Wow!
What an epic experience we had on the wagon escort. I’m still tired enough that I’m not ready to write a detailed AAR yet, but I wanted to get a couple things out while it’s still all fresh in my mind.
First and foremost, a huge thank you and congratulations to Steve Dacus, Brandon Lewis and the entire 11th Ohio who spent so much time, effort, energy and money to put this thing together. I’ve been reenacting a long time and I’ve rarely seen folks put as much heart into things as these guys do. From building stacks of hardtack boxes to haul, to coordinating a logistically difficult event over a remote wilderness these guys do it all and make it look easy.
If you’ve never been to Wyoming it is hard to describe its beauty, and it’s vastness. The land we were on stretched for over 100 miles with virtually no development of any kind other than tracks of the Oregon Trail.
The plan was to cover just under 30 miles in three days. We found out quickly that our two wagons and teams were really under powered for the mission at hand. That, combined with temperatures in the 30’s, constant 30-40mph wind, over and inch of hail and rain plus lightening led us to shorten our intended route. Despite that we still covered 20 miles in two days of riding and marching.
Some preliminary lessons learned:
Never bring two draft animals when you can bring four or six
Infantry can’t keep up with wagons pulled by horses or mules. Hats off to Pete Berezuk who was the only infantry
man out of 5 who started to finish the march on his own power.
You can absolutely march long distance with men and beasts without having modern support like water trucks, if you use water filtration.
Being infantry on the frontier blows. Lol
You should take seriously the admonition to train for an event of this nature.
I highly recommend to you all, if you want an authentic experience of a Civil War soldier on the American frontier that you get yourself to a future event hosted by Steve Dacus.
More to follow including pictures.
Take care,
Tom Craig
1st Maine Cavalry
What an epic experience we had on the wagon escort. I’m still tired enough that I’m not ready to write a detailed AAR yet, but I wanted to get a couple things out while it’s still all fresh in my mind.
First and foremost, a huge thank you and congratulations to Steve Dacus, Brandon Lewis and the entire 11th Ohio who spent so much time, effort, energy and money to put this thing together. I’ve been reenacting a long time and I’ve rarely seen folks put as much heart into things as these guys do. From building stacks of hardtack boxes to haul, to coordinating a logistically difficult event over a remote wilderness these guys do it all and make it look easy.
If you’ve never been to Wyoming it is hard to describe its beauty, and it’s vastness. The land we were on stretched for over 100 miles with virtually no development of any kind other than tracks of the Oregon Trail.
The plan was to cover just under 30 miles in three days. We found out quickly that our two wagons and teams were really under powered for the mission at hand. That, combined with temperatures in the 30’s, constant 30-40mph wind, over and inch of hail and rain plus lightening led us to shorten our intended route. Despite that we still covered 20 miles in two days of riding and marching.
Some preliminary lessons learned:
Never bring two draft animals when you can bring four or six
Infantry can’t keep up with wagons pulled by horses or mules. Hats off to Pete Berezuk who was the only infantry
man out of 5 who started to finish the march on his own power.
You can absolutely march long distance with men and beasts without having modern support like water trucks, if you use water filtration.
Being infantry on the frontier blows. Lol
You should take seriously the admonition to train for an event of this nature.
I highly recommend to you all, if you want an authentic experience of a Civil War soldier on the American frontier that you get yourself to a future event hosted by Steve Dacus.
More to follow including pictures.
Take care,
Tom Craig
1st Maine Cavalry
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