By Tom Deignan

IT was just another announcement in the listings section of a New York City magazine. But it briefly blew my mind.

The description outlined a “daylong Civil War encampment on Governors Island focusing on the draft riots of 1863.” The event, on the island located just a few hundred yards off the coast of downtown Manhattan, takes place this Saturday, August 12.

I paused for a moment and wondered: Are they actually going to reenact the Civil War draft riots, when Irish laborers and other working class New Yorkers rampaged through New York and targeted African Americans for abuse, even lynching?

Well, that’s not quite what is going to happen.

Nevertheless, the mere possibility of somehow reenacting the draft riots put some disturbing questions, and images, in my mind.

This just as New Yorkers - and particularly Irish Americans who lost loved ones - are absorbing the opening of Oliver Stone’s controversial new movie about P.A. police office John McLoughlin World Trade Center.

Is it “too soon” for the Stone movie? At what point does history become simply too gruesome to recreate?

Perhaps this requires a little background. I don’t believe there is an equivalent in Ireland for America’s Civil War reenactors. Large numbers of American men and women engage in this practice each weekend all across the country. They meticulously recreate various important battles, wearing historically accurate uniforms, eating and cooking the same exact way Civil War soldiers did, even using the correct guns and ammunition, if possible.

Imagine bands of Irish history buffs setting up shop in a field outside of Dublin and, say, recreating the storming of the GPO, right down to wearing the correct buttons Michael Collins might have had on his shirt that fateful Easter in 1916.

Yes, to some, these U.S. Civil War reenactors seem like historically-minded Trekkies, those fans who are obsessed with the precise details of each and every Star Trek episode.

But to me it seems anything that advances interest and knowledge in history is a good thing.

But reenacting the Civil War Draft Riots? That struck me as, at best, odd. At worst, it could be a bizarre spectacle, with people imitating poor, angry Irish immigrants, and perhaps forcing some African American to relive the torture suffered by their ancestors.

However, when I contacted members of the 119th New York Volunteers Historical Association, which is putting on the Governors Island display, they cleared things up.

“Our part in this event is strictly to portray the military portion of what took place on Governors Island at the time immediately following the draft riots. Most of us will be portraying a company of soldiers from the 8th Ohio and the rest will be portraying the troops that were garrisoned on the Island at the time as well as some of us who will be portraying students and faculty of the Army Field Music School,” said Robert Weber, a member of the 119th, in an email message.

“The 8th Ohio was one of the regiments that were sent to New York City in August of 1863 to keep the peace.”

For those who do have broader questions about the Irish and the draft riots, author Barnet Schecter will be on hand to read from his new book The Devil’s Own Work.

Should the Draft Riots - or 9/11 for that matter - be reenacted?

Martin Scorsese did it with Gangs of New York. Oliver Stone is doing it with World Trade Center.

Are these projects any more noble because big Hollywood stars are associated with them?

This all could be educational - but also exploitative and morbid, especially with 9/11 taking place just five years ago.

Perhaps none of these questions really matter.

In the end, so long as there is interest in reliving the terrible events of the Irish American past, movies such as World Trade Center will be inevitable.

Contact Sidewalks at tomdeignan@earthlink.net.