THE POTOMAC LEGION is a battalion-level Civil War living history organization, dedicated to a campaigner-oriented, research-based impression. The Legion was officially organized in January, 2001 and typically portrays Eastern Federal troops, although our impression changes to fit the needs of the event.

The Potomac Legion is comprised of campaigner units with members throughout the eastern United States, from New York to North Carolina, and from Michigan to Maine and Canada. The Legion's impression is dictated by the event and portrayal, and changes from event to event.

The Legion attends approximately three to four high-quality, campaign-oriented events per year. In contrast to large, "mainstream" reenactments where the level of historical accuracy is arguable, the Potomac Legion's events include high-quality reenactments, such as McDowell 2001 and "Burkittsville 1862"; living histories-often on original battlefields; marches, such as the Bentonville 2000 preservation march and Rob Hodge's Loudoun County Preservation Mach 2000; and preservation events.

The Legion stands apart from other Federal battalion-level organizations because we:

• Continuously perform research, prepare interpretive write-ups, and distribute our findings to the rank-and-file of our member units, thereby helping our members to continuously improve. In addition, our research materials are available to non-members.
• Attend high-quality events.
• Adhere to period military procedures and protocols, including the proper mounting of guards, roll calls, proper dress parade, &c.
• Enforce our authenticity standards in the field. For many groups, authenticity standards are winked at or ignored-but not in the Potomac Legion.
• Drill according to period manuals, not "reenactorisms".
• Feature a rotating field command structure.

While the Potomac Legion realizes that attitude and correct living history methods are more important than stitch counting, we nevertheless expect our members to upgrade their uniforms and equipment in accordance with the Legion's standards and documented research.

The mission of the Potomac Legion is to portray Federal soldiers of the Civil War era as accurately as possible. As such, it is expected that members of the Potomac Legion and men who fall in with us are interested in an authentic living history experience. Members of the Legion wear the correct uniforms and equipment for each event and portrayal, engage in more-accurate camp life-whether "on campaign" or in garrison, and foster an atmosphere and attitude conducive to living history.

We invite you to tour our website and learn more about the Legion and campaign/progressive Civil War reenacting. Please follow the buttons at the left side of your screen to navigate our site.

• For information on our Board of Directors and our member units, please click on "About Us".
• Click on "Standards" to view our basic impression requirements.
• Click on "Bylaws" for details on how the Potomac Legion is governed.
• Click on "Events" to view our schedule and see links to event websites.
• Click on "Newsletter" for up-to-date event information and event-specific impression guidelines.
• The "Links" button is a gateway to other sites of interest.
• Please click here to read the press release on the formation of the Potomac Legion.

In addition to this site, the websites of our member units contain a great deal of additional valuable information and resources

The Potomac Legion and its member units typically portray Eastern Federal troops, including the Army of the Potomac, Army of the James, Army of the Shenandoah, Army of Virginia, and other impressions. These armies, especially the Army of the Potomac, suffered the highest casualties of all Federal armies in the Civil War, and made history on fields such as Bull Run, the York/James Peninsula, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, the Shenandoah Valley, Petersburg, Appomattox, and countless other actions, large and small.

For too long, the memory of the brave men of the Army of the Potomac and other Eastern Federal armies was not accurately presented in an historical context by a living history battalion organization--until now."

Contacting the Legion

The Legion is governed by an elected Board of Directors; the 2007 Board is:

• President: Dave Myrick, 1st Maine Cavalry, dmyrick(a)mainecav.org
• Vice President: James Owens, 1st Minnesota
• Secretary/Treasurer: Jim Blake, 5th New Hampshire
• Board Member: Doug Oaks, Living History Guild
• Board Member: Garr Gast