Remembrance Day 2012

The Confederation of Union Generals (COUG) is available to attend many different kinds of Civil War events to present Living History. If you are planning an event and want to inquire about engaging our participation, please contact
rufus.ingalls@uniongenerals.org

Include the following details in your message: Contact name, Contact phone number, Contact e-mail address, Event Title, Sponsoring Organization, Event Date & Time and Event Address, City, State and Zip Code

Our mission is to authentically portray historical figures from the American Civil War era in order to educate the public and honor the service of the persons so portrayed; to aid and promote efforts to preserve the hallowed ground upon which the conlict was waged; and to commemorate and celebrate the history of the period, thereby preserving our common heritage.

"We are people to whom the past is forever speaking. We listen to it because we cannot help ourselves, for the past speaks to us with many voices. Far out of that dark nowhere which is the time before we were born, men who were flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone went through fire and storm to break a path to the future. We are part of the future they died for; they are part of the past that brought the future. What they did--the lives they lived, the sacrifices they made, the stories they told and the songs they sang and, finally, the deaths they died--make up a part of our own experience. We cannot cut ourselves off from it. It is as real to us as something that happened last week. It is a basic part of our heritage as Americans."

Typically, we set up a General Headquarters camp, and educate the public through a series of "Meet the Generals" conferences where the Generals and staff answer questions from the audience in a first person, in character, narrative about their own role and accomplishments during the war.

As part of their preparation, each historical impressionist steeps himself in the personal history of their adopted "persona", and of the era, so as to make a historically accurate presentation in both appearance, context and content.

This appraoch has proven to be enormously appealing to the general public, and an ideal way to to engage people of all ages in the most defining memont of the country's history.

The Ladies of COUG accompany their officers to events and set up their own separate tent fly where they meet and greet the public. They explain the roles of women on the homefront; demonstrate common needlework crafts of the era; and answer questions regarding ladies fashions and manners. A Ladies Tea is often the highlight of their program.