Culture

Redneck LARPing A sort of peace can be found in reenacting the bloodiest episodes to take place on our nation’s soil.

(Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

Nothing tastes quite like black powder—a sharp salty sourness cut by a stinging sensation. The taste is always accompanied by other sensations, equally strange to modern man: the crack of musket fire, the haze of gun smoke, and the dull concussive thud of the cannon. You spit out the tip of the cartridge and dump its contents down the muzzle of your rifle. Your ramrod packs it in. Bringing the hammer to half-cock, the old primer is cast...