Tales of Events

[camp_cook]

Howdy Tommy,
Glad to see your still up and around. I think alot of the people are trying not to scare you off from re-enacting by telling you some of the horror stories. Yes some of us do winter events. A friend of mine just got back from Franklin, Tn. this week. He was doing a hard core, all he had was one gum blanket,one wool blanket, some hard tack and coffee, a great coat, and 40 rounds. He said " they Marched them around for about 20 miles, before they got into battle."
Tommy, I have been in one were we had to march in six to eight inch mud if you can call it a march. I saw it pull the sole off of one young man's Jeff Davis Booties. As far as singing goes the 35th Tenn. are like Nighting Gailles and I would not mind joining in with song with them again.
I will keep the cook fire going and the coffee hot yours,
John F. Wiedeburg

[camp_cook]

Tommy,
Are you into the SCA and if you are just how much did your armor and weapons cost if I ask? I have some friends that are in the SCA. One loves it and the other hates it, it cost him, his marrage, his wife was sleeping a round then ran off with some Bard.
Tommy before I got into re-enacting I was a Trekkie. Mainly, a Klingon, went to the Trek and SF Con. Made some good friends and had a fairly good time. Did not think it was a good Con unless the swat team showed up to put an end to the fun ( Klingon thinking I guess, too much blood wine.)
Tommy, I got into re-enacting after I got a 1859 Remmington musket that I payed a $100.00 for. I told myself this gun needs an outfit to go with it. I knew I wanted to be a Johnny Reb, so I started to reseach on Kentucky Southern Units and got hooked. My wife had done something like re-enactments before when she worked for the Kentucky Parks Dept. She told me I should try my hand at it. Well! That was three years ago and over $2,000.00 must of which was spent on a truck to cart the gear around in, and loving every min. of it, even the bad ones.
Tommy, please join us out in the field? You will love it I am sure. All you will need to start your gun, leathers, and uniform. Tommy, as for the gun, I would get a 1853 three band Enfield Musket Rifle. They run around $300.00- $500.00 cheaper if used ( be careful on used ones). The leathers are about $60.00- $150.00 unless you can make your own ( I did). The uniform is a other story, you can go with generic one, or you can find a unit around were you live and see what they are in, and copy. The uniform can run from $70.00- $300.00 and up ( all depends on all the bells and whiskes you want). The other choice is to make your own at half the cost, but time. Get a good pair of Jeff Davies Booties put them on and stand in a mud puddle till soaked, then walk around with them on all day at night treat them with mink oil. This should break them in and they should not hurt your feet. A good pair run $70.00- $130.00 good luck Tommy.
I well keep the cook fire going and the coffee hot, yours
John F. Wiedeburg

[scone]

Neil and Shane, Three Cheers two you Both. The scv Camp I belong to "General Robert H Hatton Camp 723 Lebanon, Tennessee" ever year in early May we have a Living History Program and invite the area schools to come. I have had the pleasure of helping out the last 3 years and look forward to next years.

This yeas event happened to fall on the Anv. of the Battle of Lebanon - May 5, 1862. But we have diffrent stations set up nd the kids rotate around i think we had 600 + this past May. We have a medical station, the common soldier, Cannon demenstration, basic dril, Camp life , station oh the diffrent flags used during the war.

It a real blast smaller groups are more attentive while the bigger groups tend to be a little more restless.

Ours is done in a period villiage the buildings ages vary fron 1830's to the early 1900's so the kids arnt at school and is more like a field day for them.

[unionblue]

Rick,

I must say that I keep pretty busy with school and library presentations and that the interest remains pretty high. Shane, I like your idea of demonstrating the casualities to the kids and Steven the idea of stations you rotate the kids through is excellent also.

Unionblue

[scone]

Neil the stations works well, the common soldier ares takes the lonkest time because like its like yours we have have a extra uniform for the kids to try on , some things are kinda tossed out and the kids catch them.. scarf, shirt etc, till it comes to underdrawers and we ask who wants to catch this and all the kids hands are up in the air until they realize that they are underdrawers lol and the they usually fall to the ground rather quickly ..lot are suprised at the weight of the guns..

Shane i will have to remember your casualty skit and use it next year my reenacting unit the 46th tennesseem Infantry it went into the battle of franklin with 125 men and only 24 were able to answer
the roll on dec. 1 The numbers may be a little off but not much this is from memory

[jeffdavislegion]

Full immersion for a weekend at Ft. Larned, KS, living in the same quarters (reproduced) as "they" did. Cooked in the kitchen, did fatigue duty, manned a cannon demonstration. Except for a single yard light that the compound needed for security, it was just like the 1860's. No car sounds, no farm lights, no intrusions. Ft. Larned has totally reproduced and equipped the entire fort with reproduction equipment. For a small idea of quality, they used Abe Thomas repro or Gaede blankets.

Selfish? Yep. Educational for the public? Nope. A nice respite, though.

[unionblue]

Daniel,

You cannot realize just how envious I am of your immersion event at Ft. Larned. What a respite indeed!

Sincerely,
Unionblue

[qwincbruce]

For your approval, I submit my own Tale. Though not done in the first person, I hope you find it enjoyable.


“The Dutchmen of the 3rd Missouri”
An After Action Report of the Battle of Carthage
A Reenactment of the July 4,1861 Fight in Missouri

Approximately 16 men from Holmes Brigade attended the event at Carthage, Missouri May 3-4, 2003. We wore the grayshirts! The rest of the Federal infantry battalion, another 4 companies of Kansans and Nebraskans, came with sack coats and sky blue trousers. They kind of looked at us funny, not knowing who we were supposed to be. Many of the Missouri State Guard troops were scratching their heads trying to figure us out as well. It seems that in the original 1861 battle, only the Federal artillery wore dark blue issue uniforms. Both the Third and the Fifth Missouri Infantry-all German-wore a type of gray overshirt. We wanted to set a precedent that we hope might be repeated in the future.

Just before the battle Saturday, we were treated to the sight of one of the “Hood” daughters displaying the colors under her skirt; this was followed by a lengthy artillery duel between at least ten full-scale guns. This was followed by the infantry fight in which we crossed and recrossed “Buck’s Branch”, exchanged withering volleys, then formed a square and “skedaddled.”

On Sunday, we came in from the opposite side of the field. This was to be a 2 PM fight, so we had to form up at 1:15. After a 45 minute spell, we marched up a paved road and delivered a volley into the backsides of the Missouri State Guard pukes that’d stacked arms and were “coffee cooling.” They immediately grabbed their weapons and began to return fire. By this time, we were entering the field from the right and extended our 5 companies in a battalion front.

A light rain was falling off and on. The field was somewhat muddy as we slowly pushed the sesech back across “Buck’s Branch”. I was reloading after a third volley, and yanked the tail of the cartridge between my two front teeth, when I felt something odd. I had just yanked my upper front tooth out. Actually it was a 20-year old cap probably hanging on by a thread. It went flying somewhere in the tall brush. I said something using off color language and showed my gaped tooth smile to Gregg Higginbotham and John Maki. They said I looked like a “Jack O Lantern”, or better yet, a hillbilly in a Branson Musical Show. It didn’t hurt because in 1976 I’d had a root canal, with a cap put on the dead stump. Anyway, I felt embarrassed and stupid, but I continued on.

We were pushing the sesech pukes across the stream. Cavalry was running around the outer edges of the battlefield with pistols popping, while infantry grappled like tag team wrestlers. Action was going on in different parts of the field by individual units of men like it was a three-ring circus, minus the high wire act. Ground charges hurled potting soil high into the air or vomited geysers of water from the stream. At one point, “Herr Siegel” ordered us Gray Shirts across Buck’s Branch to flank a company of MSG. Mike Metcalf lost his footing while crossing the muddy bank and landed on his back, staining his gray shirt with wet mud. The rest of us had mud clinging to our trousers up to our knees, elbows, and brims of our hats. Plus we had wet grass stains from diving on the ground to escape a sesech volley, as well as black powder residue on our hands and lips. Jim Beckner, whom we all called “Gross Oohpaw” or Great Grandfather, was struck down by enemy balls several times, as was Hig and Maki, but “Herr Siegel” came along and resurrected them on the spot, saying, “You all are no longer dead, so get back in line!”

While the fight raged on, some confusion was evident as battle lines overlapped. One MSG commander roared at Hig and Maki to “get back over here and into line.” He was another one of those confused souls who was ignorant of the clothing we wore and couldn’t understand why we were on that side of the field thinking we were some of his boys. We corrected him on the spot with several well-aimed musket volleys.

I fired 40 rounds, missing front tooth and all, and we slowly forced the enemy from the field in what was scripted as a generic battle. We marched off the field, triumphantly, between ranks of cheering spectators singing, “Mary had a little Lamb.” A few of the other Federals tried to sing “Marching Through Georgia”, but they were hushed up.

As we were about to be dismissed, “Herr Siegel” congratulated us all on a fine job. Both he and the battalion commander had big grins. As we took stock of ourselves at the end of the event, we looked like we’d fallen off the manure wagon into a hog pen. We were only looking for one thing after this knock down fight, however…lager beer! If this event is held again, in a couple years, it is hoped we can get more Union boys into Gray Shirts and possibly educate the rest on what the impression should be for an 1861 event.
Robert Talbott

[unionblue]

Robert,

Excellent posting and great story-telling! Where did you get your information about Union regiments wearing gray shirts during this battle? Sounds like you guys did your homework for this one!

Sincerely,
Unionblue

[qwincbruce]

The most famous case of uniform confusion in Missouri took place at Wilson's Creek, when Union commander Franz Seigel mistakenly thought the troops advancing towards him was the 1st Iowa. Actually it was the 3rd Louisiana. His error caused panic among his Union troops posted south of Wilson's Creek and Siegel abandoned the field.
Both the 1st Iowa and the 3rd Louisiana wore a gray uniform so during the heat of battle the confusion can be excused to a degree.
Seigel also recruited many St. Louis germans and put them in the 3rd and 5th Missouri Infantry. They were issued a gray smock/overshirt.
These Germans were also at Wilson's Creek, one month after the Carthage affair of July 4th.
(I believe at First Bull Run there was some uniform confusion as well)
The Battle of Carthage by David C. Hinze and Karen Farnham is where most of our information came from. There is also a local artist- http://www.andythomas.com -who has done several paintings of the battles in Missouri, two on the battle of Carthage alone including one which features Miss Hood displaying the Union flag pinned to her petticoat as the grayshirted Germans marched through town to do battle with the enemy.
The early months of the war in Missouri also saw soldiers dressed in civilian clothing. The Missouri State Guard (southern) didn't become an arm of the Confederacy till after Dec 1861. Until then, they wore whatever clothes and weapons they brought from home. Anyway, here in Missouri, during early months of the war, a lot of odd clothing was worn by both sides.
Thanks for the nice comments.
Robert