Occupation of New Madrid AAR

[Michael Comer]

Re: Occupation of New Madrid AAR

About that countersign business - in my defense I have to say that we had a couple fellas that couldn't be there until late Saturday. One of them needed trousers and leathers. I took them over to the office to get them outfitted before the guards were mounted and countersigns given. Therefore, I was not privy to the proper countersign to be given.

Now I know I will never live it down and that's fine - I'm willing to bear the brunt of it for time eternity because it does look bad that the adjutant of a Federal army gets 'locked' out of his own headquarters camp but I wanted you to know the reasoning and that I wasn't just wondering aimlessly like the village idiot.:)

The guard and corporal of the guard did exactly what they should have done and are to be commended for the way they managed the post.

[Rmhisteach]

Re: Occupation of New Madrid AAR

1. Being able to do a LH in the shadow of an 1859 mansion.
2. Guided tour of the area- Including trenches in a cemetary.
3. The sutler store was great . Many of our particpants brought itmes to be sold at the sutlers tent. We had a vast array which was nerry as that put out by Ezra at Shiloh. We had canned goods . Lice combs, a few shirts , a bible and the coveted "Elixir". The sutler too a few breaks, and lost some of his inventory in the process.
4. The troops were sharp. The NCo's did a great job with the men.
5. Field Music by frank and D was great.
6. The women worked hard at their impressions and did much behind the scenes.
7. The boys creating mischif in the camp added an interesting element. My sons ended up filthy and my youngest nearly hacked off his finger. The boys even got involed with a suspected code in which was suspected in a ledger book.
8. Don Morin served as a captive for the weekend. He portrayed a fella that actually was out on his post and the rest of the regiment left him.
Don did a fine job at it. Nick clark came to the event to visist wearing a confederate uniform and we promptly threw him in the Grainery too.
9. Mike had his staff. shot off a sporrow cannon. to simulate the shelling of Island # 10.
10. We did Guard Mount all day on sat. This was just grand . Major Comer was absent when the sign and counter sign were given so in the darkeness . the major had to be indentified. My pard Steve was pretty proud of that one.
11.We had what I thought was a nice church service on the porch of the House.
12. we ate at the worst resturant in the midwest on Friday evening .
13.we had quite a bit of rain on friday night Sat. morning But we had tents.
More later I had someone take a bunch of pics

[Shotgun Messiah]

Re: Occupation of New Madrid AAR

That is so Funny , He smelled it, looked at it ,then he cut off a slice and chewed it up only to have a epiphany at the very last second...

[Western Blue Belly]

Re: Occupation of New Madrid AAR

“…post only tells me the fool came back to the fire and told everybody else what had happened to him…”


Actually I came across the lad sitting in front of his tent with a knife in one hand, his “cheese” in the other and a bewildered look on his face. He looked up at me and said “I don’t think this is cheese.”

[Shotgun Messiah]

Re: Occupation of New Madrid AAR

I wanted to thank every one that attended. Though the weather was cool and some rain in the evening. It was a Very good event. The drill, The people, the first person reactions, The civilians, the wonderful NCO's(you guys as in reality ran the show). It will be a event I will remember forever.
Too many small vingettes to mention.
But I will personaly like to Thank Mike Comer and the Staff at Hunter-Dawson House to let us be able to attend this event, it was well worth it.
To the Soldiers who came from near and far ,thank you all for making this event all it was, you were great.
To the Officer staff you ran a splendid company, Charles Hoskins was stellar as Captain and Rod Miller was the ever present Lieutenant. I will never forget the look on Nic Clark's face when posed the question upon being arrested " Grainary or Storm Cellar?....
Nor the look on the nighttime picket posts faces when I disarmed them, even in the dark I could see the look of anguish upon the faces , the exact moment I slid the rifles from their hands,Priceless.

[Shotgun Messiah]

Re: Occupation of New Madrid AAR

Mike, IMHO I think the event was pretty good. Weather wasn’t too much to cry about. You sure kept us going through the weekend though, and I can say that with all the drill and guard duty I took more knowledge home then I came down with. It was worth the drive and perhaps this can become a regular event.

Oh Lordy your tag line made me laugh " that wasn't cheese". I heard that story from the source, and laughed till my sides ached...For it to added to you post only tells me the fool came back to the fire and told everybody else what had happened to him...His mother( my sister) would be so proud...

[Rmhisteach]

Re: Occupation of New Madrid AAR

I will comment later

[Western Blue Belly]

Re: Occupation of New Madrid AAR

Mike, IMHO I think the event was pretty good. Weather wasn’t too much to cry about. You sure kept us going through the weekend though, and I can say that with all the drill and guard duty I took more knowledge home then I came down with. It was worth the drive and perhaps this can become a regular event.

[Michael Comer]

I wanted to take a moment and thank all those who came and took part in this event. We received very good comments from the public that attended even though numbers were a bit low on Saturday due to the cool temperatures and threats of rain. But, it went well I think and I appreciate all those who took the time and made the effort to come down and take part.

I also wish to thank my messmates, Rick Gath and Warren Hook for helping me put this together, Charles Hoskins for taking the captain's slot even though he had not done that before; you did quite well Charles. And I would like to thank Rod Miller who pushed this event with the folks he knows. Plus my staff who learned how to roll and bundle about 400 rounds and wrote quite a few letters for mail call. And to the rest that came and took part - I can't thank you enough.