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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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Date: 2008-01-06 07:40 am (UTC)If you think about it, the Civil Rights movement is a by-product of the Civil War.
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Date: 2008-01-06 07:44 am (UTC)