- Joined
- Jan 8, 2012
I had an incident while doing Rev War reenacting which happened many years ago but I can still see it clearly in my mind's eyes. There were no spectators at this event, reenactors only. In the morning we competed as regiments in Rev War era skills. Starting a fire with flint and steel, changing flints on the muskets and then target practice with live ammo at the thirty yard range. That sort of thing. In the afternoon we had a battle on an abandoned farm. I vividly recall advancing on the enemy who obligingly retreated. About 15-20 yards ahead of me I had the perfect shot at the back of an enemy and drew a bead on his knapsack and fired. Jeeze, as I did, he lurched forward and went down like a poleaxed steer. I stopped and froze. Did I accidently leave a live round from the morning's shooting competition in my cartridge box? I ran up to him in the tall grass and he did need help indeed, from falling into a wood chuck hole and spraining his ankle. I never told the guy why I just happened to be there so quickly when he fell but I did get to practice another battlefield skill, helping to walk off an injured soldier to the aid station.
Whoa. I do Civil War and Rev War and have never been to a reenactment of any kind where they allow live firing at any time during the event! Doesn’t matter if there were no spectators—not a good idea for a lot of reasons, including the one you cited. Must have been a very long time ago.
Anyway, your post reminded me of an incident in Gettysburg at the end of the Remembrance Day parade about 6 years ago. I was in the rear rank and we were marching off the street with fixed bayonets at right shoulder shift onto a field full of holes next to the old parking lot. The guy in front of me stepped into a hole and as his right knee buckled, he tried to keep his balance, which caused his bayonet to swing back right in front of my face. A few more inches and he would have stabbed me, especially if he hadn’t caught himself. Getting stabbed by a bayonet on the Gettysburg battlefield would have made a great campfire story for a Civil War reenactor—but not one I’m eager to tell!