Many people enjoy learning about history and watching war movies , but for most of us that ’ s where it ends .

Not so for Mark Green , who spent 25 years helping to preserve and honor our nation ’ s history as a Civil War reenactor . Himself the descendant of a Civil War veteran , Green immersed himself in the experience , while at the same time raising a family and working as a successful full-time journalist in Washington , D . C .

Green ’ s interest in becoming a reenactor came about in the wake of a perfect storm of events in 1990 . The 12-part documentary “ The Civil War ,” by Ken Burns , had just been released , as well as the movie classic “ Glory .”

At the same time , Green was employed as a sports editor for The Washington Times , which published a weekly Civil War page including local history pieces , special events , trivia and other war-related news items .

“ I was always interested in the Civil War ,” he said . “ My dad was in the Army , and we used to stop at all the battlefield parks . When ‘ Glory ’ came out , and reading the page in the paper every week , that was when I noticed the uniforms . I always had an interest , and this was a way to channel that and learn new things .”

The catalyst for Green was the day he read an article about the discovery of archival film footage of elderly Civil War veterans marching

in a parade during the early motion picture era . The footage had been assembled by Bill Styple , who was a leader of the 15th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry , Company E . Green reached out to Styple , who introduced him to the company ’ s 1st Sergeant , Bill Mapes , since Mapes lived much closer to Green ’ s northern Virginia home . The rest is – literally – history .

Green learned the ins and outs of reenacting over the next several years , mentored by Mapes and others . His first event was in the spring of 1990 , when he participated in a re-creation of the Grand Review – the large Union Army military parade held in Washington , D . C . in 1865 to celebrate the end of the war .

“ I was part of the 1st Infantry , and I just thought ‘ This is the greatest thing ever ’,” Green said . He ’ s primarily played a Union soldier , but dryly added that “ I chose that because I like to be on the winning side , but ironically , in most of the battles I ’ ve been in , it ’ s the Confederates who won .”

Most reenactors have played both Union and Confederate soldiers at some point , and he has played a Confederate on one occasion , he noted .

Green began his reenactment tenure at a special time , since 1990 was the 125th anniversary of many key Civil War battles . The last of these special celebrations was the Grand Review , which was his first event . Twenty-five years later , he