Reporter's Notebook: Having my own 'Civil War moment'

COSTA MESA — An essential ingredient to Civil War fighting these days is Cream of Wheat.

The food is good for breakfast, but it also works well in your gun, providing you put in the black powder first.

"The Cream of Wheat is used to pack the powder so that it doesn't come out," said Eric Agaki, of the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry.

As I watched him prepare pistols at his unit's base camp, I wrote down that small (but nonetheless essential) snippet of sage advice.

It was just one of many details imparted to me Saturday afternoon at the third annual Battle of Costa Mesa, a Civil War reenactment event hosted by the American Civil War Society that made an otherwise serene Fairview Park into a battlefield of mid-19th century proportions.

And unlike some of the pesky journalists from that time, I tried to be fair and objective. I ventured into both the Union and Confederate camps — separated by an imaginary Mason-Dixon Line — multiple times to get both sides of this story that had some 300 participants and thousands of attendees.

(Full disclosure: I did use the hospitality of the 2nd Kentucky as my home base and have, coincidentally, quoted mostly Confederates.)

This weekend had dedicated historical hobbyists camping in pup tents, fastening triangular bayonets and garbing up with some seriously vintage fashion sense — all in the name of a war that began 150 years ago last week.

But unlike the actual conflict that left more than 600,000 soldiers on both sides dead, these lightly choreographed battles only rattled a few ears and trampled some tall grasses.

Organizing the event was Col. Scott Peca. The Costa Mesa resident is in his 23rd year doing reenactments, but it was his second time organizing the Battle of Costa Mesa — aka "Scott's Backyard Garden Party," according to Mrs. Peca.

"Only in America can I invite people to my backyard to shoot guns," Peca said as he helped reenactors get registered Saturday morning.

The Battle of Costa Mesa started out as a small event on the Fairview Park grass alongside Placentia Avenue. But that area was too close to modern civilization, what with all those passing cars and modern buildings in plain view. So in the second year the event got permission to duel in the park's wilderness area, with its tall grasses and small hills, away from the road.

Many of the reenactors camped out Friday and Saturday night, using the time to really get into a period-authentic state.