules for gun ranges. For such an activity, bullets would be handed out individually, separate from the powder charge, and are carefully controlled by the acting range master.
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What if I want to participate but I don't want to fight?
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The are plenty of opportunities for those who want to participate but would prefer a more non-combat role. For talented individuals who can play the fife, drum, or bugle, we have musician positions available. We also have cook, ambulance corpsman, hospital, and civilian roles available as well. Check out our New Volunteers page for our all of our current roles. If you have something particular in mind that is not listed, contact us and we will do our best to accommodate you!
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How can I help, if I'm just not that into camping?
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If you just aren't a camping person, but believe in education through living history, we offer some behind-the-scenes volunteer opportunities that help us keep our program running. From preparing food and ammunition , maintaining uniforms and equipment, or building "props" and "scenery" for future events, there are lots of way you can help us bring history to life. Check out our New Volunteers page for our current offerings. If you don't see anything that fits you, contact us to and let us know what you would like to do!
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Where do you sleep?
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For most living history events, we sleep in canvas tents. For some events at historic forts, barracks with bunk beds may be available to accommodate our troops.
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What do you eat?
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We eat food that is similar to the fare that the real Civil War soldiers would have ate. All of our ingredients would have been available to the soldiers at one time or another, and no strictly modern food is used. However, we understand that eating a diet of only hardtack and salt pork wasn't fun for the soldiers, and it definitely would not be fun for our performers either! Our camp meals are made to be hearty and tasty, while still using various period ingredients.
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Are there bathrooms and showers?
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All of our events have some form of restroom facilities. While some sites may have modern bathrooms with flush toilets available, others will have several "Porta-Johns" available for use. As for shower facilities, these are much more rare to have available. However, we encourage our participants to stay clean, and we will do our best to provide warm water, soap, and towels so that our troops may have a "sponge bath" if they desire to wash up a bit.
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