Wilderness NPS Living History: May 5th and 6th, 2007

[Johannes]

On May 5th and 6th, 2007 (Note: these are the dates of the ACTUAL Wilderness Battle, May 5th and 6th, 1864), the Southern Guard Living History Association and the Columbia Rifles are hosting a Federal Living History to take place on the actual Wilderness Battlefield. This event will take place completely on National Park Service land and will encompass several areas of the park that have not been tread upon by Federal soldiers since the war. Programs will be centered around the restored Ellwood House (the site of the Headquarters for the 5th and 9th Corps; as well as the site of several field hospitals), as well as programs to take place tentatively* in Saunders Field, the Widow Tapp Field, and the Brock Road intersection. On Saturday, May 5th, this event will be a mobile living history which will encompass most of the major engagements conducted by Federal forces during the battle. On Sunday, May 6th, the event, in conjunction with the local preservation group, The Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield, will center around the Ellwood House. A Federal Field Hospital program will be ongoing throughout the weekend, located at or in the Ellwood House. More information, uniform regulations, and a schedule of events will be forthcoming. Event coordinator is Jeff Johannes at: jjspanzer@hotmail.com. Field Hospital Coordinator is Noah Briggs at: bluemasscat@gmail.com (*All programs are currently in the planning process; any and all changes will be updated and announced)

Note: If you are an individual and interested in this event, please do not email me at this time. Instead, ask your unit POC or Command Structure to email on behalf of your group or organization. I ask for your patience and stay tuned for more information to be announced via an upcoming website or this forum.

Thank you,
Jeff Johannes

[Wild Rover]

Isn't this the same weekend as McDowell?

Pards,

[Dignann]

Isn't this the same weekend as McDowell? A simple use of the search function found the announcement for the 2007 McDowell event - http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7030&highlight=mcdowell

[Wild Rover]

Thanks!

Was wondering more if the organizers knew.

Pards,

[Kevin O'Beirne]

The NPS has mandated those dates for this event. I believe it has something to do with the dates of the battle anniversary.

[GrumpyDave]

I'm thinking there will be a decent amount of walking done in between the public interaction sites?

It'll be nice to see something happen (again) that hasn't been done before. Actual ground, dates and more.

[Tom Craig]

Chris,
I know you are familiar with working the NPS. That means that you are also familiar with the fact that the NPS often doesn't have the luxury of being flexible for a variety of reasons.

We had to reschedule the Spotsylvania LH due to a park paving project and the park offered us this slot at the Wilderness as a replacement. The CR has worked very hard to develop a strong relationship with the NPS (particularly at Federicksburg/Spotsy) and when they offered us this date we agreed to take it.

Regrettably it falls on the same weekend as McDowell, but it also falls on the same weekend as the anniversary of the battle...leave it to Grant and Lee to not look at their calendars:rolleyes:

Take care,
Tom Craig
Columbia Rifles

[Wild Rover]

Tom,

Understand working with the Park Service...don't worry about that, I just don't want to see another "deconfliction" war. Lord knows we have had enough of those.

Perhaps folks have moved beyond that.

Pards,

[FWL]

Sometimes there is conflict between dates and there's nothing anyone can do about it. And its not part of some sinister plot by sparring reenactor factions. It just is. Hopefully both events have enough federal attendees.

Since I've been to McDowell the last two times, I think I'll do the Wilderness LH.

[Wounded_Zouave]

...encompass several areas of the park that have not been tread upon by Federal soldiers since the war. The Marines conducted maneuvers at the Wilderness in the early 20th century. I think they may count as "federal" soldiers. ;)

[Charles Heath]

The Marines conducted maneuvers at the Wilderness in the early 20th century. I think they may count as "federal" soldiers.

http://www.fowb.org/E17.html

At least one of those fellows was fascinated by Stonewall Jackson's arm, too.

[Tom Craig]

Chris,
I can say without a doubt that there was absolutely NO planned attempt to conflict with McDowell. We had originally planned to be at Spotsy a couple weeks later, but that wasn't to be this year. We tried a variety of different options for dates to avoid confliction, but the final result was that the NPS asked for us to do our program at the Wilderness on the dates of the battle.

As I said before, I regret that the dates align, and on behalf of the CR I wish all the folks at McDowell good luck with their event.
Take care,
Tom Craig
Columbia Rifles

[pvtbordonaro]

Tom,
Is this event instead of, or in addition to, the Columbia Rifles Spotsylvania Living History two weeks later?
-Joe Bordonaro

[Tom Craig]

Joe,
Yes this event is the replacement for Spotsylvania. The roads at Spotsy got scheduled for repaving right around the same time our event was supposed to be. The park service asked us to do this event at the Wilderness and to do the Spotsy event in 2009.
Take care,
Tom

[ley74]

Tom:

You are a good and patient soul.

See you Saturday, white gloves and all.

[pvtbordonaro]

Tom,
Thanks, I guess I missed the news when it came out in September. You know how it goes once the school year starts :)
-Joe

[Wild Rover]

Tom,

I understand. I hope others do as well. Things are headed in a great direction for 2007, with a wide variety of events for folks to attend.

Let's keep this thing rolling,

Pards,

[Johannes]

Just wanted to drop a few lines to update everyone on the Wilderness NPS Living History event in May, 2007.

- First of all, the dates and the initial plan have been approved by the National Park Service. However, as with all events, there are some minor changes but overall the plan in the initial event primer is still the same. More details and a schedule will be forthcoming most likely after the holidays.

- For those who are members of CWPT, in the most recent issue of HALLOWED GROUND (Winter 2006), there is an article detailing a plan to build a road through the Wilderness Battlefield. In a nutshell, Orange County Virginia has developed a plan to build a road through the northern portion of the Wilderness Battlefield, namely, in the areas of Saunders Field and Gordon's Flank attack against the 6th Corps. The county wants to use this as an expansion for the now busy VA State Route 20. Also, several local developers have submitted a request to Orange County to rezone 177 acres within or near the Wilderness Battlefield. Basically, this area is going to become a new "hot-zone" of Preservation vs. Development.

- As part of the efforts to raise public attention to this battlefield, this Living History weekend will be one form of drawing folks to the area to learn about the battlefield and hope to get support on our side! This event is being assisted by the local preservation group, Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield, here is their website:

http://www.fowb.org/index.html

(Note: there are some good photos of the Ellwood House on this website, which will be the bivouac site as well as the location of the Federal Field Hospital demonstration)

- Attempts will be made to get the local press out there during the weekend to accomplish the mission of bringing attention to this soon to be endangered area (if not already endangered!)

Thanks for every one's interest and stay tuned!
Sincerely,
Jeff Johannes
Event Coordinator

[BobDenton37thVA]

I agree. As one of my former teachers used to say so often,

"The majority of offenses Mr. Denton are 'sins of omission' as opposed to 'sins of commission'. People seldom do things to us, they do them in spite of us."

Bob D.

Sometimes there is conflict between dates and there's nothing anyone can do about it. And its not part of some sinister plot by sparring reenactor factions. It just is. Hopefully both events have enough federal attendees.

Since I've been to McDowell the last two times, I think I'll do the Wilderness LH.

[Johannes]

Folks,
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Just wanted to drop a quick line to let you all know we are still moving forward on the event planning for the Wilderness Living History and so far everything looks good. In the upcoming week, I will be having a final coordination and planning meeting with the NPS to review the overall event plan, schedule, and other administrative matters. After this meeting and hopefully by next month, we will be posting more detailed event information and historical info, to include the Federal units we will be focusing on for specific weekend programs. Again, the dates and location have not changed.

We will also be posting specific contact information on who to contact if you or your group are interested in "falling-in with" a specific company/unit.

I appreciate every one's continued interest and hope that you can make it out to this unique site for living history.

Thank you,
Jeff Johannes
Event Coordinator

[Johannes]

The event website is up and running at:

http://www.southernguard.org/wilderness/index.html

Please note that a few items are still under construction or pending (namely the Event and Uniform guidelines which are forthcoming shortly), however most of the basic information, to include the event schedule is posted. Registration is open so go ahead and feel free to sign up.

Also, please note the t$10 registration fee will be going to preservation efforts for the Wilderness and Central Virginia battlefield areas.

Sorry for the delay of forthcoming information.
Sincerely,
Jeff Johannes

[Ringgold]

Howdy Jeff!

You may want to edit the homepage of this event where it says " WARNING: At times, this event will be physically extraneous, . . ."

I think it should actually read "strenuous".:rolleyes: There's a bit of a difference between those words. (derned spell-check'll git ya ev'ry time!)

Best of luck with what promises to be an amazing event.

[BobDenton37thVA]

Howdy Jeff!

You may want to edit the homepage of this event where it says " WARNING: At times, this event will be physically extraneous, . . ."



Now that's funny!

RD

[ley74]

Good news is, you do not have to worry.

[Johannes]

Folks,
Hope everyone is doing well. All information about the event has been posted on the website, to include any and all updates, so please keep checking the website.

In the meantime, we are asking everyone to bring their own rations to this one. We our hoping that you all are experienced historians to determine what are authentically correct campaign rations and what are not. However, to help you decide on what possible "meat" to choose from, here is an account from a popular Federal diarist, Pvt. Wilbur Fisk of the 2nd Vermont, of the Vermont Brigade which we will be doing a program on Saturday night detailing the Vermont Brigade's aftermath of battle: (NOTE: this account is not in his book, "Hard Marching Everyday.")

"For a week or two before we left camp we were preparing for the coming campaign. Every time we had a meeting it was almost expected to be the last one for we were preparing to move though no one knew when. General orders were published to us indicating what we must and what must be not be done on the march. Rations for marching were brought to us and held in reserve for the march. The boys themselves were preparing for what was coming. They sent away everything they did not want or could carry with them. Our money, those of us that had any, we sent home. Our knapsacks were reduced to the smallest possible space for we knew that when the ball opened there would be business plenty.

We left our winter home on the morning of May 4 at 4'oclock. The air was clear and cool and we marched very rapidly to Germania Ford, a distance of about 12 miles. The boys were in good spirits and went on merrily although we well knew that we were about to undertake one of the most perilous campaigns of the war. Many of us in all probability would fall in the coming battles but it was wisely hidden from us to know who these victims should be and every one could hope that he would escape. We halted that night about three miles from the river on the rebel side. It was late in the afternoon we were all tired and some were foot sore and nearly exhausted. We spread down our blankets for our nights out in the open air, very few thinking it worth while to put up any tents as the weather was clear and fair. Hart Smith and I spread down our blankets to sleep together. It was quite cool and in the morning there was considerable frost.

We were called up before light and an hour given to us prepare our breakfast. We had fresh beef to cook and coffee to make and when this was done and our breakfast eaten it was time to pack our things and fell in." (Note: this was the morning of May 5th; the rest describes the battle which is in his book)

- Source: Bound Volume 87, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park Library, Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Hope this helps with your preparation for this event.
Thank you and see you in May.
Sincerely,
Jeff Johannes
Event Coordinator

p.s. - Spell check was utilized for this posting; thank you!

[Bivouac_of_the_Dead]

F&SNMP's Special Events doesn't seem to have the Wilderness LH event listed on it's special events website for this year: http://www.nps.gov/frsp/special.htm

An oversite perhaps. Other events for that weekend are shown... maybe it got lost in the mix. Be a shame if members of the public who like seeing LH events miss this one because it didn't get posted on the web by the park.

[Johannes]

Bill,
Thanks for the heads up on this. The park has updated their events page and the Wilderness Living History program is listed.

For those still planning on attending, please note that registration closes in a just over two weeks!

[GrumpyDave]

Waiting Patiently for the AAR's.Looks to be a good un'.

[Johannes]

Folks,
This is going to be the last "public" email about this event. If you have already registered, you should be receiving regular emails detailing the event. If you have registered and are not receiving emails please let me know ASAP! My email is: jjspanzer@hotmail.com

Thanks for every one's interest and look forward to seeing those who are coming out next weekend!