Stone's River National Event

Stones River in October is looking to be a big resurgence event. The new 1st Division, Army of the Deep South has a lot of veteran leaders, and re-enactors from Georgia, Florida, and including some GAR folks. Check the website, or check FB for registration and other details. I would encourage everyone that wants to "knock the rust off" to register early. They are hoping for some decent numbers to get things rolling...less than three months left! The website has info added two to three times a week. The weather should be nice. Check it out here: https://stonesriver2021.com/
 
The group I'm tagging along with is doing CS.

Was thinking about what impression to take.

My initial thought was a CS plain jean frock coat
Civilian Pattern Trousers
Generic Leathers
A plain Tin plate buckle
A Mexican War Single Bag, civilian coverlet
And A 1842 Smoothbore Springfield
An Old Tim Bender Bellcrown Slouch hat
 
Hi folks... I'm going as a (Union) civilian/musician. Is there anyone here or whom you may know who is going - and who is a musician? The Federal Cmdr this year is looking for folks who would like to help recreate the battle of the bands, on Friday evening. We've been looking for players and not having a lot of success. I know things are different now since 2020 but were hoping more ppl would be coming out to "play"... as there are already about 1,000 reenactors signed up all around! There's gotta be a trumpet, fife, flute, coronet, whatever player or 2 in there besides our bugler. A couple of fiddles alone aren't exactly a period correct balance for this scene. lol I think the rebels have the band Un-reconstructed coming to play, so I guess they are covered. Reinforcements needed! :D
 
Hi folks... I'm going as a (Union) civilian/musician. Is there anyone here or whom you may know who is going - and who is a musician? The Federal Cmdr this year is looking for folks who would like to help recreate the battle of the bands, on Friday evening. We've been looking for players and not having a lot of success. I know things are different now since 2020 but were hoping more ppl would be coming out to "play"... as there are already about 1,000 reenactors signed up all around! There's gotta be a trumpet, fife, flute, coronet, whatever player or 2 in there besides our bugler. A couple of fiddles alone aren't exactly a period correct balance for this scene. lol I think the rebels have the band Un-reconstructed coming to play, so I guess they are covered. Reinforcements needed! :D
I'll be there with the 22nd Illinois as a bugler, unfortunately I don't have a period trumpet/cornet to bring along.
 
This event was weird on several levels... From getting police called for a noise complaint (twice), to literally being able to see the color of the federal's eyes, because we were so close to them, to being marched out 2 hours ahead of the battle just to sit there in the sun for 2 and a half hours. Logistics were great ( camps, facilities, sutlers, food) but the battles not so much. I know the guy who did most of the logistical work for this event... I give him an A for his efforts, but the man who organized the battle scenarios... I give him a D+.
 
Well, I was over in the Federal camp and one of the reasons the police came out was to help someone who had a heart attack. I'm not sure how they're doing, hopefully they are okay. I also thought the battles were weird. The tactical was the worst. We were ridiculously close together. Further more, our command had us about-face to move and try to keep more distance. I was reminded of some of the small local events where that happens regularly. I was not expecting to be that close at this event. It was hard to get immersed in the battle because we seemed to be at smooth-bore range constantly. And not many hits were being taken at close range. It just wasn't very realistic looking in my opinion. The facilities and sutlers were on-point A+ but the battle planning and execution, not so much. The group of spectators were small. It didn't seem as if there were many signs or advertisements for the battle. Maybe *Edited* stole the signs, who knows? It is my understanding that several spectators left because they were unable to see much of the battle on Sunday. The cav kept blocking their view, plus we were pretty far away from them. I feel like in the next few years, due to *Edited* and such, we may be doing spectatorless events. Kind of what the campaigners do, EFUBU. Just my two cents.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
So, I did not attend. But I have a few questions for those that did.

I saw a video of a Federal attack on the CS camp early on Sunday morning. Nothing like this occured during the Battle of Stone's River.

I saw various posts referring to some night skirmishes. Again this did not occur in 1862

One of the Confederate "campaigner" adjuncts claimed to be portraying the 6th Kentucky and did nothing to emulate the movements of Hansen's brigade.

What exactly was this event trying to recreate? It just seems like everyone was going through the same tired old motions of burning powder and hanging out.

I'm glad people enjoyed themselves but this event just looked like a circus
 
I was told by the the Artillery Commander ( who is a member of our battery), that they were requested to NOT do a tactical on Sunday Morning. However, the story I heard was that some units from each side were drilling and ran into each other, and then it escalated from there. I have a feeling there were some harsh words from the event organizers to the units involved.
 
Back
Top