SEEING THE ELEPHANT-PART 2 Saturday morning a few of the unit member’s wives cooked us breakfast of bacon, eggs, and bread along with steaming hot coffee. Food cooked over a fire in a camp setting seemed to bring out more favors in anything you eat. I was stuffed to the gills and loving it. After breakfast Pard and I looked …
SEEING THE ELEPHANT-Part 1 Seeing the Elephant is a weird expression. During the Civil War and in today’s Civil War Reenacting it means participating in your first battle. I remember the first Civil War Battle for me was the first weekend in December, 1994, at Prairie Grove Battlefield in Northwest Arkansas. The reenactment commemorated an 1862 battle that confirmed Missouri …
THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN OF 1862: THROUGH ARKANSAS EYES When Ransom’s Brigade of Walker’s Division joined with the McLaw’s Division at the south of the West Woods, they hit the 5500 man Union Division under General Sedgwich. This was a division in Sumner’s II Corps. The Confederates hit the Union Division in the left flank and their rear and it was …
THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN OF 1862: THROUGH ARKANSAS EYES I have been in Civil War Reenactments were we have charged the enemy shoulder to shoulder in Battalion Line of Battle of 4 to 5 five companies consisting of about 125 to 150 men. In small battle scenarios we usually “take a hit”, fall and play dead when we want to. In …
THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN OF 1862: THROUGH ARKANSAS EYES We proceeded to the Potomac and, once we reached the bank, I could see the actual ford was off to our right. A small creek about 2 feet wide was between us and the ford. The ground was a soggy and we had to jump the creek, which got Nancy’s shoes muddy. …
THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN OF 1862: THROUGH ARKANSAS EYES I have marched 7 miles in one day and skirmished during the march. I was dead tired when we finally bedded down for the night. I considered myself in pretty good shape, but until you’ve tried marching as they did, it really doesn’t hit you how tough these men were. The other …
THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN OF 1862: THROUGH ARKANSAS EYES Marching in full Civil War regalia during the summer is very tedious work. If you are portraying Confederates and your uniform is made of Jean material, which is a weave of wool and cotton, you are lucky. It isn’t quite as burdensome as pure wool. If you are portraying the Union forces, …
THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN OF 1862: THROUGH ARKANSAS EYES During one of our Civil War Excursions back east we journeyed to Richmond, VA. Neither I nor Nancy had been to that part of Virginia before and we were looked forward to the excursion. We stayed in Linden Row, which was a series of brownstone townhouses that had been connected to form …
THROUGH ARKANSAS EYES Why does one get an obsession? Is it a nudge in the right direction to enlist us in our rightful part of the divine scheme of things? I think it has been in my life. I watched the Ken Burns documentary on The Civil War in 1992 and of all the battles discussed the Battle of Antietam …
150th SHILOH… SATURDAY PM… BATTLE MARCH Continued… As with any army the routine is ‘hurry up and wait’. The position of troops was accomplished and we stacked arms to wait. Many of us replenished the water we had drank from our canteens during the morning and got in the shade of trees provided by some woods close to the staging …