Peoria, IL: Civil War re-enactors portray soldiers recuperating from battle

From PJStar.com:  Civil War re-enactors portray soldiers recuperating from battle

EDWARDS — Emily Barry lives a double life: one as a stay-at-home mom in 1862, another as a stay-at-home mom in present-day Peoria.

Both require Barry to tend to the cooking, cleaning and raising of her 18-month-old son, Liam. The duo visited their husband and father, Brian, in W.H. Sommer Park on Saturday, or Wolf Creek, Tenn., depending on which life Barry chooses to lead.
The 29-year-old Emily Barry joined about 15 other historical re-enactors to re-create the winter quarters of November 1862, where soldiers from the 47th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment rest from the Second Battle of Corinth, a prominent battle of the Civil War. The troop dressed in period costumes, cooked over fire and shot rifles in honor of the 150th anniversary of the battle.
"You have like-minded people who enjoy that aspect of American history," said Randy Gibbs, who portrayed a sergeant. "We try to portray what our ancestry did in those days."
Gibbs, 60, spent the night in "Buckeye Hotel," a log cabin he shared with five other "soldiers." He said he got up multiple times that night to change the fire - "around four in the morning, temperatures really started to drop" - but that rough bunks and discomfort are part of the weekend's camaraderie.
His brother, Russ Gibbs, 46, of Bartonville, agreed life in the 1860s was no cakewalk; he acted as the weekend's impromptu chef.
"These guys will kill me if I burn the bread," he said, only half joking.
Last year, Russ Gibbs built the oven he used Saturday to roast chicken. He said he was proud of his craft and believed it reflected the work of his ancestors.
"We seem to forget the past," he said.
The cliche was a thought most at the re-enactment agreed with. He related it to some states threatening secession after the 2012 election.
But Emily Barry finds living the past as more of a recreational activity. She believes people can learn from previous mistakes, but that each of her two lives - those of today and yesteryear - are eerily similar.
"People talk different, dress different and thoughts go out of fashion," she said. "But people are still people, and they haven't really changed that much."