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olde_fashionedEvery Labor Day weekend there is a Civil War Reenactment in a large park, and for three out of the past four years we have driven down and attended.
Picturesque before the battle
While I love the Civil War as well, the big war buff in the family is my brother Spencer, and it's supposed to be kind of a birthday treat for him to get to go. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPENCER!!!) :-D
Closeup of a cannon
Before the afternoon battle, we wandered around the area set up for sutlers and merchants, and I snapped a few shots of the cannons set up on the battlefield. My brother the museum-curator-in-training bought several miscellaneous artifacts, including some really neat bullets and one rather disgusting badger skull. Don't ask me what badgers have to do with the war, but you should see some of the oddities these sutlers sell.
Some of the booths weren't really selling anything, but were more for educational purposes. One in particular had genuine Springfield, Carbine, and Enfield rifles laid out on a table, and two men were excitedly discussing them. I was thrilled to be able to listen in on their conversation, and I learned that the Springfield was the most common weapon in the war, and the imported Enfield the most desireable, since it was a breech loader and therefore more accurate. (hooray for British technology!) Maybe I'm just a dork but listening to that discussion was one of the highlights of the day for me. I got to hold a reproduction that was shockingly heavy at nine pounds. Can you imagine carrying a nine-pound weapon around all day long? Yikes!
Marching Yankees
Battle time approaching, back to the field we go. In an attempt to stay cool and out of the sun (ha. ha.) we sat under the trees, which happened to be behind the Union lines, where their artillery was stationed. It was great being able to watch them load and reload their (beautiful) cannons, and I tried my darndest to get a picture of the smoke pouring out from the muzzle!
Ta-da!
I won't bore you any more than I already have by describing the battle itself, but basically the opposing lines get closer and closer and the firing more and more intense. I can't imagine hundreds of cannons and thousands of rifles spewing smoke. No wonder they couldn't see on the battlefields.
This is what it looked like with all the clouds of smoke,
which smells rather like rotten hardboiled eggs
And a picture of the Rebels, just to be fair! ;-P
Johnny Rebs
To signal the end of the mock-battle, one of the buglers began to play Taps. I didn't recall it from before, and it was one of the most moving moments of the whole day. I cannot help but wonder if the dead veterans would be touched at such a massive display, which surely honours their memory. It really puts into perspective the ultimate sacrifice those soldiers paid all those many years ago for what they believed in. It was a fitting ending.
Salute
It's a very large reenactment, or at least in my opinion, with tents and camps spread out all over a huge sprawling park that's laden with trees. There are plenty of winding paved paths that encompass the entire park, and each bend reveals yet another group of reenactors gathered around their tents or booth. All of them are in costume, some accurate, some not. The women, especially it seems, tend to throw historical accuracy to the wind whilst dressing in the morning. I saw bare feet, sneakers, and even flip flops beneath hoopskirts and period dresses. One girl, though, I saw after the battle had ended, and I was so struck by the way she standing off by herself, adjusting her bonnet (which was in profile to my perspective) that I just had to go up to her and ask if I might take her picture. She was sweet enough to comply, stand sideways for me, and she even told me when I asked, that her name was Kimberley.
I love her slat bonnet and the colors of her dress.
It was my favourite outfit of the entire reenactment.
Despite soaring temperatures, scorching heat, and a roasting pink sunburn on both my arms, we had a good ol' time. Of course I wore a cap sleeved shirt so it's almost all the way up. Yes, I have heard of sunscreen, so please don't rub it in! (whaddaya know, a pun! lol)
Picturesque before the battle
While I love the Civil War as well, the big war buff in the family is my brother Spencer, and it's supposed to be kind of a birthday treat for him to get to go. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPENCER!!!) :-D
Closeup of a cannon
Before the afternoon battle, we wandered around the area set up for sutlers and merchants, and I snapped a few shots of the cannons set up on the battlefield. My brother the museum-curator-in-training bought several miscellaneous artifacts, including some really neat bullets and one rather disgusting badger skull. Don't ask me what badgers have to do with the war, but you should see some of the oddities these sutlers sell.
Some of the booths weren't really selling anything, but were more for educational purposes. One in particular had genuine Springfield, Carbine, and Enfield rifles laid out on a table, and two men were excitedly discussing them. I was thrilled to be able to listen in on their conversation, and I learned that the Springfield was the most common weapon in the war, and the imported Enfield the most desireable, since it was a breech loader and therefore more accurate. (hooray for British technology!) Maybe I'm just a dork but listening to that discussion was one of the highlights of the day for me. I got to hold a reproduction that was shockingly heavy at nine pounds. Can you imagine carrying a nine-pound weapon around all day long? Yikes!
Marching Yankees
Battle time approaching, back to the field we go. In an attempt to stay cool and out of the sun (ha. ha.) we sat under the trees, which happened to be behind the Union lines, where their artillery was stationed. It was great being able to watch them load and reload their (beautiful) cannons, and I tried my darndest to get a picture of the smoke pouring out from the muzzle!
Ta-da!
I won't bore you any more than I already have by describing the battle itself, but basically the opposing lines get closer and closer and the firing more and more intense. I can't imagine hundreds of cannons and thousands of rifles spewing smoke. No wonder they couldn't see on the battlefields.
This is what it looked like with all the clouds of smoke,
which smells rather like rotten hardboiled eggs
And a picture of the Rebels, just to be fair! ;-P
Johnny Rebs
To signal the end of the mock-battle, one of the buglers began to play Taps. I didn't recall it from before, and it was one of the most moving moments of the whole day. I cannot help but wonder if the dead veterans would be touched at such a massive display, which surely honours their memory. It really puts into perspective the ultimate sacrifice those soldiers paid all those many years ago for what they believed in. It was a fitting ending.
Salute
It's a very large reenactment, or at least in my opinion, with tents and camps spread out all over a huge sprawling park that's laden with trees. There are plenty of winding paved paths that encompass the entire park, and each bend reveals yet another group of reenactors gathered around their tents or booth. All of them are in costume, some accurate, some not. The women, especially it seems, tend to throw historical accuracy to the wind whilst dressing in the morning. I saw bare feet, sneakers, and even flip flops beneath hoopskirts and period dresses. One girl, though, I saw after the battle had ended, and I was so struck by the way she standing off by herself, adjusting her bonnet (which was in profile to my perspective) that I just had to go up to her and ask if I might take her picture. She was sweet enough to comply, stand sideways for me, and she even told me when I asked, that her name was Kimberley.
I love her slat bonnet and the colors of her dress.
It was my favourite outfit of the entire reenactment.
Despite soaring temperatures, scorching heat, and a roasting pink sunburn on both my arms, we had a good ol' time. Of course I wore a cap sleeved shirt so it's almost all the way up. Yes, I have heard of sunscreen, so please don't rub it in! (whaddaya know, a pun! lol)
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no subject
Date: 2007-09-03 02:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-03 07:47 pm (UTC)It was the bonnet that caught my attention at first!
Lucky you re: the hoops!! ;-P Are you planning on making the corset yourself?
no subject
Date: 2007-09-04 02:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-04 08:07 pm (UTC)I know the patterns you're referring to! I've drooled over them many a time myself. ;-P
1630s -- do you already have it planned out, or are you copying another gown? It's not as common to hear of a 17th C. gown so I'd love to hear more about it.
Regency -- the Simplicity patterns again? A version of Jennie Chancey's are now available through them.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-04 08:37 pm (UTC)I guess I lied--that painting is from 1641. Close enough. :-P I haven't been able to find a satisfactory fabric yet, though. Besides that, I'm actually working with a late Tudor pattern, modifying the sleeves, and adding the lace whisk collar, because pre-Restoration Stuart-era patterns are just hard to come by.
The next Regency gown I make is actually from a pattern intended as a Josephine Bonaparte costume. It's a Butterick: http://www.butterick.com/item/B4890.htm?tab=costumes&page=2
no subject
Date: 2007-09-04 08:43 pm (UTC)Ahh, that one. I remember when I first saw that pattern, I started sputtering furiously because they didn't credit or even mention where they got it from. ;-P I have a bit of a soft spot for it since I spent so long staring at it whilst trying to draw it.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-04 09:34 pm (UTC)Fabric for 1641 dress: http://www.ebestfabric.com/storage/img_3/329_x.gif
Fabric for Empire dress: http://www.ebestfabric.com/storage/img_4/366_x.gif
And as you will no doubt conclude, I'm not going for Josephine with that one. I'm going for Marguerite Blakeney from The Scarlet Pimpernel.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-04 09:52 pm (UTC)I'd love a pewter gown. Ever since I saw Caroline Bingley's striped morning gown and Charlotte Lucas' pewtery/purpley dress you can see in the scene at Rosings when Lizzy plays the piano, I've wanted one! ;-P Add it to my mile-long list of things to make...
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Date: 2007-09-04 10:03 pm (UTC)"Marguerite alone among the ladies that night had discarded the crossover fichu and broad-lapelled over-dress, which had been in fashion for the last two or three years. She wore the short-waisted classical-shaped gown, which so soon was to become the approved mode in every country in Europe. It suited her graceful, regal figure to perfection, composed as it was of shimmering stuff which seemed a mass of rich gold embroidery."
We learn later that she wears in her hair a sprig of small red flowers made of rubies. I'm employing some artistic license in extending that pattern to the dress, but she does say in an earlier chapter that Pimpernels are the rage in fashion. That fabric was too expensive to make an entire gown, so I'll have a white/cream dress, and the gold with red flowers will be the robe. Hopefully I will have a matching non-ruby decoration for my hair.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-04 10:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-04 10:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-05 04:45 am (UTC)