Winter of '64 - The review and thanks...

[GrumpyDave]

Re: Winter of '64 - The review and thanks...

1. My home maintaining a constant, comfortable temperature without constant labor to feed the furnace.

What! that wood stove worked just fine. LOL Breathing when you are sleeping is important.

2. A nice, soft bed.
Ok, maybe some more straw.

3. No snoring.
There was a professional in the Officers Quarters. He had both duration and volume.

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Re: Winter of '64 - The review and thanks...

For the past week and a half, particularly at night, I am deeply aware of and grateful for:

1. My home maintaining a constant, comfortable temperature without constant labor to feed the furnace.

2. A nice, soft bed.

3. No snoring. :)

Ah, the stuff we normally take for granted...

[nycraig28]

Re: Winter of '64 - The review and thanks...

Talk about your temp. difference between bunks, ask Sgt. Major Schotz.
One minute I heard " Craig, the fire's out ", The next comment I heard was
" no more wood ". Geez, make up your mind, Schotzy ! Glad you all had a
good time.

Regards,
Craig Schaeffer 151st NYVI
aka... Qm. Sgt. Charles Wall

[JustRob]

Re: Winter of '64 - The review and thanks...

Between Corporal Jonah and Sergeant Moustache, I'm proud to say I had a hand in at least two nicknames for the weekend.

That sort of thing happens when forced to learn new names for folks you already know.

I did not, however, have a hand in nicknaming Hank Trent, Blinky. The boys in the Pine Cottage who drew Guard duty the first morning and had to contend with him get credit for that one.

[Bill]

Re: Winter of '64 - The review and thanks...

It's kind of funny how the termperature can be that different between the top and bottom bunk.

Kevin,

Yeah, it sure is. I was sleeping on the bottom bunk near the door of the Cooler Hut. At some point, in the middle of the night, I woke up shivering and shaking like a dog sh*ting razor blades. The fire had gone out and I resolved to fix that situation. I'm a fire bug and had a bag full of sap wood and unlimited firewood. This was not a good combination. (At least not for the three guys sleeping near the stove.) My plan was to put enough wood on the fire to keep it going until morning. Needless to say, my plan didn't work very well. All the wood caught fire at once and it got a little warm in the back of the hut. Tim Czerow disappeared into the night, not to be seen again until dawn. Chris Piering jumped up, thinking the hut was on fire. Poor Garr Gast was the last to make an escape from the heat. Leaving the door of the hut wide open for a half hour got the temperature back down to reasonable levels.

In my defense, the other three inmates of the back of the hut, O'Dea, Stone, and Schaffner all slept right through the excitement. I'd guess they were glad someone kept the stove burning overnight.

[BillO'Dea]

Re: Winter of '64 - The review and thanks...

Three more of Sean Willard's shots






Bill O'Dea
Salt boiler mess / 122nd NY

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Winter of '64 - The review and thanks...

Hank...

Darn good act at W64. I didn't want to look at your cryin' momma as we were taking the food from ya'll.

Uh... it WAS an act, right?? Pretty real actin' to me, though...:p

Thanks- Johnny Lloyd
(aka- the Irascible and Cantankerous Pvt. George Leichtman, Co H, 151 NYSV)

[Hank Trent]

Re: Winter of '64 - The review and thanks...

I discovered that if you kept the door to the dispensary stove closed, most of the heat radiated to the left and right. The icy floor was thawed and almost dry on either side of the stove while there was still ice by the bed. But if you left the door open, it radiated most of the heat out of the end of the stove right over the bed. Oh, yeah! Unfortunately I didn't discover that until the second night.

The other thing that surprised me was how much warmer I was outside, as a healthy idiot, compared to sitting or lying in the dispensary as a sick person, even though I actually had more layers of clothing in the dispensary. It was surprising how much heat even walking slowly generated, compared to being still.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Re: Winter of '64 - The review and thanks...

It's kind of funny how the termperature can be that different between the top and bottom bunk. On the last night in quarters, Capt Grumpy Dave was feeding the stove in our quarters and feeding it well--I was roasting on the top bunk. All night, the most cover I used was a blanket once up to my waist. The next morning, Cap'n Grumpy was asserting that "when the stove went out completely about midnight, man, did it get darned cold in the hut!" I refused to believe it, because at no time during that night did it seem cold or even comfortably cool on my perch near the roofline. Maybe it was all the snoring from Lt. Schank (immediately below me) and Lt. Ryan (to my right), who kept the chainsaws buzzing at night. :)

[Bill]

Re: Winter of '64 - The review and thanks...

Something that struck me was how much it sucked to be tall in the army.

Regards!
"John Roddy " Co. K

Alex,

You are, without a doubt, the largest person I've ever seen in such a small place! Thankfully, we had one no-show in the Cooler Hut, so you could have a bunk to yourself. I think sharing would have been pretty well out of the question!

Seven of us and a dog in that little hut was indeed a unique experience. One morning, I found myself putting on Sergeant Peck's coat and he was already wearing it.

Many thanks to Garr Gast, Tim Czerow, Bill O'Dea, Chris Piering, Mike Schaffner, and Alex Stow for making Winter '64 a truly memorable experience. By the way Guys, sorry about the Saturday night sauna. (Real time) It's not pretty when the fire bug, in the bottom bunk, gets cold.

[sustudent]

Re: Winter of '64 - The review and thanks...

Ley,
I owe at least 15 minutes of sleep to that dog. In Fact, on guard duty, he was the best thing since not being locked inside the guardhouse.

[ley74]

Re: Winter of '64 - The review and thanks...

Alex:

Just remember, Conan did not point you out. It did make for a great period moment (for the rest of us, that is).

[sustudent]

Re: Winter of '64 - The review and thanks...

Something that struck me was how much it sucked to be tall in the army. I kept smacking my head in the cooler hut, let alone that I took up one whole bunk for myself (Sorry Gents). Also, I learned that my overcoat is too large to fit in the straps. Oh, and I learned that a man can get in trouble even when he is sleeping in his bunk where he is supposed to be (again, I apologize to all the boys woken up in the search for John Roddy). Finally, I learned that guard duty is more fun when you do it with a man who is used to fighting Apaches, Comanches, or some other "ches". It was a great excuse to skip some college classes, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Regards!
"John Roddy " Co. K

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Johnny Lloyd AAR- W64

Wait, is John suggesting that the event should have been LONGER?!

Uh... well it is certainly better than 14 months over again "fighting the bedouin tribes in the hot sands of Arabia" as I've done already, sir.

;) -Johnny Lloyd

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Re: Winter of '64 - The review and thanks...

It's been a full week to the hour since I got home and I'm finally getting around to visiting the AC Forum to read this thread. I'm glad to see that, so far, the reviews are all good. Frankly put, I've worked on a lot of events and so have the others of the event committee, and I doubt that any of us have worked as hard to stage an event as W64 2008. We felt, "If this is the last one, let's try to make it the best one." I hope we did.

First off, the weather cooperated. Those who think W64 2008 was cold obviously haven't attended a prior W64. :) The first two days saw daytime temps about 20 or 21 deg F, and nighttime lows at about 10 deg F, and the second two days saw daytime highs about 29-30 deg F, and nighttime lows of 20 deg F. Winds were generally quite mild at 5 to 10 mph. It snowed the day before the event started, but only about an inch or so; the biggest complaint is that the weather left the camp and its environs coated in ice, so every time one set foot on the ground it was "slip-slidin' away" time. You got to the point that you simply accepted going flat on your butt in front of many other men and, because everyone else had it happen to them, no one was laughing about it after the first day. Compared to past W64s, this weather was great and we only limited one planned activity (the final march out) due to weather and the environment (the trail on which everyone entered the site was the way we were all going to exit it togehter, but on Sunday morning it was just too slippery and we were afraid someone would get seriously hurt trying to negotiate the "luge run" behind the camp and then another half-mile of ice).

Second, the men attending W64 were, that I could tell, of a common mindset, and that mindset was just what we wanted to achieve the goals we set for the event. Everyone came with the right attitude and with a good commitment to achieving the event's goals relative to first-person.

Third, the folks who supported the event via scenarios or other hard work were excellent and committed. When you've got folks like Mike Schaffner and Scott Biggar (both clerks) working for weeks before the event to prepare appropriate books and paperwork; when you have folks like Pete McCarthy and Joe Caridi training for months before the event to present an extremely realistic period boxing match; when you have first-rate civilian portrayals; and many others... well, that's the type of folks we need to bring off an ambitous event like this.

Fourth, the event committee was about eight guys who all worked their tails off for two years, the final year of which saw immense effort and labor. I wish now that we'd counted how many workdays there have been at the site just for this particular version of W64. Even though it was the last W64, we were still building new structures at the site for it. Back in December at a workday I commented, "Guys, if this event portrays the same regiment, the same two companies, and is on the same site all the time, why does each edition of it get more difficult to produce and require more work? Shouldn't these be getting easier as we go along?" I guess they get more difficult as we learned from each event and tried to make the next event better. :) The W64 2008 event committee was:

Scott Schotz (event coordinator/grand poohbah)
Pete Smith - a "machine" who did numerous one-man workdays at the site, solo; and he lives 50 miles from the site, too.
Jim "Coldfoot" Stauder
Jeff Henion
Mike Ryan
Ron Roth
Craig Schaeffer
Dennis Schank
Kevin O'Beirne

I wanted to get those names out there, because some folks saw mostly Scott and me (I served as the main communication conduit for the event), and most of the others worked their butts off very quietly, and deserve the recognition their efforts demand.

We hope to get an event report together for "Civil War Historian" magazine. In short some of the "stuff" that was planned at W64 included:

Wednesday

Check in and receive sutler tokens and a furlough pass (ending today) after which particpants were escorted into camp along a half-mile long winter trail designed to get them into first-person as they went.

Guard duty in camp and along the trail. Guard duty was 24 hours. Sentinels were posted from 6:00 a.m. until about 10:30 p.m. each day, after which guards were reduced to a one-man roving fire watch. Guardhouse was manned 24 hours throughout the event.

Everyday:
Guard duty in camp.

Sanitary facilitiies included slop buckets in the huts at night (emptied in the morning) and enlisted and officer sinks. Now there's a slice of winter life!

Laundresses - started the event with three, but one got the flu and had to leave. These were Renee Stauder, Terre Lawson, and Renae Roth. They mended and washed; too bad the clothes hung outdoors froze on the line.

US Christian Commission - Well-done by Charles Heath and Steve Tyler (I know I know... some of you are still scratching your heads seeing Charles as a man of God...), these fellows kept open a USCC pavilion where men could write letters home (yes, they were actually mailed during the event) and receive some good Christian words. Well-done!

Cookhouse - Three cooks (Coldfoot Stauder, Ryan Willard, Sean Willard) worked their butts off to keep us fed. No, the food wasn't great and at first it wasn't in much quantity (yes, it was indeed planned that way!), but these guys did the thankless job of serving up semi-digestable slop each day.

Fatigue Details - See those stoves? See that wood? Wanna stay warm? This alone was a huge undertaking.

Medical - Noah Briggs reprised his portrayal of the 151st's assistant surgeon for the third time, and this time Hank Trent was his patient with the chronic quicksetep; the man Hank portrayed died of that disease in camp a few days after the dates we portrayed.

Military Procedure - Each day saw life by the fife and drum, military routine, and three-times-a-day roll calls, plus guard mounting ceremony in the morning and dress parade in the afternoon. We owe a lot of thanks to Shawn and Zach Parsons for providing first-rate (and then some) field music that made all this possible. You don't know how much field music adds to an evnet like this until you attend an event without it. An event like W64 without good field music is like a rock band without a bass player--you may not notice it as the lead instrument, but if you don't have it, the bottom has dropped out.

Clerks - With expert clerks who do their research and practice their craft with a great attitude like Mike Schaffner and Scott Biggar, this event had some more great "bass players". They added much to the routine of the camp in a very historically correct manner. Scott B even ably took dictation once when I rattled off a letter to "General Morris" to him on Saturday morning! These guys know their "army stuff" like few others I've ever met and were a real benefit to this event.

Each morning the Officer of the Day and Sergeant Major inspected the huts, kitchen, and sinks. Eeewww....

Sutler - Ha! There was none! We hope that we faked out a few folks by handing out 151st NY sutler tokens at registration check-in! (Seriously, after Charles Heath's over-the-top sutler impression at W64 2006, we figured it was useless to attempt to portray a sutler at this event; we almost had a substitute sutler, but that fell through so we went back to our original plan of erecting the sutler's tent and arbor with a "Gone to Washington, back in 2 weeks" sign, and never intended that we'd have a sutler at this edition of W64.)

Conan the Camp Dog - Chris Piering was asked to bring his pooch as a camp mascot, and Conan the Camp Dog was utterly first-rate. He even accompanied Chris to guard mount and parade and stood next to him at attention.

Thursday

Slow day in camp. Mail call in the morning included boxes from home and so much mail that the USCC kept almost half of it back for a mail call two days later. The mailbag was literally so stuffed full that I could barely get it closed.

Friday

We mokeyed up the days: At this event, Friday portrayed Sunday, etc. When the event was over, everyone thought it was Tuesday and it was actually Sunday...

The USCC had a very good, from-the-period worship service (and cut-down sermon: the sermon was 20 or 25 minutes long, and Steve Tyler said that it was only one-third the length it was when presented to a real Civil War regiment; ouch!). I believe that we had someone reading the Articles of War someplace too, but because I attended worship service, I didn't really find out.

Had Sunday inspection (aka "knapsack inspection"). We've wanted to do this at W64 since the first one in 2000, but the weather never let us; we finally got one done. No, we did not find any spirits or bottles in the men's knapsacks--thank goodness! At the dress parade that preceded inspection, orders were read to the battalion that a detail was to go on picket that evening, and another detail was to go to the brigade provost guard.

Picket - Of course, the "provist guard detail" were the Rebs--I hate planning picket duty that doesn't have opposing forces. The "Rebs" were contacted privately pre-event and asked to bring CS kit which was secreted in a building onsite; the provost detail marched out of camp and into this building, and came out the other end as a company of Confederates. They started on the march to the picket site, which was more than a mile away from the camp; except for 300 yards along a modern country road and the one-time sight of some modern, oversided apple crates, the march route was through woods, meadows, and orchards. The marchers passed a huge brick "plantation" house as twilight drew on, and the Rebs set up a picket line along a frozen creek at a ford, with their outpost about 150 yards back in the woods. Twenty minutes after they arrived, so did a company of Yanks, who set up pickets on the opposite (house) side of the creek. First-pesron was maintained throughout the evening. About 7:30 p.m. a half-wit (portrayed by Hank Trent) out looking for a cat, with the half-wit's brother in tow, spiced up things on the Federal side of the line. This scenario was originally planned to be an all-night affair, but the evening before we wisely decided to pull the boys out at 10:00 p.m. (after six hours outdoors in 20-degree temps) and shuttle them back to camp in trucks. I think this was a good decision.

Saturday - a busy day

Foragers - When the commissary sergeant told me that we were out of food, it was time for action. We dispatched Lt. Carlin (Pat Craddock) in command of a detail of 20 forages to get food from the "plantation house" we saw on picket the night before. The lads went more than a mile back (this house was an actual 1850 home, and its outbuildings were a stop on the Underground Railroad in the 1850s and '60s). When the foragers arrived, they found three civilians in the home who were Unionist in sympathy; the matron even cried. The civilians had a safeguard from the Union army, but the foragers replied that it protected them only from unofficial foraging. The men went through the whole house and outbuildins (well, that was sort of beyond what the event committee planned, but the property owner was cool with it, thank goodness), and liberated 50 lbs of potatoes, many cabbages, onions, etc. and a 105-lb half of pig with the hooves still on. They chopped up a post or small tree at the manion (oops, another exceess we didn't plan for, the the property owner was cool with it too) and had to carry that huge side of meat back over one mile over icy paths. Bully!

Boxing Match - Pete McCarthy and Joe Caridi did a bang up job, literally, portraying a period boxing match. This was exceedingly common in Union Army of the Potomac camps in the winter of 1864; in 15 years of reenacting this is the first time I've seen anything like it. They did it by period boxing rules iwth pre-arranged referee and announcer, and they didn't pull punches--literally. Ouch, that's gotta hurt! Bully job!

White Star Saloon - Doug Cubbion and his wife, plus the Terri and Doug Oakes, and Brian Swartz, all of the Living History Guild, have a heck of a fine portrayal as a period traveling saloon and gambling establishment. They attended W64 for its last night and made the evening memorable.

Sunday

The event ended with an announcement on Saturday at parade that on Sunday (portraying Tuesday) the regiment would go to a corps review for Generals French and Meade.

*****

This is what we planned and did. It does not, however, convey how the men carried it off. It's just plans on paper until the men make 'em happen in style.

Okay, that's way longer of a post than I planned.