RE-ENACTORS RELIVE CIVIL WAR SCRAP IN ST. LOUIS

8TH MISSOURI REGIMENT'S PORTRAYAL IS BELIEVED TO BE FIRST OF ITS KIND IN CITY

By Glen Sparks
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
October 21, 2004

The story goes that in 1864, a band of Confederate soldiers raided the old post office and general store at the corner of present-day Manchester and Dale avenues in St. Louis.

Augustus Muegge, the store owner, alerted some nearby Union soldiers after the raiders fled, and the soldiers quickly arrested them.

To commemorate that short moment in history, the Dogtown Historical Society invited the 8th Missouri Regiment Civil War Re-enactors to the neighborhood. The re-enactors set up a small Civil War camp Sunday in a grassy area near Manchester and Dale. The Dogtown Historical Society claims it was the first Civil War re-enactment presented in the city of St. Louis.

The original 8th Missouri included plenty of Irish immigrants, another good reason for the re-enactors to travel to this old Irish-American neighborhood. The Irish wanted to fight, said Stan Prater, a re-enactor from High Ridge.

German immigrants made it tough for them to enlist. Finally, Prater said, President Abraham Lincoln ordered the Army to formthe 8th Regiment as an all-Irish outfit, although some German-Americans eventually joined.

"They knew that they could fight," Prater said. "They wanted to go."

Of course, Prater added, "They thought the war would last about 90 days, not four long years."

Union generals Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman counted on the fighting spirit of the 8th, Prater said. Both generals complimented the regiment in their memoirs, he said. Grant completed his autobiography shortly before his death at age 63 after a painful battle with throat cancer. He asked his wife, Julia, to make sure the 8th Regiment flag flew near his tomb, along with flags from other distinguished regiments.

Several members of the 8th Regiment re-enactors attended a ceremony a few years ago for the re-dedication of Grant's Tomb in New York City. The monument, located at 122nd Street and Riverside Drive in Manhattan, had become a popular site for drug deals and a sleeping spot for the homeless.

"It looks much better now, and isn't it an honor that the 8th Missouri is one of the regiments singled out?" Prater said.

The 8th Missouri flag always flies high at the re-enactments. The re-enactors keep busy, especially during the summer months. Prater said that he has traveled from one site to another over the past eight weeks.

Re-enactors usually get started because of their love of history. Gary Antal of O'Fallon, Mo., said that his son encouraged him to become a re-enactor. Matthew Antal wanted to join the 8th Missouri a few years back. At just 16, he also needed a parent to join. Not long after, Matthew and his father and mother, Diana Antal, started shopping for Civil War duds.

"We do it to honor the soldiers of that time and also to honor the soldiers of today who are fighting," said Gary Antal, who retired in 1996 as a lieutenant colonel from the Air Force after 25 years of service.

The fighting got bloody in the Civil War. The Union and Confederate forces suffered 53,000 casualties at the Battle of Gettysburg, Prater said. Soldiers sprinted to their slaughter at Pickett's Charge.

"One reason so many people died in the Civil War is that they fought in Napoleonic style and were side by side, shoulder to shoulder," Prater said. "You could kill them so easily. It was often about which side could get the lead out fast enough."

At the Gettysburg re-enactments, large guns boom, men dressed in soldier uniforms march in cadence and the ground begins to shake, Prater said. These are history lessons on a grand scale.

The smaller re-enactments, like the one on Sunday, with a few dozen participants and a few dozen visitors, are more of the feel of a neighborhood get-together. Jennifer King, 9, and her cousin, Kayla Pipkens, 7, set up a lemonade stand outside Kayla's house. They made $20 by serving the re-enactors.

"I told them that if there ever was a time to set up a lemonade stand, this was it," said Kayla's mom, Amy Pipkens. "The women were bringing over the tin cups and getting some hot cocoa."