CivilWarTalk Throwback Thursday, 9-17-2020

James N.

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Asst. Regtl. Quartermaster Antietam 2021
Joined
Feb 23, 2013
Location
East Texas
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Although today is the anniversary of the 1862 Battle of Antietam, I thought for this week's Throwback Thursday I'd instead stick with the Shiloh theme of late, in anticipation of the upcoming annual CivilWarTalk Gathering scheduled for next week. These pictures from April, 1987 document one of the more interesting reenactments of Shiloh I attended, and were taken during the Sunday morning scenario depicting the Confederate assault on the Hornet's Nest. Above, portraying U. S. Grant's aide-de-camp Capt. John A. Rawlins, I'm peering through my period binoculars at the Rebels forming up for the attack; below, Ed Owens as Capt. Andrew Hickenlooper stands beneath the battery flag behind a section of Parrotts; at bottom, another aide, Capt. Mark Cadigan at the gun line. For the full story of this event, please see:


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Anyone else having (preferably) old Civil War-related photos, mementoes, or memorabilia from reenactments, living history or other events, or vacation or other travel they would like to share with us is welcome and encouraged to do so in this weekly thread!

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Note: Due to my planned attendance at the Gathering and uncertain schedule and online availability there will probably be no Throwback Thursday next week.
 
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Well I found some old photos here recently of I believe it was the 2009 reenactment (enactment really) at Liendo Plantation in Hempstead, TX.

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Hard to believe it's been 11 years. I think that was the last time I was ever able to attend that event, and that event had its last battle last year.
 
Great Photos.
 
James N. the top photo is fantastic. I have a hard time visualizing numbers of men. In fact, I sometimes try to put for a frame of reference money for men; i. e. 10,000 men is visualized as 10,000 dollars. That I can understand. But, in the scenario depicted above, just how crowded would that line of men been in 1862?
Thanks,
Lubliner.
 
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James N. the top photo is fantastic. I have a hard time visualizing numbers of men. In fact, I sometimes try to put for a frame of reference money for men; i. e. 10,000 men is visualized as 10,000 dollars. That I can understand. But, in the scenario depicted above, just how crowded would that line of men been in 1862?
Thanks,
Lubliner.
I tend to think in terms of illustrations and photographs like the ca.1900 Louis Prang lithograph of a painting by artist Thure De Thulstrup above, depicting the battery under attack in the hornet's Nest and Gen. Prentiss at right leading up supporting infantry, and think they look pretty similar. As far as numbers go, a battery contained four to six guns manned by 80 - 120 men, including the limber drivers and attendants, neither of which are shown in the print. (The officer standing in the foreground is doubtless sending Number Five with his leather pouch to bring another round - probably canister - for the next shot.) Unlike many reenactment groups, ours tried whenever possible to operate our guns with the correct number of men, so what's shown in the top photo should be a true representation of a battery in action.

Edit: Notice that in neither the photos nor the print - other than a few scattered casualties that may have been there before the battery came up -are infantry mixed into the space occupied by the battery itself - troops tried to keep themselves sorted out, so as not to get in each other's way. Supporting infantry was usually placed at the side like in the print or at a slight distance to the rear; however, occasionally they were prone in FRONT of the guns, a most uncomfortable place, to say the least!
 
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Thank you James N. So I see the men of the gun detail, mainly. These batteries were always depicted in my mind as a cluttered mass of men (such as Peach orchard). This helps a lot, but reading about Olustee also gave me the impression of something entirely different.
Lubliner.
 
Thank you James N. So I see the men of the gun detail, mainly. These batteries were always depicted in my mind as a cluttered mass of men (such as Peach orchard). This helps a lot, but reading about Olustee also gave me the impression of something entirely different.
Lubliner.
In case you haven't seen it, here's my thread on the subject which goes into more detail:

 
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