Taking it Like a Man: by Paul Calloway

[majdoc]

Re: Taking it Like a Man: by Paul Calloway

Boy did I miss this thread.
Anyway Paul
I can stand a lot of the above mentioned hit and miss takers. The one thing I have noted the lack of officers taking hits. One event the Commander just stood there as all the men went down and didn't do a thing. Co. commanders the same. It would look a whole lot better if officers went down and someone else had to take over, the officer not telling anyone he is out of it.

[Drygoods]

Re: Taking it Like a Man: by Paul Calloway

Mr. Calloway,

I'm afraid that you missed one group in your category, the no battle living history folkslike some young men I know; particularly my sons who showed up for a weekend event with possibly 5 rounds between them yet have every article of their gear and uniform meticulously chosen as though they just stepped out of a photograph. When they showed up to a HC group said "oh, we don't come for the battles, it's the LH that we enjoy." Met with jeers from the other fellows, I suppose it never occurred to them to buy more rounds, and not be so proud of their characterization abilities. Not everyone enjoys history for the battles.:(
The worst thing is, after that experience they gave up, they had no one who read books and loved LH as much to talk with. Perhaps it's just our area, but I notice that the younger men are not so interested in the battles, but enjoy the LH life more.

[Bill]

Re: Taking it Like a Man: by Paul Calloway

Sometimes it goes the other way.

I'm the Confederate commander at a local Mainstream event. A couple of years ago our scenario was the battle of Ball's Bluff, where, for once, our spectator "battlefield" almost exactly matches the actual battlefield. In the "real" battle the Rebs and Yanks shot at each other for most of a day and very few people got hit. It wasn't until the Federals got pushed over the bluff and stopped shooting back that a lot of them were killed. I went over the casualties of the units we were protraying during the walk through, but it seems the word didn't get down to the privates. When it was time to make the big push at the end of the scenario, I didn't have enough soldiers on their feet to do any pushing! We went running around yelling at anyone, who looked even slightly animated, that they only thought they were hurt and to get back in the firing line and attack.

Afterwards, I asked some of the guys why so many of them had taken hits and they all said they were so close to the Federals it would have looked bad if they didn't go down. What made this so funny, it was the first time in my memory we were doing a scenario that almost exactly matched the historical ranges. Everybody forgot that folks shooting smoothbores at fifty yards, with their eyes closed, don't hit much.

[Old Reb]

Re: Taking it Like a Man: by Paul Calloway

One Round Fired for Forty hours of total drive time: Rich Mountain.

[Bill]

Re: Taking it Like a Man: by Paul Calloway

One Round Fired for Forty hours of total drive time: Rich Mountain.

Tom,

And, you still had to clean your weapon. Bummer! :)

[jschweick90]

Re: Taking it Like a Man: by Paul Calloway

This is a good article. I always formed my own stereotypes of other reenactors while on the field.


Joshua Schweickhardt

[Officer Lightoller]

Re: Taking it Like a Man: by Paul Calloway

Like many have said before me, great article! Why do people never fall over when they get "shot"? Even if they do, it's just kind of an "Oops, I died." and fall over. Everyone should read this article.

[billwatson]

Re: Taking it Like a Man: by Paul Calloway

I'm prone to take hits just to get off my feet. But there's a couple of "negative modifiers" I think can be added to Paul's list.

-10% Horses anywhere on battlefield
-30% Mounted staff officers on battlefield
-70% Mounted amateurs with rented horses in command of my battalion.

I admit to a head-swiveling fixation on horses at events. I like horses; I ride horses sometimes; I'm not afraid of them and have a realistic, unromantic view of them.

But I took a hit at Cedar Creek in 1992 or 1993, and while doing my very best dead-as-a-doornail, face-down Dead thing, had a nearby staff officer on foot fire his pistol almost up the nostrils of another staff officer's horse, which went up on two back feet and reared away from the thing. In the process he dragged a hoof across my back, scaring the bejesus out of everyone watching and leaving me with a big, ugly bruise worthy of a car wreck or a satisfactory night in a Turkish bordello.

Ever since I've been more aware of horses than most folks. :-) If there's horses around, I tend to become walking wounded rather than Dead.

Thought I'd share that as a bit of insight best learned from a forum rather than experience.

[Farmboy]

Re: Taking it Like a Man: by Paul Calloway

New guy with comment.
I'm too old to do any reenacting, but interested in history and associated gear.

I did two tours in the field in Vietnam and have heard several times lately about screaming wounded.

The reality is that seriously wounded folks-chest, abdomen, head-don't make a lot of noise. They are too weak and too damaged. Minor wounds or broken bones result in the most noise.

[Tyler Gibson]

Re: Taking it Like a Man: by Paul Calloway

I had a nice, theatrical,(albiet forced upon) "death" last year when I "just happened uppon" a nice, knee deep hole, just the size of my leg. I went down, apparently without the better part of my leg, my Enfeild banged my head, knocking my kepi twenty feet off in the distance. I thought to myself, " well, at least the croud got one of those dramatic deaths today", only to find that the view of the croud was blocked by a house on the battlefeild.

Needless to say, I got some class A rib poking later that night.

Great post.

[kevin]

Re: Taking it Like a Man: by Paul Calloway

Hello again Gents,
I saw at the end of that beautiful dissertation on the authenticity of our sport that there was reference to the "Little Big Horn scenario". Never heard of it and didn't see anymore on it, but would love to read it. Well done, although im a bit ashamed of which category I fall into and don't care to share my farbiness with you folks.
As Always

[7thNJcoA]

Re: Taking it Like a Man: by Paul Calloway

I was wounded in my leg by a suicide bomber in Iraq and love to take realistic hits. Knowing what it is like to lay thier helpless hoping the corpsman will get to you before you bleed out... It sucks but makes me feel honored when I portray a wounded civil war soldier. I sometimes work with our hospitol and cover all my scars and holes with fake blood and bandages for the taters after the battle always goes over well. But one thing I never saw was someone screaming in agony for 30 minutes most wounded I saw were just plum mad and your adrenaline is going and you dont feel the pain for awile. We need to cut that out!

[Rev]

Re: Taking it Like a Man: by Paul Calloway

Thanks for your service, Drew. I have to concur with your comments about the screaming. I have never been shot, been shot at, but never hit. I have seen men hit and greviously wounded in different arenas of life. Only once has there been any sound coming from them like the moaning and wailing that some CW reenactors feel bound to holler. We must remember that most of the hollering, moaning, and screaming we read about in first hand accounts takes place after men have been laying on the field for hours or days in some instances.

[Longbranch 1]

Re: Taking it Like a Man: by Paul Calloway

Comrades,

Taking hits from artillery is vastly under represented. For an idea of what cannister will do to infantry check out http://www.26nc.org/ . Go to Gallery, then to
Camp Marshall. Last image. I believe the range was about 150 yards.

Regards,
Kevin Ellis,
26th NCT

[bda0001]

Re: Taking it Like a Man: by Paul Calloway

I personally like the chit idea proposed by Hoover. Even if it is not possible to research the individual units the same idea will even things out. I personally am a lemming at present but moving (at least in my own mind) towards a hit maker, but yes excessive hits can be just as bad. Worst of all (I think) is when the commanders start giving orders for enlisted men to take more hits.

Bryan Allison