Guns galore fill Civil War event
By Allison Schaefers
Advertiser Staff Writer
Confederate and Union soldiers joined forces yesterday to give Hawai'i students and history buffs a chance to take a shot at what life was like for infantry soldiers during the Civil War.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
Men, women and children took turns firing antique replica firearms, getting impromptu history lessons from Union- and Confederate-clad members of the Hawai'i Historic Arms Association and the Hawai'i Civil War Roundtable. The rifle group and the re-enactors united for the sixth annual Battle of Gettysburg Civil War Memorial Shoot living history event at the Koko Head Shooting Complex.
Dr. Max Cooper, wearing a U.S. Army colonel's uniform from the Civil War, helps Donovan Barros, 8, fire a replica gun during a Gettysburg Civil War Memorial Shoot living history event at Koko Head Shooting Complex.
It was authentic from the uniforms, antique replica rifles and revolvers down to the lunch of stew, goober peas, hardtack and cornbread. Judging from the number of soldiers and shooters wearing earplugs, the sound of the rifles and revolvers firing must have also been authentic.
"It's really loud," said Lucas Lam, 12, who took a turn firing a rifle.
Pulling the trigger is also harder than it looks, said Lam, who popped off a shot after five tries. "Soldiers would have to be very good with a gun to defend themselves," he said.
Civil War firearms were tricky to use and accuracy often depended on a man getting to know the ins and outs of his weapon.
"It was a partnership between the man and his weapon," said Dennis Rhoden, a Civil War gun enthusiast. "A man had to know what his gun could do."
• For details about the annual shoot or other activities sponsored by the Hawai'i Historic Arms Association, e-mail Darryl Choy at tenxhi@yahoo.com.
Shoot participants got to take turns trying popular Civil War guns such as the .58-caliber Mississippi Rifle, the 1861 Springfield Rifle, the .45-caliber Parker Hale, the 1847 .60-caliber rifle, Colt .32-caliber percussion revolver and a Colt .45-caliber percussion revolver.
Shoot scoops
"It's just a bunch of little boys and their toys. And it's a lot of fun," said Christopher Mann of Kane'ohe, who was dressed in a makeshift Confederate infantry uniform for the occasion.
It's also an opportunity for students to get a living history experience, said Stan May, a Punahou teacher who offers a Civil War history class for middle-schoolers. May encourages his students to come to the shoot each year.
"History can be a real interesting subject for students once you get out of the textbook," May said. "This gives them a feel for what life was really like."
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
For instance, after a student shoots a Civil War gun, feels the powerful kick and hears the loud bang of the weapon, it doesn't take them long to understand why deafness was one of the most common disabilities experienced by Civil War veterans, May said.
Dennis Rhoden shows off a Union Berdan Sharpshooter uniform, while watching Mike Weight clean parts for his replica of an 1841 Mississippi Rifle. Rhoden, a Civil War gun enthusiast, said there was a partnership between a man and his weapon.
The Battle of Gettysburg, which was fought July 1 to 3, 1863, was the biggest battle ever fought in America. During the Civil War more than 600,000 Americans from both sides of the battle line died.
And while, Union and Confederate soldiers may have been divided in the past, it's clear from the event that they are united in history.
"We are all brothers in the universal brotherhood of men," said Damian Paul, a tour escort with the O'ahu-based HistoryAmerica Tours.
While the U.S. Civil War, which was 1861 to 1865, was fought primarily on the Mainland, it had a connection to Hawai'i.
In an attempt to hamper the whaling ships that supplied oil to fuel the Union Army, the Confederate CSS Shenandoah even chased a Union ship named the Abigail up the Wailua River on Kaua'i, Paul said.
And about 50 to 60 Asians, Hawaiians or Hapas left their homeland in Hawai'i for the Mainland so that they could fight in the war, said Wesley Koga, a computer teacher at Wheeler Elementary and Intermediate School and self-proclaimed Civil War history buff.
"Most people just don't realize that there are a lot of connections between Hawai'i and the Civil War," Koga said. "Hawai'i was the linchpin for many different activities."
There's even a Civil War cemetery within the Nu'uanu Cemetery, Koga said.
Correction: A previous version of this story gave an incorrect year for the start of the Civil War.
