Benjamin F. Black

Ben was born on May 8, 1945 in Columbus, Ohio. Having a fairly normal childhood he then joined the U.S. Army, serving until honorably discharged in 1966. Ben then went into the railroads, starting as a fireman with the Pennsylvania Railroad and working his way into senior management at what became Conrail, retiring after 30 years in service. He has three adult children, three granddaughters and two Grandsons.

Ben's interest in the US Civil War started with a trip to Gettysburg in 1981. As friends and family realized his new fascination, they began to give him books on various aspects of the war. After several years of study, Ben crossed over from reading about history into doing living history and joined a living history group, portraying two different Colonels: Colonel Patrick Kelly, USA and Colonel Henry Kyd Douglas, CSA. After about two years of living history portrayals, he grew a beard and started to resemble General Robert E. Lee. Since the Living History organization needed a local person to portray General Lee, he bought a uniform and the rest, as they say, is history.

As Ben's study focused upon Robert E. Lee, he quickly discovered four different uniforms worn by General Lee during the Civil War:

The first (pictured below)is a frock coat that has a lay down collar with the rank of Colonel on it (three 5-point gold stars on either side of the collar).

 

The second (pictured below) Is also a frock coat but this coat has a stand up collar, also with the rank of Colonel on it (three 5-point gold stars on either side of the collar).

The third uniform style (pictured below) which is also a frock coat style was made for the General by ladies of Frederick and Carroll Counties of the state of Maryland and has the unique distinction of marking the Colonel rank with six point stars instead of the normal five points on a stand up collar.

The final uniform style was only worn once - at the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox. This is the only uniform to properly show Robert E. Lee's rank (both on the sleeve and collar) in the Confederate Army (The General rank is marked by 2 smaller stars on either side of a 3rd larger star, the star grouping is then surrounded by a wreath).

 

Robert E. Lee chose to wear uniforms showing the highest rank he achieved in the US Army prior to resigning his commission to offer his services to his home state of Virginia.

Shown below is a replica of the uniform he would have worn in the US Army prior to resigning his commission.(The only difference in this uniform is that the shoulder boards would have been yellow backgrounds instead of blue because Colonel Lee had been serving in the 2nd US Cavalry in Texas. The blue indicates Infantry.)

Ben wears several different hats as well to show the range of hats that Robert E. Lee had at his disposal. There were many different styles, Ben also wears the typical hat that Lee is seen pictured with.

At multi-day events, Ben rotates through the various uniforms and hats listed above to help with education and living history.

Ben brings General Robert E. Lee to life in a way that not only focuses upon Robert E. Lee, the soldier, but also Robert E. Lee, the man. Ben acts as the perfect gentleman to the ladies and in a very gentle and loving way to the children that visit, just as the real General Lee would have done.

In addition to his Foundation for the Preservation of Civil War History, Ben also works closely with the 22nd North Carolina Infantry.