Longtime Reenactor Enjoys Sharing History With Public
On weekdays, Byron Faidley sits behind a desk in Washington and Lee University’s Digital Collections office. On weekends, he’s fighting a revolution.
As a Revolutionary War reenactor, Faidley visits sites across Virginia and the surrounding states with period-accurate clothing and equipment to educate observers about United States history.
Faidley wasn’t out on Independence Day this year because of the heat, but he said he’s participated in other events related to America’s 250th over the past year. He took part in reenactments at the 250th anniversaries of Daniel Morgan’s Beeline March in July 2025 and the Battle of Great Bridge in Chesapeake in December.
“The ability to learn more and then share more with the public, that’s always been fun for me,” he said.
Faidley, who grew up in Covington, said he’s always loved history. He got his start as a reenactor doing Civil War events when he was just a teenager.
For his first gig, Faidley said he portrayed a powder charge runner for a group of soldiers operating a cannon in Bath County. His only job was to carry the charge from one spot to another.
“It was a way as a younger reenactor to actually participate,” he said.
Faidley’s interest in Civil War reenactment stuck with him during his time as a cadet at Virginia Military Institute. As part of an annual VMI tradition, Faidley spent five days marching almost 70 miles to recreate VMI cadets’ 1864 march to New Market.
He graduated from VMI in 2007 and continued to get more involved in reenactments.
“My focus was still American Civil War at that point,” he said. “Lot of hand-stitched uniforms, spending a lot more money, but also learning how to sew.”
Faidley said he has sewn the majority of his outfits himself. But he said sewing authentic Revolutionary War outfits, which were stitched by hand, is a lot different than sewing Civil War outfits, which were made with the assistance of a sewing machine. Clothes from the Revolution were much more individualized.
“Things are more one off, things are fitting less of a pattern at the time,” he said.
Faidley took his first steps away from the Civil War when he began reenacting events from the French and Indian War (175463) after graduating college. He said he enjoyed engaging with the history of Virginia’s western border, where he grew up.
Public interest in Civil War reenactments began to fade during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. The aftermath of the killing of George Floyd in 2020 and protests against Confederate monuments played a role. So did the need for social distancing.
“Having that many people together in one spot, even outside, was a concern health-wise,” Faidley said.
He said it was around this time that he made the switch to doing mostly Revolutionary War reenactments.
“I haven’t stopped doing Civil War reenacting,” he said. “I’ve just scaled back a lot.”
Faidley participates in Revolutionary War reenactments about once a month. He said transitioning to a new era of history has been a good learning opportunity. He’s assembled his own period- accurate long rifle and taken a class in 1700s hand-stitching.
“I’m learning something new every time I go out,” he said.
Reenacting may not be Faidley’s day job, but he said he sees a clear connection to the work he does as digital collections manager for W&L. He said having documentary sources digitized helps him assemble more accurate clothing and equipment.
“The ability to do that research is far easier,” he said. “You don’t have to travel halfway across the country” Faidley said some sites will pay reenactors, if they arrive as part of a larger “unit.” But mostly, he does it for free.
“We do it because we like to do it, and teach people about history,” he said.
