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Step 1
Research! The internet offers amazing opportunities. The Authentic Campaigner Forum at http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/ and the Sewing Academy Forum at http://thesewingacademy.org/index.php have searchable archives of hundreds of useful questions and answers about authentic Civil War reenacting. There are thousands of original photos online at sites like http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/brhcquery.html. Use Google to search for soldiers' letters and diaries that are online, and Google Books to search for original books from the period as well as post-war histories written by the participants. The Official Records of the war are online and searchable at http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/browse.monographs/waro.html. Look for books in your library and use interlibrary loan to request others you're interested in. Be skeptical of things that other reenactors tell you, or statements in books without footnotes, and try to base your facts on primary sources or scholarly works, rather than "reenactorisms" or popular history.
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Step 2
Research isn't helpful, though, if you don't apply it. Look the part of a Civil War soldier or civilian. Upgrade your clothing and gear as soon as you can, to the most accurate items you can find. Purchasing used gear helps save money, and learning to sew or make things yourself also helps. Don't neglect things like losing weight or getting a more period-looking haircut, also.
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Step 3
It's not what you have, it's what you don't have that matters also. The most authentic uniform can be ruined by wearing a pair of modern eyeglasses or pulling out a modern camera. Set a goal of doing without every modern thing except medical necessities and safety items like blanks rather than bullets. Not only does it make your impression more accurate, it helps you learn how people coped with what they had during the Civil War.
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Step 4
Make your impression fit the historic situation of the specific event and the person you're portraying. For example, a middle-age woman wouldn't dress like a teenager, no matter how accurate the teenager's dress. A Louisiana soldier late in the war wouldn't look like a Virginia soldier at First Manassas. To save money, purchase things that are as typical as possible, so they can be used for a wider variety of situations, and gradually add other things to allow more portrayals.
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Step 5
Learn period skills, so you can do the things that the person you're portraying could do. If necessary, work on getting in physical condition to be able to march and carry what you need. Be able to talk like a Civil War soldier or civilian, using period slang rather than modern slang, and know what the person you're portraying would have known about the battles he'd been in or the hardships she'd endured.
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Step 6
Bring and eat period food that's typical of the season and the historic situation being portrayed. Country bacon that doesn't require refrigeration, hardtack, cornmeal fried into hoecakes, and similar period foods are easy to carry and prepare.
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Step 7
Finally, attend events where you can do what people did in the 1860s. Things like standing picket duty at night, marching while carrying everything, filling out paperwork, or being issued rations and cooking them, were all part of a Civil War soldier's life, but not all events offer the opportunity.
