What is an impression anyway? For those of you who are veteran reenactors, that may sound like a dumb question. An impression is the character that you "play" in reenacting. It can be as involved as you want. You don't have to choose an alias for yourself and all of that unless you want to. Your impression is simply the period, social class, level of education, rank, and so-on that you choose to portray. The best way to get started in finding a good impression for yourself is to "translate" yourself to the past.
Basically, that means that you ask the question, "If I lived 146 years ago, what would I be like?"
Try following the flowchart below to figure out a basic idea of the kind of impression appropriate for you. (Click on the image to enlarge it)
Remember that the results that you got from the flow chart are just ideas and reccomendations for your impression.
So, you have a basic idea for your impression; now what do you do with it? Let's take a look at each of the possible results that you could have gotten.
If you got "field musician" as your impression, you have really done well. Being a field musician is a very important and rewarding impression. If you want to be a musician, the first thing that you should do is buy a good instrument. For a Union musician, drums with eagles painted on them are very authentic. The U.S. government ordered over 32,000 drums for the millitary over the course of the war. Many of them were eagle drums. If you are a Confederate drummer, drums with simple painted designs or tack designs are authentic. If you play the fife in either army, spend the money in a nice maple or rosewood fife. A nice bugle also really helps a bugler's sound and look. Union musicians should wear a roundabout with no musician's stripes or a frock coat with musician's stripes on it. Confederate musicians can get away with just about any Confederate garb. If you wear a frock coat, it should have musician's stripes on it also.
Anyone who got "Under age Enlistee" should first check with their unit's rules and regulations to make sure that they will be allowed to carry a weapon on the field. Some units will let you carry a weapon in the field but not fire it. Remember that you will not be able to participate out on the field in some events. Just be sure to check all of the regulations before you spend too much money on a weapon. There were hundreds of soldiers in both armies who enlisted under the official age. Many young men would write the number 18 on the sole of their shoe so that they could say that they were "over 18". You should dress like all of the other musketmen in your unit if you wish to have this impression.
Anyone who got "Refugee" or "Camp Follower" as their result should concentrate on getting a really good civillian impression. Refugees were civilians who were forced out of their homes by the army. Whenever the army passed through an area, thousands of refugees followed the army. They traveled in whole families, just trying to keep alive. Camp followers were families who had a loved one in the army. They followed the army, often sharing a tent with their loved one and tried to make money by mending and washing clothes, selling food, and other schemes. Try for a ragged civilian look. Note: There is existing photographic evidence of young male camp followers "dressing up" in tiny military uniforms.
The last impression that you could have come up with is "Female Spy". There were many spies on both sides during the Civil War. Many of them were children. Young girls would carry messages inside dolls and in other clever places. Young boys also make exellent signalists in a signal corpsunit or runners out on the battlefield.
Just remember, when chosing an impression, always do your research first and then buy all of your gear. Also, you should be creative. The impressions given here are very common. Think outside the box. If you hear about something, try and incorporate it into your impression. Goodbye and good luck
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