'Living history' unfolds during reenactors' training session on the Kiski River

Nine years ago, IT consultant John Stevenson brought some antique firearms into a Pittsburgh-area gun shop, where a man invited him to a Civil War reenactment.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Stevenson — who’s been taking part ever since in historically accurate reenactments that organizers call “living history” — joined about two dozen other living historians decked out in full regalia Saturday morning and training along the mighty Kiski River in Apollo. They’ll be back out there from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.

The group, composed of an artillery regiment and an infantry unit, was preparing for its 2023 season, which kicks off with a battle reenactment in Burton, Ohio from May 26-28.

“We see so much of our history being ignored or erased,” said Stevenson, 61, of Oakdale, who serves in reenactments as a lieutenant in the 40th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He was dressed in circa-1860s period gear.

“As a society, we’re trying to push all the ugliness experienced by this country out of the forefront. We don’t teach it in schools. So, we’re trying to keep it alive. … If we forget it, we’re doomed to repeat it.”

The highlight of the training on a grassy knoll in the Roaring Run Watershed was, without the doubt, the firing of cannons over the Kiski River.

“Prepare to fire for demonstration!” a lieutenant yelled as four limbers, or two-wheeled carts designed to support the trail of an artillery piece, prepared to shoot. “Firing from right to left in two-second intervals. Right piece, right section. Fire!”

After the BANG and cavernous echoes of the four limbers’ cannon shots subsided, men yelled “Nice job!,” “Good job!” and “Let’s do it again!”

Robert Baily was born for this.

The Lycoming County resident taught high school classes for 32 years and was a Penn State University professor for an additional 14. But living history, which he’s been doing since attending a 100th-anniversary Civil War reenactment in 1963, is his passion.

“My Boy Scout troop went to the Gettysburg reenactment, and we started a reenactment, and I never stopped,” said Baily, 69, of Williamsport, as troops participated in marching exercises nearby. Baily is a colonel in the reenacted 4th U.S. Light Artillery.

“I’m the encyclopedia,” Baily added, with a laugh. “The National Civil War Artillery Association started up a national organization to teach safe artillery skills. I wrote their manual.”

Then, there’s Matt Donahue, a friendly soldier who, when tasked with something, exudes the mannerisms of a U.S. Marine Corps drill sergeant.

“I come out as much as I can,” said Donahue, 58, of Dormont, a retired truck driver. “American history always has interested me, especially the Civil War.”

Donahue recently started carrying out an oxygen tank to aid his breathing, an accessory that frustrates him, among other reasons, because it was not native to Abraham Lincoln’s America.

“Put your plastic away, put your cardboard away — I don’t want to see anything modern,” Donahue laughed. “We try to keep this user-friendly.”

Ken Kaminski is president of the Roaring Run Watershed Association, which is welcoming the living historians to their trailhead for the second consecutive year.

“They camp here, they cook here — they live like it’s the 1860s,” he said.

Bill Franzi brought his 5-year-old nephew, Ryker, to watch the living historians.

“Hopefully, you want to grow up and become a cannon-eer, right?” Franzi, 65, of Apollo, said to Ryker. “But you don’t get to fire 160-year-old cannons right now.”

Kaminski laughed with some onlookers after the limbers had fired.

“The noise doesn’t bother people too much,” Kaminski joked. “We’re welcoming. We’re glad to have them here.”