Fight For Crampton's Gap AAR

[IowaYank]

Re: Fight For Crampton's Gap AAR

On a completely different note, I have a piece of gear that does not belong to me. It was laid on the tailgate of my truck Sunday morning by someone who had barrowed it, however I was not the lender of this piece of gear. If anyone is missing some gear and contacts me to identify what they are missing, I will ship it back to its owner ASAP.

Plans are already in the process of being made for next year. Hint: Think slightly cooler weather with the trees looking a lot different than this weekend. Information will come out once plans are solidified!

Again, thanks to all who came out and soldiered through the heat and other adverse conditions. It was you, not me, that made the event what it was!!

[IowaYank]

Re: Fight For Crampton's Gap AAR

Night attacks by at least one mounted man prior to that pretty much kept the amount of sleep for the platoon at an hour or under. Nonetheless, we were all still alive come morning.

It sounds like we did what we set out to do. With only five total CS cavalrymen, I knew that there was no way possible that we could inflict any sizeable damage to the Federal company. With that in mind, as we rode up to harass the Federals at about 10:30 Friday night, all we wanted to do was keep them awake and on edge. If we could be pesky enough to keep those Federals from getting sleep, then we did our jobs!!! As we rode up to the Federal camp area for our very first attack, I could not believe how close we were getting without being challenged. I know now that the Federals had just arrived, thus did not have pickets out yet. After hitting them once, we rode to a different approach and hit them again. I could still not believe how close I got to the Federal picket before I was challenged!! I felt like I could have reached out and grabbed the picket. Finally we were challenged,sent the Federal picket a few friendly shots, and went riding out of there. We moved over to an adjacent field, dismounted, and let the horses graze for about a half hour before mounting up again for another strike. Again we rode to near the federal camp, this time being challenged and shot at, yet we saw the picket's shot go in a different direction than we were coming in. The way the sound carried that night must have been playing tricks on those Federals. After hitting the picket, we rallied, dismounted two men, and had them attempt to sneak up on the pickets to try to gobble one up. After about ten minutes, our two men came back saying they could not find any enemy pickets. At this, we figured we had hit them enough to keep them on their toes, and rode back to the opposite end of the property to our CS camp. All in all, we were bedded down for the night by 12:30.

I always enjoy riding at night. Brian, you arn't kidding when you say that riding at night does add a very real sense of danger to things. MAN, it was dark that night. So dark, that as we were nearing the ford I went to turn my horse to a clearing in the trees and where I thought for sure the ford was. Jerry Ross quicky said, "Um Dan, are you sure thats the ford??" Lucky I had Jerry riding next to me, as it was not indeed the ford. We had another ten feet to ride before we hit the ford. I came within a breath of tumbling off the edge of the bank of the river. Boy, that would have been a rude awakening!!

[bbodoh]

Re: Fight For Crampton's Gap AAR

Hey y’all,
Got to my office Monday sore, tired, and covered with poison ivy from Jason and my walk around before the event on Friday, but with a certain relaxed satisfied feeling about me. My hats off to all the men of Company C 12th Va. Inf. You all did fantastic. Solid first person the entire time. You fought hard, marched hard, and slept hard. I was a little nervous about how the company would come together, especially since I only really knew 1 of the men in the company before the event. We pulled together quickly and were a cohesive unit very early on Saturday morning. Thank you for that. I am proud of you boys and hope to be in the field with you again. To my NCO’s; Mike, Dan, Brian, and Jim, THANK YOU! Great job, you made my life easier.

My hat is off to Co. A as well. Most of you all are old friends of mine and did the great job you always do. No surprise that Steve, Todd, and Brandon were game to go with me on a night patrol Saturday even after the grueling day. Too bad Steve had to back out due to some uncomfortable issues. Thank you to Daniel and T.J. from Company C for joining in on the patrol and Sgt. Dan for leading it. It was one of the high points of the event for me.

After months of preparation and planning as well as being one of the few to know all the surprises in advance, the men of both companies truly made the event for me.

I need to thank Dan and Jason for having the faith in me to ask me to command a company and for all their hard work and planning. I think it was slick as heck that with only 1 formal ration issue, which was on Sunday morning, we still ate well but marched the entire event with almost no food weight in our nearly empty haversacks. This was great planning and execution on Jason’s and Dan’s part. I helped with some of the food but the placement and timing was all them. I am also happy that you all enjoyed the pickled eggs so much. It was a new recipe I was trying out for the first time and I was pleased with how they came out.

I would be honored to serve in the ranks with any and all of you. Keep your eyes peeled for information on next year’s event in Blanchardville, WI. The concept is less than a week old but I am already jazzed. It is going to be authentic, really cool, and very different from this year’s scenario. Stay tuned.

Brad Bodoh
Mess #3

[lambrew]

Re: Fight For Crampton's Gap AAR

Dan, I was one of the fed pickets you fellers' snuk up on. The sound of your horses did sound like it was coming from several places at once. Also I had no idea where our own cav had gone, and I thought it may have been them returning. I tried to challenge you guys but got no answer. Just as I and the fellow I was with gave out a second challenge is when you guys started firing. Our reserve was quick to our assistance as we fired and fell back. However due to the darkness and all the noise they could not hear our countersign thus he and I were trapped between two groups firing at eachother! That is something I will not soon forget. You guys did your job very well. We did not get any sleep at all that night. Fine job!