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Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States of America and Commander in Chief of the Union Army, leans over to take another swig of his Dr. Pepper. Suddenly, he leans in; “Let me say one more thing, Jesse - I firmly believe that President Donald J. Trump is the answer to our country’s current spiritual crisis.” We wrap up the interview. I take a left at the bouncy house and wait for Robert E. Lee to finish up his phone call.
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For the past two years I have travelled throughout Indiana and Kentucky documenting Civil War reenactments, interviewing the weekend soldiers who passionately play out America’s darkest hour amidst a backdrop of metal bleachers, greasy fair food, and church parking lots. Some are drawn to the hobby as a way to engage with the public and inspire interest in history. For others, reenacting offers an escape to a “simpler time,” a world devoid of both modern technology and widespread social change. Through the blending of modern portraits, repurposed archival images, and transcribed interview quotes, American Division presents a focused view of American politics through a lens of violent legacies and the first-hand accounts of these self-appointed historians.
This project arose in the lead up to the 2024 election as a response to growing fears that America was hurtling toward a second Civil War. As a former reenactor myself, this series also holds personal significance. I was once fascinated by the simplistic, oft-romanticized stories of brother fighting brother—a nation torn apart at the seams only to be born again as a stronger, more just version of its former self. When I grew older, I gradually became disillusioned with this narrative and stopped reenacting altogether, discovering that in many ways, the violence of 150 years ago still seeps into the present. Slave labor persists in American prisons, the Confederate battle flag continues to fly as a symbol of white supremacy, and far-right domestic terrorism is steadily on the rise.
American Division is an uncovering of these wounds. As a semi-journalistic endeavor, it pulls at individual experiences, forgoing the typical tales of legendary battles and heroic generals in favor of a more contemporary perspective. Still, it bears significance, for to begin to heal, we must first develop a true understanding of where things lie.
“We were very divided then. In relation to today it is arguably so that we are even more divided. We are so divided that there could be another civil war. There are people that are willing to give up their life for their cause, be it whatever—transgender, you name it, they’re willing to give up their life just like the founding fathers in 1776—‘give me Liberty or give me death.’ We are on the cusp of a civil war. That, and or, some of your conservative states are going to say, ‘we want no more of this liberalism, this Marxist stuff. We’re going to start our own country.’ And that could happen—one of those two things is going to happen.”
— Anonymous, Abraham Lincoln, Munfordville, KY, September 2023
“Reenactors are weird. With reenacting, you get these myths that become fact. You get, “Lost Cause” revisionism, the “War of Northern Aggression, they came down and fought us”—completely ignoring the first shots at Fort Sumter, but they claim it’s Lincoln’s fault. It perpetuates. It’s not a coincidence that states that typically vote conservative are also states that seceded. Obviously, the Republican party isn’t what it was then and we’ve flipped sides, but there’s not a lot that has changed between 1860 and today. That cultural divide still exists. There’s still that mentality in the South that the war is going on today. I mean, the Dorito tacos at Taco Bell lasted three times as long as the Confederacy. But they still feel that the war is going on. Not a lot has changed.”
— Thomas, Lebanon, IN, September 2023
“I believe that the war was fought over state’s rights. Basically what my dad was saying - Lincoln was cutting some things out of the constitution and the South said “we can leave.” We fought a long war for our rights and we sadly lost. I don’t understand how people would think that we were just fighting to keep our slaves. The South did use slaves to manufacture things, but they didn’t really whip them. Some slaves were treated like a family member. The whole way you look at it the South has been lied to. There aren’t any more muskets and we’re not still fighting to kill each other in cold-blooded murder, but I believe that the modern democrats are trying to take away the Southern spirit so we won’t rise again.”
— Ezra, Munfordville, KY, September 2023
“No one truly wants to go fight their neighbor and kill them. But when it happens, it happens, and they're not going to have much of a choice. It's horrible. It really is. I guess my only real fear is, will they steal my vote by putting out fake ones, or will they kill the man I want to elect? You've already made the system seem so corrupt and untrustable that even a legitimate loss can't be believed. You've already laid the groundwork. Why should I ever believe you again? It’s like the boy who cried wolf. There is that final straw and no one's ever going to believe you when it’s real. So they've dug their own grave to an extent. So now they got to lay in it.”
— Coty, Confederate Ordnance Sergeant, Spring Mill State Park, February 2024
“As far as another Civil War, I think it's a lot of talk. When it comes to your personal life, no matter what your macro politics are, people are conservative as cats. Everybody likes having a home. They like keeping a job. They like stability. We like our life to have a certain rhythm to it. We're like cats. We have become too intertwined for anything like that to happen again - not to say some stupid-ass might do some stupid-ass thing because that’s what stupid-asses do. But that doesn't mean that the actions of a couple knuckleheads define the country. We're a nation of 350 million people. You take any subset of humans and you're going to find divisions.”
—Scott, Union Captain, Indianapolis, IN, December 2023
“It's not even just the blacks versus the whites, it's you know, the LB—I can't ever say it—the LBTQ and the straight people. It's the Democrats versus the Republicans, it's Mexicans versus everybody else. I live in Indianapolis. When I go over 465 I see 25 tents out in those woods, homeless living there. Just parking lots full of tents. But, we can't build them shelters. We can't give them aid, but we can give all this foreign aid and take in all these foreign immigrants. That's why people don't trust the government.They're too focused on taking care of everyone else when we need to take care of people here before it's too late.”
— Chad, Mitchell, IN, February 2024
“There’s the states’ rights bullshit. “Oh, it’s about states’ rights”—yeah, the state’s right to enslave other human beings. Look at their articles of secession. In Mississippi, [preservation of] slavery is like the second sentence. Multiple times—slavery, slavery, slavery. The Southern aristocracy wanted to keep their free labor. Then you look at the current arguments about illegal immigrants and it all comes down to, “They’re taking our jobs!” But when you look at the legislation and the efforts, who steadfastly opposes any action about illegal immigration? It’s the industrial agricultural system, because they always tell the senators, “Hey, your constituents want $2 tomatoes.” These migrant workers are undocumented and they can pay them shit, and they do.”
— Rick, Lebanon, IN, September 2023
“I’m not really a Trumper. I’m just really patriotic, and a lot of that aligns with the right. I understand that people on the left want equity. There are people on the top and there are people on the bottom and the left wants those to merge, but the reality is: if you’re a heroin addicted bum, why should you have a million dollars? And then someone who was born into money, if they have the work ethic to make more money, why shouldn’t they deserve to be at the top? I don’t think restricting those people at the top of their potential and lifting up people at the bottom who don’t deserve it—I don’t think that that’s American. I’m really just a centrist. I want what's best for America.”
— Christian, Hartford City, IN, October 2024
“I would say that, again, by and large, people love each other. I have not gone anywhere—now, to be fair, I'm a white male, so take this with a grain of salt—I haven't gone anywhere where I'm just looked at and immediately hated in any way. But that's also like in the inner city, in predominantly Black or Hispanic areas. I don't get that either. And I would venture to say in the areas that I live, people that are different from me don't get that response either. We're all just here.”
— William, Munfordville, KY, September 2023
“I’m too shy for [an interview] - I wouldn’t know what to say. You’re welcome to use the picture though - I’ve been on TV a few times.”
— Harold, Munfordville, KY, September 2023
“I would say that, again, by and large, people love each other. I have not gone anywhere—now, to be fair, I'm a white male, so take this with a grain of salt—I haven't gone anywhere where I'm just looked at and immediately hated in any way. But that's also like in the inner city, in predominantly Black or Hispanic areas. I don't get that either. And I would venture to say in the areas that I live, people that are different from me don't get that response either. We're all just here.”
— William, Munfordville, KY, September 2023
“Growing up, I always had a fascination with history. Reenacting kind of shifted my focus to the Civil War. But it’s just history in general that has always had a special spot in my heart. I’ve always believed that societies that forget history are doomed to repeat it. I think it is very important that we study the things that happened in our past because a lot of those things are mistakes that we could learn from. It’s better to learn from somebody else’s mistakes than your own. I think it’s very unlikely that another Civil War will happen. I think there are a lot more important things that people are going to be concerned about. Do we have internal conflicts here? Absolutely. But people will realize that we’ve got bigger fish to fry.”
— Javier, Indianapolis, IN, December 2023
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