Worst Weather Event

[Doc_Ralph]

Okay…I know everyone out there has a favorite story of how hot it was (the trees and bushes were sweating at 1st Manassas 150) or it was so wet and cold that you had to use a little gasoline to start the morning breakfast fire and almost torched your beard. This can also include all you campers out there as well as campaigners.

Mine are not the worst but could have been. New Market 150 just as everyone was taking tents down a storm in the Valley came thundering in and we were left out in the rain under the fly. Banging and crashing all around. No injuries but wet wool for sure !

Gettysburg 150…Wow what can one say? I was so busy working the gun I did not have time to take it all in. I have since seen the videos of it. Awesome and IMHO the reenactment of a lifetime… altho Cedar Creek has a pretty good hold on me. For those who were there you remember it…the battle…the gathering storm… the trudge back to camp in the rain. So maybe not the best weather but perhaps the good Lord adding a post script to the struggle.

Anyway I would like to hear them. The best weather and worst weather study will be judged by me but we are all winners because we made it through.

Worst camping story is my tenting experience at the 13th World Jamboree in Japan. We took turns trying to keep the tent up in typhoon wind and rain that decimated the whole camp. We had nothing. Paper sleeping bags turned to pulp. We had trouble wading thru the volcanic mud to get food and water and so on the third day (I think) we were evacuated to Buddists temples and slept on the floor like they used to. Charming custom.

If there are any old salts I am sure you can top our RCL return from the Caribbean on the eve of the perfect storm…high seas and green passengers for sure on the way to Cape Liberty Bayonne, New Jersey. George Clooney was in the movie with that weather. We were up and down all night long but managed to get some sleep. Cars Iced up in Bayonne. Lovely. Just beat the big storm as we skadattled home.

You get the idea. Tall tales will be considered but must be plausible.

OTC
Spotsy

 

[iron bender]

Haven't been to a CW event in a very long time, but these are some that stand out in my memory...

-Manassas/Bull Run 1986. 5 days in the field. Very hot, very dry, a nice storm blows through and several guys stripped down and lathered up with soap...only so the rain could vanish instantly. That was a good laugh
-Shiloh 1987. 4 days in the field. Not the coldest I recall (Franklin wins that one) but it was cold. I recall about 30 guys piled into one Sibley with the stove on full throttle around 3am. Lots of charred blanket bottoms and badly dried out boot soles
-Gettysburg 88 and 98. Each was 6 days in the field. Hot and dry but certainly not as bas as the 150th sounds
-Vicksburg over 20 years takes the cake. Always hit Vicksburg/C-Hill, plus Mansfield/Pleasant Hill every year. These were quick three day trips but nothing compares to the heat, humidity, bugs (skeeters there know how to punch through a rubber blanket and wool blanket plus your clothes), locust and crickets. I know why people drink booze, as you can't possibly tolerate sleep any other way on the Mighty Miss in that part of Mississippi

 

[Doc_Ralph]

Haven't been to a CW event in a very long time, but these are some that stand out in my memory...

-Manassas/Bull Run 1986. 5 days in the field. Very hot, very dry, a nice storm blows through and several guys stripped down and lathered up with soap...only so the rain could vanish instantly. That was a good laugh
-Shiloh 1987. 4 days in the field. Not the coldest I recall (Franklin wins that one) but it was cold. I recall about 30 guys piled into one Sibley with the stove on full throttle around 3am. Lots of charred blanket bottoms and badly dried out boot soles
-Gettysburg 88 and 98. Each was 6 days in the field. Hot and dry but certainly not as bas as the 150th sounds
-Vicksburg over 20 years takes the cake. Always hit Vicksburg/C-Hill, plus Mansfield/Pleasant Hill every year. These were quick three day trips but nothing compares to the heat, humidity, bugs (skeeters there know how to punch through a rubber blanket and wool blanket plus your clothes), locust and crickets. I know why people drink booze, as you can't possibly tolerate sleep any other way on the Mighty Miss in that part of Mississippi

Yes sir…sound like bad weather and varmints for sure…in addition to above a bear invaded our tent in NM in the dark with us in it…the.bear found the foot powder and I am sure an upset stomach. Highest weather for me was Mono Pass 12,000 feet in High Sierra. Glaciers and lichen and marmots is about it. Cool but dry. Desolate like Area 51.

OTC
Spotsy

 

[Elliot Crumblemuffin]

Does anybody remember those strings of bad tornadoes that ripped through the southern U.S. back in 2011?? I do because I was in the field at Fort Rucker during SERE training. No shelter, no phone, no spare clothes, no food, nothing. Just the clothes on our backs for however many days it was, walking through the woods. I've never heard a freight train pass overhead like that before

Looking back I realize how unsafe and irresponsible it was to keep us in the field with those tornadoes all around. The scoreboard at the bases ball field was thrown into the next county. Absolutely nuts. I got trench-foot for crying out loud...in 2011!! It's a miracle no one was injured or killed.

 

[OhioBlue16]

I did the 1st Minnesota Living History at the Leister House during the 159th Anniversary. Great event, love being able to do stuff with the NPS. The weather was hot, humid and sticky though. Between our three drills, most guys were hiding in shade, hiding in their pup tents, anywhere to cool off. As we marched off to the 1st Minnesota Statue to do the park program we could see a storm brewing in the distance and headed our way. (Incidentally the storm blew in the same direction the Confederates would have been attacking from) We had to stack arms and ride out the storm, the wind was so strong multiple stacks of muskets were knocked over. We later learned a tornado had just missed us. That was probably my most extreme weather experience at an event

 

[Sheltowee]

No reenactment experience. Recall a hike in the Smokies to see the wreckage of a F-4 off Rattlesnake Den trail. Massive storm drenched everything and forced us out the next morning. Found later that tornadoes went over us. Yep- heard the freight train.

Mount Leconte overnighter- 9 degrees F with no fires permitted. Miserable. Especially after soaking our clothes with sweat.

Collegiate Peaks area in Colorado. 90 degrees above the tree line- and no where to hide. Got baked.

 

[captaindrew]

I did the 1st Minnesota Living History at the Leister House during the 159th Anniversary. Great event, love being able to do stuff with the NPS. The weather was hot, humid and sticky though. Between our three drills, most guys were hiding in shade, hiding in their pup tents, anywhere to cool off. As we marched off to the 1st Minnesota Statue to do the park program we could see a storm brewing in the distance and headed our way. (Incidentally the storm blew in the same direction the Confederates would have been attacking from) We had to stack arms and ride out the storm, the wind was so strong multiple stacks of muskets were knocked over. We later learned a tornado had just missed us. That was probably my most extreme weather experience at an event

I was just going to write about that one as one of two of the most extreme I've been in. The 1st Minnesota event was quite an experience. Topping that though was Fort Blakely in 2021. I was on the Federal side (these things always seem to happen when I wear blue ) A line of severe thunderstorms rolled in off the Gulf in the wee hours of the morning and lasted till dawn. My mess mate and I were on our hands and knees holding opposite corners of our shelter halves so it wouldn't fly away and a useless effort to stay dry. I felt like we were in an artillery barage like the guys in Band of Brothers during Bastonge with all the lightning and thunder. The water started coming up from the ground flooding everything, our guns, blankets, and all our gear. While we were holding the corners of our shelter with one hand we were holding our cartridge boxes in the other like a football to our chests to try and keep our powder dry. By far the worst weather event I've experienced while reenacting. We marched out the next day, my blanket was so satcherated when I rolled it up and put it over my shoulder it felt like it weighed 50 pounds. When I got home and took my Springfield out of it's sock I almost cryed, it looked like it had been in the ground for 160 years. Definitely something I will never forget and hopefully never experience again.

 

[Lampasas Bill]

A second vote for Manassas/Bill Run, 1986. A hot, humid afternoon that only Virginia could produce. My old canteen gave out the morning before the big battle (125th anniversary) and I had to search frantically for a sutler who had one. All had been sold! I was ready to give up when I lucked onto the last remaining canteen in Northern Virginia. The battlefield was huge and the scenario was long, recreating the entire battle. It looked very authentic, except for the ambulances that kept crisscrossing the field hauling off heat casualties. Half way into the scenario I began to get leg cramps, so I availed myself of one of the aid stations which were thoughtfully hidden in the trees to provide cold water. After a brief rest I tried to rejoin my unit, which had marched on, but never found them. After the "battle," I met one of my pards who had to leave the field. He said there was a triage set up in an old dairy near the camps, and when he was there the concrete floor was covered with heat casualties and looked like the Atlanta railroad yard in Gone With the Wind!

 

[Mrs. V]

Gotta pipe up for Hale Farms 2023. Late arrivals Friday meant people were setting up in the rain. It wasn't real heavy, just annoying..then the thunderstorms rolled in. They were right on top of us, and I could feel the thunder rolling across the ground and vibrating up the cot legs. I think it was in the wee hours of the morning when we got one of those flash/boom's that indicate a strike very, very near. Turned the inside of the tent pink. I know I levitated off the cot a good couple of inches. Some of our battery sheltered in thier vehicles. I somehow missed that memo..the storms continued all night long, and those poor souls down in the valley were absolutely flooded. Many sought shelter in the Carriage House Pavillion. Not any safer really, but a heck of a lot dryer! No one got much sleep that night..Zombies at roll call.

 

[truyle]

How about a winter experience. We we went to a tactical in February at Land between the Lakes back in the 80's. On Friday it snowed. We got six inches of snow and the temperature Friday night dropped down to 0. Fortunately we had a Sibley tent but still had to scramble to stay warm to get through the night. I get cold just thinking about it.

 

[7thWisconsin]

I´m gonna go with Manassas 150th as the most dangerously bad weather I´ve ever encountered, because it was so unrelentingly hot. For consistently bad weather, at an annual event - I´m gonna offer Cedar Creek (VA). You just never know what you´re gonna get. I have seen 2 days of continual rain, turning to snow at night, Only for the sun to come out during the last arms clearing formation on Sunday afternoon. When it´s nice, it´s a beautiful chance to camp in the Shenandoah fall, but when it´s bad: oh dear Lord.

 

[Championhilz]

For me, Franklin 1989 is the reenactment that I measure all others against in terms of bad weather. It was my first major event after I started reenacting, so it made a major impression. It was just SO COLD - both nights it got down to about 16 degrees, and the wind was howling all night. One person died in our camp the first night (apparently had a heart attack) and I woke up Saturday morning to see an ambulance sitting in the middle of our camp. We also had a major fire during the reenactment when wadding from somebody's musket started the waist high field grass to burning furiously. Besides those few little bumps, I had a great time, and it started me down a Civil War reenacting path that I followed for more than a decade and a half.

 

[Elliot Crumblemuffin]

For me, Franklin 1989 is the reenactment that I measure all others against in terms of bad weather. It was my first major event after I started reenacting, so it made a major impression. It was just SO COLD - both nights it got down to about 16 degrees, and the wind was howling all night. One person died in our camp the first night (apparently had a heart attack) and I woke up Saturday morning to see an ambulance sitting in the middle of our camp. We also had a major fire during the reenactment when wadding from somebody's musket started the waist high field grass to burning furiously. Besides those few little bumps, I had a great time, and it started me down a Civil War reenacting path that I followed for more than a decade and a half.

Jeez!!

 

[DixieRifles]

If there are any old salts I am sure you can top our RCL return from the Caribbean on the eve of the perfect storm

What is RCL? Some kind on navel term?

This isnt the worst storm ever but I think of how it would be like to travel 40+ miles on horseback during a rain storm at night. I also think about it because my ancestor was with the cavalry division that made this ride ride from Brownsville to Fort Pillow on the night of April 11/12, 1864.
If you have ever been in West Tennessee during Spring, you will know how bad these thunderstorms can be.

 

[Doc_Ralph]

I´m gonna go with Manassas 150th as the most dangerously bad weather I´ve ever encountered, because it was so unrelentingly hot. For consistently bad weather, at an annual event - I´m gonna offer Cedar Creek (VA). You just never know what you´re gonna get. I have seen 2 days of continual rain, turning to snow at night, Only for the sun to come out during the last arms clearing formation on Sunday afternoon. When it´s nice, it´s a beautiful chance to camp in the Shenandoah fall, but when it´s bad: oh dear Lord.

What is RCL? Some kind on navel term?

This isnt the worst storm ever but I think of how it would be like to travel 40+ miles on horseback during a rain storm at night. I also think about it because my ancestor was with the cavalry division that made this ride ride from Brownsville to Fort Pillow on the night of April 11/12, 1864.
If you have ever been in West Tennessee during Spring, you will know how bad these thunderstorms can be.

Major, that would be Royal Caribbean cruise line RCCL technically. Oh yeah rock and rolling with stabilization system working optimum riding the nor eastern part of the perfect storm. Frozen in Bayonne and slipped and slid to the NJ turnpike south. E ticket trip plus tropical islands.

OTC
Spotsy

 

[Doc_Ralph]

I would like to offer some advice to our Florida and Gulf Coast brother and sisters in the face of a possible Cat 3 making landfall hurricane between Tampa and panhandle. Don't try to outdo my typhoon in a tent story. It isn't pleasant with high winds and gusts howling at you all night. I heard there may be up to 15 feet storm surge…think of it a wall of water 15 feet high coming for you. Don't hurricane party it like we did when I was a child in Key West for a Cat 1 that went by. A Cat 1 still knocked coconut trees down in our yard by the beach.

If asked moved to higher ground and I am claiming it now…Lord extend Your merciful hand and wonderfully ark of safety upon the people of Florida and mariners at sea. May the tornados be isolated and in the swamps and the storm surge low. Let the people heed the power of moving water. I humbly asked this in Christ's name. Amen

 

[Doc_Ralph]

Gotta pipe up for Hale Farms 2023. Late arrivals Friday meant people were setting up in the rain. It wasn't real heavy, just annoying..then the thunderstorms rolled in. They were right on top of us, and I could feel the thunder rolling across the ground and vibrating up the cot legs. I think it was in the wee hours of the morning when we got one of those flash/boom's that indicate a strike very, very near. Turned the inside of the tent pink. I know I levitated off the cot a good couple of inches. Some of our battery sheltered in thier vehicles. I somehow missed that memo..the storms continued all night long, and those poor souls down in the valley were absolutely flooded. Many sought shelter in the Carriage House Pavillion. Not any safer really, but a heck of a lot dryer! No one got much sleep that night..Zombies at roll call.

I think levitation trumps all Ma'am. I know what you mean tho. I was a camp counselor on the James River camp on year. And one of the storms rocked the tent, lightening split a tree and downpour. I passed out in fright.

OTC
Spotsy

 

[DixieRifles]

Major, that would be Royal Caribbean cruise line RCCL technically.

Well I didnt realize this Q was about Reenacting. My bad.

 

[Doc_Ralph]

I would like to offer some advice to our Florida and Gulf Coast brother and sisters in the face of a possible Cat 3 making landfall hurricane between Tampa and panhandle. Don't try to outdo my typhoon in a tent story. It isn't pleasant with high winds and gusts howling at you all night. I heard there may be up to 15 feet storm surge…think of it a wall of water 15 feet high coming for you. Don't hurricane party it like we did when I was a child in Key West for a Cat 1 that went by. A Cat 1 still knocked coconut trees down in our yard by the beach.

If asked moved to higher ground and I am claiming it now…Lord extend Your merciful hand and wonderfully ark of safety upon the people of Florida and mariners at sea. May the tornados be isolated and in the swamps and the storm surge low. Let the people heed the power of moving water. I humbly asked this in Christ's name. Amen

May God bless you folks in Georgia and the Carolinas and mariners in the Atlantic too.
OTC

 

[Doc_Ralph]

I would like to offer some advice to our Florida and Gulf Coast brother and sisters in the face of a possible Cat 3 making landfall hurricane between Tampa and panhandle. Don't try to outdo my typhoon in a tent story. It isn't pleasant with high winds and gusts howling at you all night. I heard there may be up to 15 feet storm surge…think of it a wall of water 15 feet high coming for you. Don't hurricane party it like we did when I was a child in Key West for a Cat 1 that went by. A Cat 1 still knocked coconut trees down in our yard by the beach.

If asked moved to higher ground and I am claiming it now…Lord extend Your merciful hand and wonderfully ark of safety upon the people of Florida and mariners at sea. May the tornados be isolated and in the swamps and the storm surge low. Let the people heed the power of moving water. I humbly asked this in Christ's name. Amen

And Georgia and the Carolinas and mariners in the Atlantic …Thank you! Amen