Meet Billy Yank And His Life As a Union Soldier

More than 300,000 Ohioans served in the Union Army from 1861-65. In this talk you will hear first hand from one of them about leaving home for the army—about camp life, the fury of battle and more. In this first-person portrayal, learn what soldiers ate, how they coped with the cold and heat and how they made it through four years of marching and fighting.

At 1 p.m. on May 18 at the Westlake Porter Library, the public can hear first hand what it was like from reenactor Mark Holbrook of the Ohio Humanities Council Speakers Bureau.

“I’ll be telling a first-hand story of a soldier in the Union Army,” Holbrook said. Dressed in period-correct attire, Holbrook will speak as a “composite” character who is home from the Civil War recuperating from an injury, and is getting ready to return to war.

Holbrook, who has been doing re-enactments, including on-field ones for more than 50 years, said he created a “memory” of being in the war. Holbrook, who is also the marketing manager for the Ohio Historical Society, is able to adjust his presentation to his audience.

He often gives presentations on "Billy Yank, The Life of a Soldier." Holbrook will be in full Union Army uniform, complete with a musket and bayonet.

“Living as a soldier on the weekend has been able to give me an actual ‘memory’ of it,” he said of the war.

He will recreate camp life and marching and the same circumstances endured by Civil War soldiers.

“Soldiers during the Civil War described it as endless days of tedium occasionally interrupted by moments of sheer terror,” he said.

Attendees might see what it’s like to lose a friend on the battlefield. In reality, Holbrook has lost two friends who were re-enactors, including one who had a heart-attack and died during a re-enactment. At the time, neither Holbrook nor other reenactors realized what had happened.

“He went down like he got hit, and we didn’t realize it until we moved on,” he said.

He said he likes to incorporate some local knowledge into the skits as well. The approximately one hour show is generally a 20-minute performance, 20 minutes Q & A and then 20 minutes out of character.

The re-enactment will take place in the Porter Room.