I first met Brian more than a decade ago. At a time when I really didn’t have an understanding of reenacting, Brian encouraged me to get involved and helped me to see how living history can and should have a place in telling the story of our nation’s past.

It has been a journey that has introduced me to many wonderful people, allowed me to sleep on the hallowed grounds of a score of battlefields, taken me to Europe to experience the many historical sites there, and most of all, allowed me to talk with thousands of people about history. None of this would have been possible without Brian’s encouragement.  

Indeed, it was through Brian’s presence that reenactors and living historians gained acceptance and legitimacy in the historical community. Everything he did as a reenactor was measured by the test – “Does this honor those whom we seek to portray?”. 

As an historian, Brian was meticulous in his research and without prejudice or preconception in his writings. Brian always considered his sources, always searched for the most minute detail and, whenever possible, let the subjects tell the story in their own words.  He was extremely generous with his time and material and was always encouraging to those of us with less talent and resources than he. 

Through his work in film and television Brian helped define how we see and perceive the Civil War. He helped set the standard for accuracy in motion pictures and every successive film with a Civil War theme will be judged by that standard. 

Brian was a pioneer in the area of Civil War preservation. He gave generously of his time and money to the effort to preserve that hallowed ground where Americans struggled for the very future of our nation. He fought for all of us and for future generations who wish to stand in the very spot where the course of history was decided. It was something he passionately believed in and he instilled that passion into many others. I think it’s safe to say that, due to Brian’s efforts, many an acre of historic ground has been saved from obliteration by the bulldozer.

Some may say that Brian was born a century too late. That he should have lived and  marched and fought with those soldiers of old with whom he was so enamored. With that I respectfully disagree. You see, every generation needs someone like Brian Pohanka, someone who can reach back and touch those historic figures of the past and bring them forward to today, making them real to each successive generation. Brian had the unique ability, through his writings, through his presentations, through his living history, through his preservation efforts, to breathe life into those heroes of history. It was almost as if he could see them and talk to them. And when you listened to Brian or read his writings you felt that you too could see and hear them.  

Now, more than ever, as our nation struggles with who we are, where we come from, and where we’re going, it is important to be able to look to those who have gone before, who have charted the course and who have sacrificed all for their country, and to know that we are not alone. To know that our forefathers survived and persevered through the darkest of times. Brian was able to remind us of that, and because of that he will be sorely missed. 

In these last few years Brian lived his life with a courage and dignity that would have won the respect of any Civil War soldier. I have often wondered how men could march shoulder-to-shoulder into certain death. We have watched as Brian has made that same march, unflinchingly, shoulders squared and face to the foe. In death, as in life, Brian Pohanka has proved to be an inspiration to us all.

May God bless you Brian, and please pass along my compliments to Corporal Krieg of Company D. Huzzah!

Brian C. Pohanka 1955 - 2005

Joel Craig is Editor of The Bivouac Banner.

 

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