CivilWarTalk Throwback Thursday, 7 - 1 - 2021

[James N.]

This week Throwback Thursday features an unusual and likely-never-to-be-repeated-in-our-lifetimes subject, 4th of July Holiday artillery drill and demonstration firing on the terreplein in front of the Dallas, Texas City Hall by members of the North Texas Reenactment Society, ca. 1990. The three guns are, from left to right, an original 3" ordnance rifle on reproduction carriage with original ironwork and original gatling gun wheels belonging to John Hooper; and two reproduction 10-pounder Parrott rifles made by South Bend Replicas belonging to the Fraser Brothers of Dallas. The distinctive profile of the City Hall building designed by I. M. Pei is visible at right. (Of course anything this Politically Incorrect would be impossible today in such an Enlightened city as Dallas has become.) As I've previously described this, my old reenactment group, morphed over the years from a farb Confederate unit with scaled-down cannons to a more or less authentic Federal or Confederate unit with full-scale mountain howitzers and then these larger guns before finally becoming part of the Union Rifles and/or 1st U.S. Infantry - a truly staggering and confusing transformation over the years! At this particular time we were usually Federal for Fourth of July events and Confederate for activities in Dallas' Old City Park like their annual Christmas Candlelight festivities.

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!