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PARKERSBURG - Twenty years ago around the campfires at a Civil War re-enactors weekend on Blennerhassett Island, a small group of area men conceived the idea of resurrecting the 17th Virginia Cavalry Co. F Confederate Civil War unit.

The newly established re-enactors group set about recruiting friends, and family members to join up and the unit attended its first re-enactment at the October 1989 Battle of Droop Mountain, the site of West Virginia's last significant Civil War battle.

"The five who attended the re-enactment on the island got to talking ... there was Jim Kerns, Brian Kesterson, Mike Church, Joe Hoff and Lee Maulson. They discovered they had a common interest and decided to form a re-enactment unit. They had attended as individuals. Brian had done a lot of research on the 17th Virginia Co. F so they decided that would be the one they would take," said Ron Nelson, who serves as historian for the unit.

The 17th Regiment of Cavalry, Co. F., "Nighthawk Rangers" are part of the Valley Division, Army of Northern Virginia.

Nelson, 61, said he got involved on the urging of friends. He met with members of the unit and attended a re-enactment at Gauley Bridge "just to watch," he said.

"Then I put together a kind of hodgepodge of a uniform, and my first battle was at McConnelsville in July 1990. I didn't even have appropriate shoes. I just wore tennis shoes and wrapped burlap bags and tied them around so it looked like I was walking in burlap bags. The only weapon I had was an old pistol I'd bought off somebody," he said. "You just get hooked from there."

The Rebel unit's captain is Eric Criss, Col. Jim Kerns and Fred Cornell is lieutenant colonel.

Nelson, who is a Vietnam veteran, said while all the re-enactors strive for authenticity, for him, the most enjoyable part is the camraderie shared by fellow soldiers sitting around the campfire talking about Civil War days.

"The battles are great, but I learned more sitting around the campfire just talking with the guys," Nelson said. "Some of these guys that go to these re-enactments are authentic right down to their underwear and they are always in character. I enjoy talking to people, and listening, while still keeping one foot in 2009," Nelson said.

Nelson said many people now romanticize the Civil War era, but most people don't really know a whole lot about the Civil War. "But they are interested in learning and ask questions."

"The primary goal is education," he said. The group donates a lot of time to school groups, fairs and festivals talking about Civil War history.

"The Civil War was a crossroads in our history, everything we are as a country dates back to the Civil War. The war came at a time when, relatively speaking, our country was fairly young. In order to understand, you must go back and think back to that time and think as they did. You can't put today's values, today's norms on them. It was a very different time," he said.

"I think one of the most important things to any re-enactor is to bring honor to these men who fought in the conflict,

Nelson said.

While he's personally been unable to find any of his ancestors who were Confederate soldiers, Nelson said he did discover several Union soldiers in his family tree.

"My great, great, great uncle Samuel Perine was in the 3rd W.Va. Cavalry unit. He was killed by a bushwhacker in Braxton County. He and another soldier had just come back from being out scouting and had stopped to drink from a spring when he was shot. I've never been able to find his gravesite. I'm still looking," Nelson said.

Cornell, who signed onto the unit in 2002, said several of the unit members have been able to trace their roots back to men who served in the original 17th. He said he joined after several Rebs from the unit came to the TransAllegheny book store where he works.

"These scruffy looking Confederate soldiers came into the store and started talking about the Civil War. I had thought about re-enacting before, but wanted to go blue. I had been to one event, but when they invited me to join their unit, I changed my mind," Cornell said.

The current unit has about 33 members, including men, women and children. Women are nurses. The children are flag bearers and drummers.