Thanks, the opening stages of Waterloo were kicked off by three shots from a cannon and then all hell broke lose, the French advance on Hougoumont and the Brit cannons let rip, the 'Emperor's Daughters' joined in, in total there was something like 410 cannons all firing at the same time. it must have been a tremendous sight not to mention the sound
mine were shiloh and lookout mountain (which usually meant the trip would take my family on into the smokies ((black bears at road side trash cans and natural water-slides were the real treat !)) .)
mine were shiloh and lookout mountain (which usually meant the trip would take my family on into the smokies ((black bears at road side trash cans and natural water-slides were the real treat !)) .)
i was always conflicted though. things like ruggle's battery seemed to me irresistible and yet the south lost the battle. my dad was pretty good describing events and pointed to wallace as the hero of the hornet's nest and sunken road. but all i saw was this line of cannons. who could stand up to that !
same thing at lookout mt. as a kid looking down from the top, i could not understand how you could lose that position. missionary ridge did not concern me and seemed to me then as a consequent of look out mt. but i could not fathom my beloved rebels losing that place, where one man could hold up ten or twenty, especially since they were rebs.
so for battles those are my interests , even if only for sentimental and reminiscent reasons.
BTW i just learned that shiloh church was torn down or collapsed (there are different stories) shortly after the battle and was reconstructed. i don't know where i got the idea that there were musket balls in the walls unless it was part of the reconstruction. i haven't been there since i was nine. it might also have come from my older brother. he was a boy scout but not always truthful and liked a joke. i think it was from him that i got the idea to pry them out with a knife. the last time i remember being there was to pick him up from a boy scout gathering or jamboree. i remember they had recently paved a lot of the walk ways and my brother had to hike them. he took clamp on roller skates to do the hike. now i wonder if that happened ?
my point is that my memory stinks and i remember things that never happened or happened much differently. please excuse me , it is not intentional, it is just my bad memory.
Having experience of warfare, I can, I think, understand the stark fear & narrow focus of battle. You are totally zoned-in on what's in front of you. But I too my friend share in your fascination with the archaeology & artefacts of a time long past.
Arlington House in Birmingham does an antebellum Christmas re-creation every year over a two or three week period. It has come under fire kinda like Paula Deen, but i think it still goes on .When I reenacted, I couldn't spend much time researching what really interested me, antebellum slavery, because antebellum reenactments were rare and ones that included slavery were rarer yet. Plus being a white male, and generally not part of a group, I couldn't really portray anything functional and specifically connected to slavery. I had to fit in with the organizers' plans.
Every southern white male was connected to it somehow, and so at the better events, it's always there in the background--if I portray an innkeeper, a woman and her slave ask to stay; if I portray a doctor, a neighbor loans me her slave with a lantern at night, etc.
But doing non-portrayed research is so cool. It's like I'm free--free to look at the world from a black man or woman's view, from a slave trader's view, from an overseer or coffle driver's or banker's view, or abolitionist or underground railroad operator's view, without wondering how I'm going to convince a few dozen people and/or a suitable site to cooperate, and what role is there for a middle-aged white male.
I miss seeing and feeling the thrill of having what I studied come alive (not really the way it was, but to a limited extent--you know what I mean) but it's so much broader research now, not constrained by practicalities.
As far as why I research antebellum slavery... Isn't that what everyone wants to research? I mean, it's the center of the universe, the most interesting thing, right? Why would anyone have to ask, or want to research anything else?
I've read soldiers' accounts of the sounds the projectiles make when they're in flight. Quite interesting watching this video.
as my grandmother told the story, he was called "moon man", she was teased at school relentlessly over the story.
I imagine that you have stumbled upon a few artefacts in your time.
A few, but nothing significant. As my street was extended or as housing lots were excavated for foundations, we found the occasional horse shoe or minnie ball.I imagine that you have stumbled upon a few artefacts in your time.
Bringing the