Show me a man without his Civil War,
and I’ll show you a man that will never know true peace
On this special anniversary year, tens of thousands of Civil War Reenactors or ‘Living Historians’ will converge on a small town in Pennsylvania to simulate the greatest battle of the American Civil War: Gettysburg.
They come to honor those that fought for real and to enjoy the company of others sharing the same passion for history. All of them aspiring to achieve a ‘period rush’ or a moment so immersive in complete sensory detail that one truly believes that they are indeed ‘living history’.
And into this virtual world of 1860s America, a young idealistic history teacher from Georgia, Zachary Taylor, will be guiding several of his fellow reenactors reflecting every facet of American life including Daniel Quinn, an Irish cop from Maine, Virgil Harlan, a country born & raised Texan, Elizabeth Sanchez, a young woman and tomboy at heart from Illinois, Jesse Lee, an aristocratic surgeon from Virginia, William Grant, an African-American army officer from California, and lastly, Zachary’s best friend and skeptic, Nicholas Koskov from New York, testing out their hobby for the first time.
However… Each begins experiencing an escalating, unsettling unease creeping into the minds. As if the bloodied fields of national division were inflaming their own private, personal defeats rendering their souls apart with doubt, guilt, and self-loathing. A few sense something else, a foreboding of something menacing lurking just out of perception.
Then the dashing, mysterious Silas Gray appears with a proposition no less intoxicating that the bottle of the ‘little green fairy’ bearing the name Deimos. After accepting a dram, these seven Civil War reenactors will swiftly learn…
You cannot run from history
Fly your flag, Find your friends, Save your future,
Only then your home shall you return…
Awaking from Silas Gray’s absinthe, our seven reenactors find themselves not in Room 150 of their hotel but marooned in the deserted countryside, split apart into groups of Yanks and Rebs, and fully equipped with authentic uniforms, accoutrements, supplies, weapons, a set curiously behaving pocket watches, and a striking silver and green flag emblazoned with the monicker ‘21st’.
They soon discover that is the early morning of June 29, 1863. Armed only with a set of cryptic, rhyming instructions, Daniel, Elizabeth, Jesse, Nick, & William find themselves in the ranks of a New York regiment, the Gotham Rifles, while Virgil and Zachary are taken into a Georgia regiment, the Chattahoochee Hornets.
Overwhelmed with shock and fear, these brand new conscripts, or ‘fresh fish’, of the Fighting 21st will have to adapt to the horrendous conditions endured by the battle hardened soldiers now surrounding them. Greeted with a mix of curiosity, suspicion, and outright hostility, it will take not only their knowledge of the time but also every fiber of strength, of body, mind, & soul, to survive in this alien world.
Marching towards an obscure, small town in Pennsylvania, their souls filling with fear, one unanswered question remained: were they sent to save history… or change history? One fact, however, was beyond doubt…
PLAYTIME IS OVER
“...before you ever wear a soldier's uniform, always ask this question…
Are you battle ready?”
After spending so much of their lives studying, honoring, and playing the role of soldiers to understand history, the Fighting 21st will swiftly find they must become real soldiers or become history.
From the first shot of the Battle of Gettysburg at the crack of dawn on July 1st right through to the bloody crescendo of Pickett’s Charge on July 3rd, both the Federal and Confederates fighting under the banner of the 21st will discover their true mettle with Daniel, Nick, Virgil, William, and Zachary fighting in the ranks while Jesse and Elizabeth toil in the charnel house of a Civil War hospital.
After ‘Seeing the Elephant’, the 21st will slowly earn the respect of their fellow soldiers although their strange & alien ways will draw the increasing scrutiny of the imposing Colonel Samuel Clark of the Gotham rifles and the instinctive Major Ambrose Blackburn of the Chattahoochee Hornets.
Even in this hellish maelstrom of death and despair symbolizing the worst of human existence, the 21st will also witness the best of human nature proven with acts of bravery, generosity, mercy, and sacrifice by their veteran comrades and even by themselves. And while forging an unbreakable bond of camaraderie unique to war, they will fight their own internal battles with the hope of winning their personal civil war.
However, redemption and return will require paying the ultimate price