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Iron City Guard camp in Hanover

CIVIL WAR RE-ENACTORS — The Iron City Guard, a group of military history re-enactors specializing in the Civil War, had an encampment Sept. 17 at the Hanover Township Park during the Washington and Greene Counties Covered Bridge Festival.

CIVIL WAR RE-ENACTORS -- The Iron City Guard, a group of military history re-enactors specializing in the Civil War, had an encampment Sept. 17 at the Hanover Township Park during the Washington and Greene Counties Covered Bridge Festival.

CIVIL WAR RE-ENACTORS — The Iron City Guard, a group of military history re-enactors specializing in the Civil War, had an encampment Sept. 17 at the Hanover Township Park during the Washington and Greene Counties Covered Bridge Festival.

PARIS — The Iron City Guard had an encampment Sept. 17 at the Hanover Township Park, where several members wore the uniforms and set up encampments that encompassed American wars from the War of 1812 through World War II.

The group, which is made up of military historian re-enactors primarily specializing in the Civil War, demonstrated firing a series of long guns that would have been standard military issue from flintlock rifles, which fired approximately once a minute and were inaccurate outside a few score yards, to highly accurate, semi-automatic M1 rifles.

“The flintlocks take about a minute to load and fire,” Chris Sedlak said. “(The M1) fires as fast as you can pull the trigger.”

The encampments also show the changes in military gear through the years, especially in making tents light and easily portable. By the time of the Civil War, tents “snapped together” and could be carried while marching by two men. In the evening, the tent could be quickly assembled and sleep two.

In addition to dressing, shooting and sleeping like historical soldiers, the group also ate like them, utilizing actual military recipes from across the eras covered.

“I actually got this (soup recipe) from the 1916 cooks manual,” Sedlak said.

Iron City Guard members had a variety of reasons for their interest in military history, from backgrounds in the military or ROTC, relatives who were involved in the military or particular conflicts to being inspired by history teachers.

The Iron City Guards have been participating in living history demonstrations and re-enactments for approximately 40 years, with an emphasis on research and documentation of military history. The group has worked with the National Park Service and Heinz History Center. The guards were selected by the Gettysburg National Military Park to be a host unit, providing several officers and helping execute the programming, and participate on the battlefield for the 150th anniversary encampment.

The group is recruiting new members who are interested in Civil War military history. Those interested should contact recruiters Sedlak at (412) 576-1863 or sedlakchristopher@yahoo.com, Jeff Dreier at (267) 738-8804 or dreierjs@hotmail.com or Jim DeAngelis at (412) 498-9225 or jrd28thmp@hotmail.com.

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