Participation FAQ

We strongly encourage women to participate in the roll of nurses, civilians, or camp cooks and laundresses. These rolls are under-represented in contemporary living history portrayals, and we would love for you to help us tell the stories of the women who fought in their own way in a society still very much dominated by men. While hundreds of women did fight as soldiers, compare to the millions of men who fought, this percentage is rendered miniscule. However, if a female participant would still like to take on a combat roll, we will work together to assist her in making as accurate a portrayal of this special historical occurance as possible.

If you just aren't a camping person, but believe in supporting our mission of education through living history, we offer some behind-the-scenes volunteer opportunities that help us keep our program running. From preparing food and ammunition prior to events, maintaining uniforms and equipment, building "props" and "scenery" for future events, or volunteering as logistical staff for our hosted events, there are lots of way you can help us bring history to life. Check out our [Volunteer Portal](link) for our current offerings. If you don't see anything that fits you, [contact us](link) to and let us know what you would like to do!

Being the quintessential question asked by those learnign how living history performances work, we get asked this a lot. In short, we utilize several methods, depending on the scenario. The simplest system is for officers to inform each performer when it is time to "take a hit". In another medthod, officers will assign a number to each man, and when that man's number is called, he is to "take a hit". Yet another mehtod involves the officers carefully controlling how much ammunition each man is issued for each scenario, and when a man runs out of ammuniton, he is to "take a hit".

Since wounds and death are the result of any armed conflict, and the Civil War was the bloodiest conflict in our nation's history, we are very careful about how we portray this. While it is important for our audiences to understand the human cost of our new birth of freedom, we also have a duty to the real people who gave their lives for their cause. We strive to portray these situations without either over-acting or sanitizing this trauma. At the end of the day, we hope that our visitors and our performers are moved by the steep price that was paid to give our nation a new birth of freedom.

The minimum age to participate as a volunteer performer in a combat role is 16 years old. Participants 12 and up may participate if they auiditon to be a drummer, fifer, or bugler. All performers under the age of 16 must have a parent or guardian also actively participating alongside them.

Younger children under the age of 12 who are participating with their parents or guardians as a family in a civilian role may be permitted, subject to approval from ACWE or event staff.

More details on age limits can be found in our [Volunteer Portal](link).

The American Civil War Experience follows firearm safety principals as established by the NRA and used on live gun ranges across the country. Combined with safety procedures particular to living history events, continuous training and practice of simulated combat scenarios, and well-trained and vigilant officers, our events have a very high safety rating. Additionally, most events have paramedics on site in case of injury, and the Institute maintains its own first-aid capabilities with the proper supplies and training. For more details, please see our [Firearms Safety Policy](link).

Additionally, as an added protection for our volunteers under the age of 18, we have special [Youth Shield](link) polices in place.

For our volunteer performers, the American Civil War Experience provides all of the historical equipment and clothing that you will need. However, for your health, safety, and basic comfort while participating, we ask that you bring a few modern items with you, which you can find on our Event Preparation page for volunteer performers. Please bring ONLY those items listed.

We eat food that is similar to the fare that the real Civil War soldiers would have ate. All of our ingredients would have been available to the soldiers at one time or another, and no strictly modern food is used. However, we understand that eating a diet of only hardtack and salt pork wasn't fun for the soldiers, and it definitely would not be fun for our performers either! Our camp meals are made to be hearty and tasty, while still using various period ingredients.

There are plenty of opportunities for those who want to participate but would prefer a non-combat role. For talented individuals who can play the fife, drum, or bugle, we have musician positions available. We also have cook, ambulance corpsman, hospital, and civilian roles available as well. Check out our [Volunteer Portal](link) page for our all of our current roles. If you have something particular in mind that is not listed, [contact us](link) and we will do our best to find a place for you!

For most living history events, we sleep in canvas tents. For some events at historic forts, barracks with bunk beds may be available to accommodate our troops. Every volunteer performer is permitted a modern sleeping bag and sleeping pad, in addition to the historic wool blanket(s) they are provided. Some roles may have hsitoric cots or portable beds available to them.

Yes. Historical-role volunteers use an account so ACWE can track training status, participant records, rank, unit, and applications over time.

Yes. Parent or guardian accounts can manage multiple participants for family members or minors who need to attend alongside them.

No. Support roles are a lighter-weight path and can start with a direct interest submission instead of a full volunteer account.

Questions about parking, weather, accessibility, pets, and other event-day logistics live in the visitor FAQ.