Glendale AAR Thread

[JStiles]

Re: Glendale AAR Thread

I'd like to thank all the folks who had a part in organizing the event. It's never easy and the larger the event, the more difficult, throw in a march and it increases several fold. Special thanks to Pete McCarthy, our guide on the CS side. Without him we, or I should say I would still be out there. Saturday was, in my opinion, pretty physically demanding. I applaud the officers and NCOs for their sense of duty and to the men for their sense of devotion. One person who stood out for me was John martin. I'm 37 and I was whipped at the end of the day Saturday. John is 63. He just kept going, one foot in front of the other. You gotta admire that.....Jerry Stiles

[Jim Peterson]

Re: Glendale AAR Thread

Well Guys;

I'd say that the afternoon ration issue went pretty well. One bite of pie was a treat. The technique for eating taters was interesting. The Soupbone "eat it like an apple" technique seemed to be favored by a good many, I saw a few doing my slice it and smoke it a bit before dipping it in the sugar and crunching it down. In fact just about everything appears to be dipped in sugar before eating.

I'd say the majority went for the "eat it fast and flop down for a rest" method. Although a few grommet cooks went all out and fried up a tasty meal.

You just can not improve on the setting when in the late afternoon after the fight, the company worn out, out of water and standing in formation back where we ate supper and the Captain says "Boys we're going to hit them again" "But we're out of water". A slight smile with a nod of his head and off we went.

[dusty27]

Re: Glendale AAR Thread

Greg,

Are you serious about critiquing this event? Shouldn't you have taken part to be able to critique it?

Getting sick along the way is fine. Returning when it is convenient to you is not.

I'd worry a little less about what WE were wearing, saying, and taking and worry about how YOU can finish a full event.

Man.....................

[SCTiger]

Re: Glendale AAR Thread

deleted, apparently discussions don't happen here anymore.

Re: Glendale AAR Thread

Who was the Skinny Anne letter vic- I mean, recipient this time?

Edited to add - thanks to the fellows on both sides - it's nice to work with reenactors who actually simulate realistic wounded with no goofiness.

[westcoastcampaigner]

Re: Glendale AAR Thread

The event was really a great experience. The grousing that went on during the march was certainly a very accurate reflection of the common foot soldier. At one point when it was particularly distasteful I recall thinking to myself that we were all crazy to do this. That feeling quickly gave way to imagining the courage, devotion, and yes, naivete, that led these men to leave their homes for the uncertainties of war.

The most vivid memory was skirmishing in the woods and stumbling upon a 5 to 6 ft black snake. I know I moved a foot up and back in one (graceful I may say, as well as, immediate) movement. I don't think I screamed like a little b%tch but I can't guarantee that I didn't. Ask Grumpy Dave.

The camaraderie was excellent as always and we made one helluva 11 man sh'bang on Saturday night. Thanks to my comrades in battle who made the event even more enjoyable.

Thanks to Ley, Petey, Hannibal, and Heef, who did a great job putting together the event.

Bravo Zulu

yer pard,

Haha...I was right next to you and YES you screamed like a girl and from what I could see in my perifial you were not graceful. Then again who can be graceful when a 5 foot black snake asks them to dance? Be glad it wasn't a copperhead. It was good getting to know you guys and working with you. We all had a great time despite the rain on Sunday and enough ticks to keep us busy picking at ourselves as though we had lice.

To those requesting copies of the drawing of Skinny Annie you will have to press Paul Boccadoro of the Liberty Rifles. He is the person who received the letter with her in it and we all had a period moment as he read aloud the most provocative and funny letter from his cousin stationed out west. Dare he post the drawing as a candidate for next months AC cover photo? Could be risky.


Best Regards,

Josh Sawyer
Liberty Rifles

[bholt61stny]

Re: Glendale AAR Thread

Nice photo of the beef! Mmmmm. On sale, and we saved $118 with the Food Lion MVP card.

I never had the experience of eating boiled beef until this weekend and I must say it was very good; my hats off to those who boiled it...I don't remember who said it but I heard someone say "You can't burn boiled."





Brian Holt

[Charles Heath]

Re: Glendale AAR Thread

Who threw the Mrs. Dash in half the hardtack dough?

Those were simulated "tasty sweepings from the shop floor." You know how those government contractors like to stretch the flour with whatever happens to be available at the time. I didn't ask Joe what some of the crunchy, somewhat disgusting, evil looking bits were, but even I have my limits. Nothing harmful really.

Jason covered the Cracker Barrel. Bev and I nailed the Waffle House. Both bases covered, although between Payne's Farm, The Wilderness, and GMH08, we have a new trend developing in the form of strip mall Italian restaurants. Gee, I wonder why?

Nice photo of the beef! Mmmmm. On sale, and we saved $118 with the Food Lion MVP card.

[Charge Bayonets]

Re: Glendale AAR Thread

I wish someone would put up the pen and ink drawing of Skinny Annie.

My vote for the cover.

Who threw the Mrs. Dash in half the hardtack dough?

I thought it a good event all together. Thanks to the organizers for all the hard work.

[Shockoe Hill Cats]

Re: Glendale AAR Thread

Friends,

My own experiences have be more appropriately cited by my fellow comrades-in-arms, Private Brian Holt and Sergeant Joe Bordonaro (then) of the 4th Pennsylvania Reserves. As previously described, I was also thoroughly entertained by this weekend's smaller delights (i.e. the mischievous western letter, Surgeon Noah Briggs [ace impression, sir], getting up to answer the morning roll call, being taken prisoner [& keeping Lieutenant O'Beirne's article in mind ], the cracks of rifle and cannon fire in the distance, &etc.).

Aside from the event organizers (who, of course, have our gratitude), I'd like to personally recognize guide Joe Caridi and Private Bill Birney. Joe, I really appreciated the extended hand of VCU friendship. Go Rams, go! And Bill, you were a model soldier and volunteer to us all weekend. My hat's off to you.

To me, the most rewarding part of the Glendale & Malvern Hill event was contributing to the battlefield and catching up/spending time amoungst friends. That, and well... the Mechanicsville Cracker Barrel? :wink_smil

If you haven't been to this beautiful piece of land, go and you'll see why it's worth saving.

Fondly,

[Texyank]

Re: Glendale AAR Thread

The event was really a great experience. The grousing that went on during the march was certainly a very accurate reflection of the common foot soldier. At one point when it was particularly distasteful I recall thinking to myself that we were all crazy to do this. That feeling quickly gave way to imagining the courage, devotion, and yes, naivete, that led these men to leave their homes for the uncertainties of war.

The most vivid memory was skirmishing in the woods and stumbling upon a 5 to 6 ft black snake. I know I moved a foot up and back in one (graceful I may say, as well as, immediate) movement. I don't think I screamed like a little b%tch but I can't guarantee that I didn't. Ask Grumpy Dave.

The camaraderie was excellent as always and we made one helluva 11 man sh'bang on Saturday night. Thanks to my comrades in battle who made the event even more enjoyable.

Thanks to Ley, Petey, Hannibal, and Heef, who did a great job putting together the event.

Bravo Zulu

yer pard,

[bholt61stny]

Re: Glendale AAR Thread

I too, echo all of the comments about thanking everyone who helped put this event together. It was a real pleasure being able to come to this event and fall in with a great bunch of guys. It was my first time to the Malvern Hill Battlefield and needless to say it wont be my last.

Overall the event was great; the march was long and at times through some very thick brush, but nothing stopped us from doing so. The mail call on the Union side was definitely very interesting and made for a great laugh. The tactical was pretty good and though being captured by the Confederates they managed to treat us nice and even paroled us. The rain wasn't a big deal either except driving home with the smell of wet wool in the car.

Thanks again to those who helped make this event possible and I look forward to more events like this one.

Brian Holt

[Dan Wambaugh]

Re: Glendale AAR Thread

Had fun up at Malvern Hill. Public turnout was a bit discouraging but the new friends from the NPS artillery group alone were worth the trip, as was the dedication ceremony we performed for the USSS men interred at the National Cemetery. Felt a bit envious of those of you marching off to the fun, but getting to fire Sharps rifles on the same ground as the original guys was very cool.

Thanks for the invites, the logistics, and for the excellent ham hock that was given a good home.


Best,

Dan

Re: Glendale AAR Thread

Recycled from the Love & Laudanum social group.

Friday - camped with the rest of the battalion after a three hour drive from Northern VA to past Richmond. I discovered once I got there I had forgotten to bring my repro medications! No laudanum, no chloroform. My anger was dissipated somewhat by Kevin O'Beirne, who remarked that my meds could have gotten lost in the HQ transfer during the Seven Days Campaign.

Saturday - up early, rations issued - boiled beef and hardtack. Arty and infantry drilled and I hung out at registration, where, might I add, I had my only interaction with the general public. Around noon we stepped off on our march around the battlefield. I lugged the surgical kit in a carpet bag; all of my other personals were dangling off of me like the world's most insane horse harness. We plodded about a half mile to a place called the Parsonage on Willis Church Road. This was where I was supposed to set up a bandaging station.

I should explain the Parsonage consisted of two identical chimneys enclosed in a wooden fence. I called the place the Two Towers - Isengard and Mordor. I was stationed there for the afternoon - the NPS hoped to bring some visitor traffic to an out-of-the-way spot at Glendale Malvern Hill. Warning - there is a reason it's out-of-the-way. Nobody knows about it, nobody cares. I and my designated casualty got not one visitor - lots of drive-by wavings, but nobody stopped.

Around five pm I was extracted from this intellectual purgatory and reinserted into the woods by Charles Heath, where I hooked up with the rest of the Company. At this point we were playing on the newly-acquired CWPT land, which was a real treat. I arrived in time for a quick skirmish with four casualties total - two Federal, two Confederate. Our boys took off and I and nine other fellows got gobbled by the Rebs for the next twelve hours. I apologized to the man charge of the Rebel mob - it may look like I was withholding medications from the Rebs, but I had nothing of the sort for them or us. I also told him that around here we worked under Asklepios, and uniform color is irrelevant. He was satisfied and I was temporarily paroled to do my duty.

Casualty 1 was the Federal company commander, ball through the leg. I told him I had no anesthetic and recommended he use his hanky or something else on which to bite - there being no bullets available, hint-hint. I simulated probing the wound and extracting the ball, then suturing the wound, and winding a bandage around it. In the future I think I should read up on bandaging legs - mine did not seem to fit tightly, and I forgot to do the fold in front. Whatever the case he had left with the rest of our company and was not around.

Casualty 2 was a ball through the arm near the wrist. I probed for the ball and extracted it, pronouncing him very lucky as the ball went between the bones.

Casualty 3 was a Rebel who, upon examination appeared to have been hit in the shoulder with a secondary fracture of the clavicle. I probed the wound- the pain was horrid, and I decided not to do anythning with it. To extract the ball or do anything else with the wound sans chloroform would break my Hippocratic Oath - First Do No Harm. I left the wound open so it could drain properly, and with some assistance we peeled off his coat and vest.

Casualty four was Reb #2 - shot in the chest and feeling it. Much to my surprise it paid to be thick-skinned - he had a hole in his coat, and one spectacular bruise under the right nipple, buth the skin was unbroken, which could only mean he had been hit by a spent round.

The Rebs guarded us and all of us bedded down for the evening. Small fires materialized out of the ground up and down the path. We shared rations, smokes and stories and went to sleep. Virginia ground is hard - my shifting around for the least uncomfortable spot kept getting interrupted by brief hours of sleep. More fun as I woke to the insidious pattering of rain on and off during the night. Nothing a rubber blanket could not handle, but still enough to make me uncomfortable.

Next morning we packed up and marched out. It rained steadily from then on, and the event was regrettably canceled. Still, I had fun.

[Soup Bone]

Re: Glendale AAR Thread

Might I suggest the Bully Buy for May be a deal on 200 mg. of Dioxclyine? I think the entire Shocker Mess visted their Doctors today to get their prescriptions.