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Post by shiloh on Sept 30, 2004 7:06:33 GMT 12.75
FYI anyone near Middle TN this coming weekend (Oct 1-3) there's a big re-enactment scheduled at Spring Hill. That's a few miles south of Franklin and about 20 south of Nashville. They are claiming to have about 10,000 participants scheduled & are expecting up to 100,000 spectators over 3 days' of battles and other events. Anyone coming out, look me up at the camps of the 9th KY (US) infantry. Ask for Todd. www.battleoffranklin.com
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Post by shiloh on Oct 5, 2004 9:07:09 GMT 12.75
Mmmooooaaaaaaannnnnn Had a good time, but wow was that tiring! I heard they ended up with about 8000 reenactors on the field with roughly 75000 spectators over 3 days. Friday afternoon we were held in reserve and didn't take the field. I stood a 4 hour picket detail. Sat we were up before dawn at the sounds of distant guns...2 miles away! It rained about 1 hour at dawn and soaked us, but then stopped raining to let Mr.Sun out to heat our wet wool up nicely. We were inspected and issued orders to march at once to the relief of an engaged brigade. Our brigade marched the 2 miles or so and took the field where our brave lads were nearly exhausted as successive waves of Rebs had been assaulting their breastworks for about 2 hours off and on. There was a lovely butternut pile scattered up to the works as we relieved our lads in the works and let them retire for rest. We soon discovered that the works were infested with black widow spiders! I myself saw and killed 3 in my little part! We then fought the Rebs and I saw the BEST "hits" I've ever seen Rebs take! At one point they came within 50 yds of us in good formation. We loosed a volley (about 600 muskets) and probably 1 in 6-7 of them went down! They then backed up and we traded shots a few minutes before they backed away. This happened a couple of times until the left...thus ending the "Battle of Spring Hill." We then marched back and rested at the far side of the field where the spectators were setting up for the 4pm event behind our main earthworks (400+ yds of good trences with works in front and headlogs!) At 4pm, we went in the far works 500 yds ahead of our main works just as parts of Gen' Schofield's men were at Franklin when the Rebs came at us. THAT was awesome as they outnumbered us by 2:1 and we had about 500 men up there. We fired a few times but there were too many of them so we retreated in panic the 500 yds to the main works. That was a rough hump let me tell you! Just as I reached the works (sucking dust and wind) I turned to look and saw 200-300 Yanks in massed confussion joggin or walking behind me strung all the way back to the main lines as 4 columns of Butternuts marched in good formations behind them. That was chilling. They assaulted our center heavily and did momentarily break through, but we pushed them back. That left a great pile of Rebs. As they stacked up in the center, I saw 1 of their columns rotate by company into line from behind their lead lines and plop right across our front. That column pushed us back from our works, but didn't hold them and retired. We then were able to retire in good order back and let them have "Franklin". The Nashiville battle on Sunday opened with them entrenched atop a long rising slope to mimic "Shy's Hill". Our cavalry had a tough time getting at them, but our guns mounting a neighboring hill did keep them from having any fun as we marched up to drive them off the hill. We made 3 assaults before we got them to leave. We traded parting volleys as they retreated in order and then began breaking in calm retreat...much like the Battle of Nashville ended. And thus the war in the west was effectively won and we saved the Union! ;D Man! My dogs is tired! All told, I expended between 100 and 130 rounds in 3 engagements and was "killed" in each battle. Some boys that didn't ever take hits likely expended up to twice what I did. Talk about fouling! Barrels became so hot that they swelled stocks and bound the mainsprings on 2 guns. Two others had to get canteen water down them in battle to soften the fouling enough to get them shooting again after dry patches went down them. That was the hottest I've ever had my barrel become. I had to hold the sling loop to load because I couldn't even touch the barrel, much less hold it briefly without a burn. I admit that on the return march in the 80F temperature on Sat, I was wondering exactly "why" I was doing this voluntarily.
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Post by shiloh on Oct 7, 2004 4:03:23 GMT 12.75
By the way, you Buckeyes, you may be interested/humored to know that we had 4 men fall in with us at Franklin from the "15th Ohio Volunteer Militia (OVM)." What's interesting is that they aren't in Ohio...or even the US! They are the 15th OVM from Denmark!! They were good-natured Danes that were surprising ly well-drilled. They sain in Denmark there are a total of about 20 US Civil War re-enactors, about 1/2 CS and 1/2 US. These 4 plus 1 other who went to US artillery had saved and planned for a long time to come here for this event after learning about it at The Blockade Runner who outfitted them. They were pleased to say the least!
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Post by pawpawwilson on Nov 30, 2004 16:55:02 GMT 12.75
Shiloh,
Sounds like you had a fantastic time, wish I could have been there!
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Post by Paws on Feb 2, 2005 6:06:48 GMT 12.75
That is super! Man I guess we just sometimes take our good fortune for granted. Now those guys know how to pick a hobby!!
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Post by shiloh on Feb 3, 2005 5:32:23 GMT 12.75
The Danes have invited us (9th KY) to visit them in Denmark to take part in a reenactment there in a year. I won't go due to cost, but it'd be cool to the Danes there to see more than just 5 per side adn to see us looking more realistic. The Danes' uniforms and ways of speaking and actings aren't very realistic. On second thought, we'd probably scare the bejeebers out of the Danish!
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Post by Paws on Feb 3, 2005 5:48:35 GMT 12.75
Hsow expensive of an ordeal might it be Shiloh? You think you guys might be able to get a grant from the artsy fartsy folksy?
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Post by shiloh on Feb 4, 2005 5:59:37 GMT 12.75
Plane fare will have to be well over a grand apiece. We'd likely camp someplace but might have to stay at a hotel one night or more. Those guys said they'd been planning and saving for about 2 years to make the trip and were wanting to go to a big event someplace. They linked into the Blockade Runner by accident and learned more about proper equipment and regulations that way. The BR staff got them into contact with the 9th KY when they said they were wanting to do Union infantry and then they and our Capt. e-mailed and called eachother for months prior to Franklin.
I asked them the first day if they'd be coming back and they laughed and said no it was too expenssive. But after the 3rd day was done and we were packing they said they'd really try to return in a couple of years to do another big event. They really want to do the 145th Gettysburg or Antietam. They were shocked and awed by the scale of our reenactments which is understandable since they only have about 5-10 guys at a time and we had 5-10 THOUSAND! ;D
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nickw
Water Fetcher
Posts: 3
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Post by nickw on Feb 4, 2005 8:44:09 GMT 12.75
I had absolutely no idea that the reinactments were that big! It must be an awesome site to behold.
How do you know when you've been killed?
Sorry! It's all new to me.
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Post by Paws on Feb 4, 2005 11:50:26 GMT 12.75
Well Nick if you are tired and want to get off the field or if the nurses are pretty with big tits or the sanitation department gals are helping and are knock outs you die quicker!
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Post by shiloh on Feb 5, 2005 7:36:55 GMT 12.75
Some events have, during final inspection of your cartridge boxes, slipped a colored round in (yellow paper is what I have seen). Whenever you draw that round out, that is your final shot. You fire it and then do not reload. You can die or get wounded at your pleasure, but you cannot reload. You just normally wait for a gun opposite you to fire and then go down. Most events don't go to this trouble though and it's every man for himself. You typically see more "hits" on Sunday than Saturday as guys get tired and want to rest. Myself, I always get hit when doing Union portrayals as a tribute to my Confederate ancestors. When Confederate, I don't normally go down and never get out-right killed. I'll get wounded and limp from the field since my direct ancestor was indeed crippled on the field but survived. It's up to each guy. The 9th KY (US) I hang with mostly is adept at taking a "Number 9" which is our specialty. It is a depiction of a cannister hit. We work it out togther with a CS gun so we know that gun is ready to fire. We discharge our guns & then all go down at once the next time that gun fires. Sometimes we work in conjunction with the ground charge crew so we get near 1 or more ground effects and as soon as the cannon fires, the ground around us erupts in smoke and dirt and we all go down, tossing haversacks, knapsacks, caps, and a few manquin pieces we sneak on the field in all directions. When done right, the crowds loudly cheer and gasp. This type of action has to be pre-approved by the safety officers and we are among the few units allowed to do it because we are known to be dramatic yet safe. Soem units would be throwing muskets and knives or bayonets in the air which is extremely dangerous. One thing I typically do on my own is go down first. Most people willing to take a hit won't go down until they've fired a lot and had some fun. This means a few hundred guys per side line up for ten minutes and blaze away with nobody taking hits which is ridiculous. I sometimes will take a hit after only a couple fo shots. I am thinking about even taking a hit before dirtying my gun sometime. It'd look good to see a column forming into line under fire to begin taking hits in the maneuvre instead of waiting to get formed and fire a volley. Still, I like making smoke myself! One of the things you have to do is to take good hits safely and remain "in character" as long as spectators can see you. Seeing a guy take a good hit near the crowd only then to get bored or tired of lying in a certain position and begin looking around or getting comfortable is dumb-looking. My trick is to go down, and then stay barely alive for some time. I will roll around holding myself as though hit and in pain until I get reasonably comfortable and faced away from the crowd so I can look around and smile at other guys making jokes etc. Occasionally I'll still roll around a little so any people watching me will understand I am merely severely wounded. I will die late in the battle when the time down won't be as long. Ressurection is announced at the end by a bugler blowing taps or playing some other tune. We all then rise up and get back to our units, fall in and proceed to make the final pass and review march for the spectators. I usually peek around slowly to see others arising so I'm not the first to get up (just in case I'm wrong) or await to hear people calling out "rise up!" The main thing to remember in choreographed events is to stay alive as long as there is an objective that must be accompolished. If a fortification must be taken, but most of the assaulting force have decided to take hits before the final push, it looks kind of stupid to have 10 Yankees storm Fort Wagoner and drive 300 Rebels before them! I've seen it happen, and when it does the spectators are really disappointed. It also looks dumb for 2 lines of 100+ men at 50 yds to fire a volley and nobody go down. That type of thing fuels the myth that the muskets were innacurate and ineffective past 50 yds. Before going down, announce to those around you that you plan to do so for safety. This also gives the Sgt or Lt or other unit officer time to deny you the priviledge because they can see the entire line and know when it's getting too thin, or if there is some objective that needs more men. Artillerists seldom can take good hits, and always before the gun is killed or over-run one artillerist MUST stay with the ammunition box or the box must be locked. I've seen infantry using limbers with ammunition boxes as cover to fire from around. All it takes is 1 erant spark to cause a realistic explosion with quite realistic body parts all over the field! Most guns have at least 10 rounds in those things each weighing between 1/2 lb and 1 lb of powder. Cavalry have to take hits carefully too because they are on or around 800 lb animals that themselves are excited and confused with flashing spurs and sabres everywhere. Cavalry troopers just about have to only get wounded and ride their mount slowly away while slumped over in the saddle. I have seen cavalry that had been trained with their mounts for movies or stunts to take hits. They are impressive, but still have to be well away from the crowd and other cavalry before dropping their mounts with them astride. Then, the man has to crawl and lay over the neck of the horse to keep it down. Cavalry is the most dangerous arm of reenacting. Most injuries will be from those guys.
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Post by Paws on Feb 5, 2005 8:01:31 GMT 12.75
I think you covered it all! It really does look dumber than dog crap to see a dead or wounded soldier cocked up on his elbow watching the action. What Ilike about McConnelsville is the battle moves across the field leaving the dead and wounded behind the front line where they can be tended or removed. Some have been known te be resurrected andrejoin the engagement further along the battle site! ;D I didn't know about the yellow round. I'm not sure if they use it at McConnelsville or not. This year will be my third at McConnelsville and 2nd as a reenactor. I have been to Gettysburg, Davenport, Georgesville, and a couple others in Tennessee and Ohio and that's it. I didn't have to die yet. May kill a few though with food poisening!! Oh we have an invitation to Wilmington this September at Pioneer Village.Maybe we can get some of you other guys up there? Pawpaw? Christopher?? MadJack?? Great fishing!! Rich? Steven?? Buckeye?? Anybody?? ;D
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Post by shiloh on May 17, 2005 9:25:19 GMT 12.75
By the way. Last week I finally rec'd my copy of "The Bettle of Franklin: Five Hours in the Valley of Death" by Wide Awake Films. This is the film crew that was filming the 140th re-enactment and then used the footage in the making of the film. It's over 1 hr long and very well done. If you want to see a really large event, that is a film to watch especially the extra footage on the CD menu. This particular film is on par with the great History Chanel "Civil War Combat" series.
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