![]() ![]() ![]() “This is a living history more than a memorial. Rivers said the Huntington Beach event is not about celebrating or honoring the Confederacy or any political stance. The event features simulated battles between Union and Confederate troops, and a re-creation of a 1860s-era village with participants wearing period clothing and often adopting characters of the time. The Huntington Beach Civil War Days Living History Event is the largest re-enactment of the war in Southern California, according to Rivers, drawing 800 or more participants each year. The 2015 Huntington Beach re-enactment was also staged after the killing of nine black parishioners in a South Carolina church in June by white supremacist Dylann Roof. In 2015, there was hesitation about flying Confederate battle flags on the field of battle in Civil War re-enactments and parades as debates raged in South Carolina and Mississippi about the flags over their state capitols. Volunteer combat units were formed to replace regular forces in western territories of the United States, but no California regiments went to fight in the war, although volunteers went east on both sides. Mostly the state’s involvement included sending gold east to support the Union. ![]() “Maybe in California it’s like something that happened to the people back east.”ĭuring the Civil War, California was still a young state, having been admitted as a free state in the Compromise of 1850, and far removed from the bloodshed. “We are a little more removed from where the violence occurred,” Reeves said. There also seems to be a little less passion about the Civil War on the West Coast. “I make my students go,” she said of the annual re-enactment. “We’ve had nothing but positive messages about the event,” Rivers said.īea Jones, a teacher with Orange County Learning Black History, said the Historical Society of Huntington Beach does a well-balanced job of presenting the Civil War in context. The Largest Civil War Reenactment in SoCal Free event featuring four battles, historical activities, music, & food. ![]()
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