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Wow. What a week. I want to begin by saying how much I am grateful to Fred Baker and Tom Yearby for spending so much of their time to make this a successful event for everyone. You both put a ton of hard work into this and I don't know how to tell you how much I appreciate you both. You were both very kind to Ginger, Silvana and I through the whole week. I wish I could do something for you to better express my gratitude. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed my time down in Louisiana. There were many things that happened that were unexpected. Some good and some not so good, but you both dealt with them very professionally. I also want to thank Dusty Lind for making my week. He was so sweet to the three "Babes in the Woods" (as he called us). He came to visit with us, deliver us letters and gave us news since we were camped so far from everyone. I don't think I would have enjoyed myself half as much if he hadn't been there. So thank you so much for everything, Dusty! I hope I will have a chance to see you again at a future event.
The first night was a little scary since everyone was saying that we all needed to be careful of wild animals and snakes. Somehow I thought I might wake up with a cottonmouth next to me some morning, but it turned out that the biggest animal I saw was a squirrel running up a tree. And no, I did not run into any wild boars along the way and something tells me that if I had, they'd be just as scared of me as I of them. The "howling wilderness" wasn't nearly as scary as I was made to believe. I soon got very used to sleeping in the woods with my two other friends and no one else for miles. The stars were very bright and the trees were so much taller than I am used to seeing. It was truly breathtaking. The first few days it did rain a lot and the area where we slept was very muddy and wet. But the rain soon ended and we were able to hang up our clothes to dry. I found out how easily clothing can get dirty and how hard it is to clean them when you only have so much water and the water that you do have is saved for drinking.
So much happened and I will have so very many memories from this event. Some of my highlights were when the Federals came through our camp Saturday late morning (that's a guess since I didn't have a timepiece with me), took ALL of our food, looked through everything we had in camp including waving our dirty chemises in the air with a bayonet and laughing. Then we got questioned about a letter we received from our brave Col. Aufmuth (his image was included with the letter) and they almost made us take The Oath! We were terrified and I couldn't help but feel a little bit of what someone in the period may have actually felt. I still can't believe they took all of our food. I made a bunch of cornbread for the Confederate army and of course they took that as well. The Confederate boys later found some canned goods of ours in the woods that the Federals had dropped. Actually I believe the Federals had intended those for us since they didn't realize they were taking everything we had to eat for the remainder of the event. I don't think Our Boys realized that and within minutes they inhaled them. I suppose it was better they had them anyway.
Another highlight was while all the Federals were pillaging through our camp, someone slipped me a letter (I wasn't even able to see the man's face as this all happened very suddenly), which was very unexpected. It came from my "brother" who I had written to earlier that week. That moment felt so real and all I could think about was hiding the letter so no one would take it away from me. A few moments later we were taken prisoners and forced out of our camp and out of the way of fire. While we were being forced out I felt someone nudging my left shoulder. I wanted to push whoever it was aside, but noticed it was a man trying to give me a bundle of something. It turns out he was giving me a cloth sack full of his hardtack. I tried to thank him, but he was gone so I hid the bundle under my shawl hoping it wouldn't be seen. We were only held prisoners for several minutes before the fighting began and the soldiers who were guarding us had to leave for the fight. We hurried up and fled into the woods away from the fight, but close enough to see what was going on. The woods had been burned down so it was hard to hide from their view and it was even harder to keep our dresses clean.
Our Boys fought off the Federals and we were able to see them awhile as they rested before moving on. I also got the opportunity to see my brother who had recently become 1st Sgt. He was kind enough to give me most of his salt pork (he was going to give it all to me, but I wouldn't let him) and when he found out the Federals took all of our matches, he gave me the one box he had on him. I wanted to wrap his feet with some cloth, as he wasn't wearing any shoes and they were bleeding, but he refused. I'm sure it was very painful, although he never showed it.
Later that evening the three of us, Ginger, Silvana and I were able to cross the Federal lines with the ox wagon to meet up with the Confederates. Col. Aufmuth found out that the Union army had taken all of our food and invited us to have dinner in their camp. It's a wonder we were actually able to get through the enemy lines. That whole scene was a "period moment" for me. I was pretty worried we wouldn't be able to get a pass. We finally got to the Confederate lines only to see Col. Aufmuth walking in a stream of water with his bare feet and his pant legs pulled up. It was an amusing site indeed. The water seemed a little deep for crossing and after contemplating how to get over, the Col. suggested carrying us to the other side. So one by one, the three of us were carried safely to the other side and we followed the wagon into their camp. We made sure to keep ourselves away from the other soldiers in camp while we waited for Col. Aufmuth, as we did not want to offend the other men by our presence. It may have been a little embarrassing for the other soldiers as I'm sure they were not expecting three women entering their camp that evening. While we waited for the Col., Miss Ginger read to us another chapter of Ivanhoe, which she had been reading aloud to us the previous nights.
Finally Col. Aufmuth was presentable and set up a little "parlor" behind the ox wagon for us. We had such a lovely time visiting with the Col. and the other officers. We were entertained by music, dancing, the most wonderful meal, which I believe had been prepared by one of the Lazy Jacks (btw, it really was delicious) and I was able to see my brother once again which made me very happy. I especially had quite a jolly time dancing a polka down a rough path with the Col. After dancing back and forth several times, I finally told him I was tired and I think he was grateful. Ah, what a grand time we had that evening. It had been so long since I last whirled around a dance floor. Although this was no dance floor, it was nice having someone to spin me around, even if the ground was a bit rough. After dinner it was time to go back as we still had a fair bit of walking left to be done and it was getting late. The officers escorted us to the lines and once again carried us over the stream of water. When we got to the Federal lines, there was another small body of water, but it would have been just as easy to hop over to the other side. Of course they also had to carry us over. (I believe they didn't want to be outdone by the Rebs.) It was rather amusing.
All in all I'd have to say this event was by far one of the best events I've attended. I experienced many "period moments" and learned quite a lot about living on your own in the middle of nowhere. I enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new ones. It was grand meeting all of the Lazy Jacks (or was it "Crazy" Jacks?? ;) )! You all are quite the gentlemen and I do hope I will have a chance to meet up with you again in the near future. I must say that both the Federals and the Confederates were very sweet to us, even though the Federals enjoyed harassing us on Saturday. (We enjoyed it too...) By the end of the week I could have spent another three or four weeks out there. I was just starting to get used to it! Again, thank you to those who made this event and who helped my household and I so much during the week. I can't wait to do it again!
The first night was a little scary since everyone was saying that we all needed to be careful of wild animals and snakes. Somehow I thought I might wake up with a cottonmouth next to me some morning, but it turned out that the biggest animal I saw was a squirrel running up a tree. And no, I did not run into any wild boars along the way and something tells me that if I had, they'd be just as scared of me as I of them. The "howling wilderness" wasn't nearly as scary as I was made to believe. I soon got very used to sleeping in the woods with my two other friends and no one else for miles. The stars were very bright and the trees were so much taller than I am used to seeing. It was truly breathtaking. The first few days it did rain a lot and the area where we slept was very muddy and wet. But the rain soon ended and we were able to hang up our clothes to dry. I found out how easily clothing can get dirty and how hard it is to clean them when you only have so much water and the water that you do have is saved for drinking.
So much happened and I will have so very many memories from this event. Some of my highlights were when the Federals came through our camp Saturday late morning (that's a guess since I didn't have a timepiece with me), took ALL of our food, looked through everything we had in camp including waving our dirty chemises in the air with a bayonet and laughing. Then we got questioned about a letter we received from our brave Col. Aufmuth (his image was included with the letter) and they almost made us take The Oath! We were terrified and I couldn't help but feel a little bit of what someone in the period may have actually felt. I still can't believe they took all of our food. I made a bunch of cornbread for the Confederate army and of course they took that as well. The Confederate boys later found some canned goods of ours in the woods that the Federals had dropped. Actually I believe the Federals had intended those for us since they didn't realize they were taking everything we had to eat for the remainder of the event. I don't think Our Boys realized that and within minutes they inhaled them. I suppose it was better they had them anyway.
Another highlight was while all the Federals were pillaging through our camp, someone slipped me a letter (I wasn't even able to see the man's face as this all happened very suddenly), which was very unexpected. It came from my "brother" who I had written to earlier that week. That moment felt so real and all I could think about was hiding the letter so no one would take it away from me. A few moments later we were taken prisoners and forced out of our camp and out of the way of fire. While we were being forced out I felt someone nudging my left shoulder. I wanted to push whoever it was aside, but noticed it was a man trying to give me a bundle of something. It turns out he was giving me a cloth sack full of his hardtack. I tried to thank him, but he was gone so I hid the bundle under my shawl hoping it wouldn't be seen. We were only held prisoners for several minutes before the fighting began and the soldiers who were guarding us had to leave for the fight. We hurried up and fled into the woods away from the fight, but close enough to see what was going on. The woods had been burned down so it was hard to hide from their view and it was even harder to keep our dresses clean.
Our Boys fought off the Federals and we were able to see them awhile as they rested before moving on. I also got the opportunity to see my brother who had recently become 1st Sgt. He was kind enough to give me most of his salt pork (he was going to give it all to me, but I wouldn't let him) and when he found out the Federals took all of our matches, he gave me the one box he had on him. I wanted to wrap his feet with some cloth, as he wasn't wearing any shoes and they were bleeding, but he refused. I'm sure it was very painful, although he never showed it.
Later that evening the three of us, Ginger, Silvana and I were able to cross the Federal lines with the ox wagon to meet up with the Confederates. Col. Aufmuth found out that the Union army had taken all of our food and invited us to have dinner in their camp. It's a wonder we were actually able to get through the enemy lines. That whole scene was a "period moment" for me. I was pretty worried we wouldn't be able to get a pass. We finally got to the Confederate lines only to see Col. Aufmuth walking in a stream of water with his bare feet and his pant legs pulled up. It was an amusing site indeed. The water seemed a little deep for crossing and after contemplating how to get over, the Col. suggested carrying us to the other side. So one by one, the three of us were carried safely to the other side and we followed the wagon into their camp. We made sure to keep ourselves away from the other soldiers in camp while we waited for Col. Aufmuth, as we did not want to offend the other men by our presence. It may have been a little embarrassing for the other soldiers as I'm sure they were not expecting three women entering their camp that evening. While we waited for the Col., Miss Ginger read to us another chapter of Ivanhoe, which she had been reading aloud to us the previous nights.
Finally Col. Aufmuth was presentable and set up a little "parlor" behind the ox wagon for us. We had such a lovely time visiting with the Col. and the other officers. We were entertained by music, dancing, the most wonderful meal, which I believe had been prepared by one of the Lazy Jacks (btw, it really was delicious) and I was able to see my brother once again which made me very happy. I especially had quite a jolly time dancing a polka down a rough path with the Col. After dancing back and forth several times, I finally told him I was tired and I think he was grateful. Ah, what a grand time we had that evening. It had been so long since I last whirled around a dance floor. Although this was no dance floor, it was nice having someone to spin me around, even if the ground was a bit rough. After dinner it was time to go back as we still had a fair bit of walking left to be done and it was getting late. The officers escorted us to the lines and once again carried us over the stream of water. When we got to the Federal lines, there was another small body of water, but it would have been just as easy to hop over to the other side. Of course they also had to carry us over. (I believe they didn't want to be outdone by the Rebs.) It was rather amusing.
All in all I'd have to say this event was by far one of the best events I've attended. I experienced many "period moments" and learned quite a lot about living on your own in the middle of nowhere. I enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new ones. It was grand meeting all of the Lazy Jacks (or was it "Crazy" Jacks?? ;) )! You all are quite the gentlemen and I do hope I will have a chance to meet up with you again in the near future. I must say that both the Federals and the Confederates were very sweet to us, even though the Federals enjoyed harassing us on Saturday. (We enjoyed it too...) By the end of the week I could have spent another three or four weeks out there. I was just starting to get used to it! Again, thank you to those who made this event and who helped my household and I so much during the week. I can't wait to do it again!
Ah, well. I'm glad someone enjoyed it! And it was great seeing you again after so many years! Glad to see you've changed over to the "dark side" of reenacting. Hope I'll see you at another event in the near future.
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