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I am planning a series of three events here in New Madrid, Missouri that will correlate with historical events that happened here during the war.
The first event will be "Joining the 1st". Part of the 1st MO Inf. (Confederate) was raised in Memphis. They then moved to New Madrid in August of 1861 and recruited men from the Bootheel area in August of 1861. The New Madrid Guards, a local militia, became Co. I in the newly formed regiment. While this won't be held on any 150th anniversary, I think it will be a good precursor to the following events. Plus, I don't want to plan two events in the same year.
Mosquitoes, heat and humidity are too bad to do this in August. So, I am setting a date of Oct. 1-3 for the event. This will separate us from Westville by about 3 weeks so confliction should be minimal I hope. The event will be an early war recruiting event with speeches, militia musters, enlistment, voting for officers etc. This can have a mixture of military, militia and a large civilian aspect.
Second event will be "Fortifying New Madrid". This will be the fort building event I had tossed out earlier. We will do this in Oct. 13-16 of 2011. This four day event will correspond with the 150th anniversary of the actual events being portrayed. Impression will be Missouri State Guard.
Third event will be in March 16-18 2012 - "Occupation of New Madrid". Impression will be Federal. This will also correspond with the 150th of the events portrayed.
I'm probably crazy for doing these all in a row but I'm not getting any younger and won't be in the hobby forever. I'd like to do something to give New Madrid and SE Missouri its due by making people more aware of what went on around here and how important it was.
The first event will be "Joining the 1st". Part of the 1st MO Inf. (Confederate) was raised in Memphis. They then moved to New Madrid in August of 1861 and recruited men from the Bootheel area in August of 1861. The New Madrid Guards, a local militia, became Co. I in the newly formed regiment. While this won't be held on any 150th anniversary, I think it will be a good precursor to the following events. Plus, I don't want to plan two events in the same year.
Mosquitoes, heat and humidity are too bad to do this in August. So, I am setting a date of Oct. 1-3 for the event. This will separate us from Westville by about 3 weeks so confliction should be minimal I hope. The event will be an early war recruiting event with speeches, militia musters, enlistment, voting for officers etc. This can have a mixture of military, militia and a large civilian aspect.
Second event will be "Fortifying New Madrid". This will be the fort building event I had tossed out earlier. We will do this in Oct. 13-16 of 2011. This four day event will correspond with the 150th anniversary of the actual events being portrayed. Impression will be Missouri State Guard.
Third event will be in March 16-18 2012 - "Occupation of New Madrid". Impression will be Federal. This will also correspond with the 150th of the events portrayed.
I'm probably crazy for doing these all in a row but I'm not getting any younger and won't be in the hobby forever. I'd like to do something to give New Madrid and SE Missouri its due by making people more aware of what went on around here and how important it was.