http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-local_reenactor_1005oct05,0,2705437.story
Shooting accident spurs investigation into re-enactments
Thomas Lord Sr. was shot last weekend during a filming in Isle of Wight.
By BENTLEY BOYD | 342-8812
October 5, 2008
SUFFOLK - The next time Thomas Lord Sr. tells schoolkids about life in the Civil War, he can tell them what it felt like to get shot.
"It felt like I got hit in the shoulder with a baseball bat," said the 72-year-old Suffolk resident.
Lord was hit last weekend while portraying a Union soldier during the filming of a documentary at Heritage Park in Isle of Wight County. Investigators believe the shot was fired from a pistol carried by a Confederate re-enactor.
Several re-enactment experts say the accident hints that some basic safety rules often used by re-enactors weren't followed last weekend. For example, the gap between the rules set at Endview Plantation in Newport News and the events at the filming are:
• Use limited gunpowder, no ball — a .45-caliber musket ball was removed from Lord's shoulder, and that rules out the possibility he was hit by a stray shot from a hunter in nearby woods.
• Aim high, not at fellow re-enactors — Lord said there was no reason for guns to be pointed at his unit's position; the shot came from about 25 yards away, where Confederate re-enactors were providing only sound for a camera shot that focused on Lord's unit.
• All weapons get checked by a unit's commander before the re-enactors take the field — Lord said he felt the filming was more chaotic than other events: "This wasn't a real re-enactment. It was a cattle call. There were a lot of 'actors' there. They even chased three or four of them away."
The filming was for the "Civil War Overland Campaign Web Series Project." Lord's unit, the 7th New York, was in an entrenchment they had just captured for the cameras, and he was raising his arm in a "Hurrah!" when the ball struck his right shoulder from behind. It hit no major muscle points or arteries, he said.
"When I was sitting in the ambulance, I asked my commander, 'Does this qualify me for a Purple Heart?' He said, 'We'll see . . . ,'" Lord said.
Lord grew up in the Bronx and has re-enacted for the past six years.
He said the Isle of Wight's Sheriff's office has reviewed footage of the accident and narrowed the possible shooters to three people. Until the investigation concludes, the department is also holding on to the ball.
"But I'll get it back. I made sure I got a receipt," Lord said.
The unit commanders usually have the responsibility to do safety checks on their participants before an action begins, said Tim Greene, education specialist at Endview Plantation. Typically, the re-enactors line up and hand over their weapons for inspection, he said.
"We have to rely on those commanders on each side because of how many of them there are, compared to how there are so few of us at the museum. It's just a question of numbers," Greene said.
Usually there are no local law enforcement officials on hand to check weapons or enforce safety procedures — such as removing ramrods from all rifles before a battle action because ramrods forgotten in gun barrels become dangerous projectiles. But a re-enactment at a museum is usually a more controlled environment than a filming, Greene said.
Robert Lee Hodge is a re-enactor and a partner in the historic film company Wide Awake Films in Missouri. He said participating in the filming of the ABC television mini-series "North and South" in the 1980s was one of the most dangerous things he's ever done.
"The films are looking for realism," he said. "But the film crews have got clueless people. They don't have a clue about the information involved. They're bagging groceries — today it's a Civil War grocery, next year it's a Batman grocery."
He said re-enactments at historic sites are much safer. Many tend to follow the strictest set of rules: the ones set by the National Park Service. Federal sites often resist allowing any firing of weapons, but when they do, there are rules Hodge thought might be too restrictive — such as making an artillery piece wait 10 minutes between each firing, to let the barrel cool.
Historic sites need to continue such events to draw visitors, said John Quarstein, a Civil War historian and consultant to Hampton and Newport News.
"Re-enactments make a difference. They're a big draw," he said. "It's the greatest form of education and entertainment that most museums have."
