CAPTURED! Taking Prisoners in Civil War Living History - By Kevin O'Beirne, Columbia Rifles

[Charles Heath]

Re: CAPTURED! Taking Prisoners in Civil War Living History by Kevin O'Beirne, Columbia Rifles

Another useful article! Dang, but ain't this amazing!

[pvt_vp]

Re: CAPTURED! Taking Prisoners in Civil War Living History by Kevin O'Beirne, Columbia Rifles

Wow, I enjoyed this article. Last event we almost took some prisoners, but they were reenforced just in time. I will have to try this sometime, as a friend of mine does a provost marshall.

[Mountain_Guerrilla]

Re: CAPTURED! Taking Prisoners in Civil War Living History by Kevin O'Beirne, Columbia Rifles

This is my first posting and I just wanted to echo what a useful & great article this is!
In the past I've been involved in a few "prisoner" situations. Most are the generic-"stand & wait" scenerios as mentioned, but others have been a bit more realistic. One that comes to mind was a few of us Confederate "prisoners" were taken to a Union field hospital under guard, and held until the Provost came to take us away.
I had secreted an (empty) Colt army revolver down into my cavalry boot to see how long it'd take for the guards to find it. It must've been at least 15 to 20 minutes before an officer came by & asked the guards if we had been searched. When they came to me they were sure surprised! :wink_smil

Anyhow, thanks again for the article, it's food for thought.

Oh, I have a question relating to this subject:
does anyone know of a source for blank /authentic looking paroles?
I've seen a Confederate one in a book, and if worse comes to worse I'll replicate it on my computer & print a bunch up.
Thanks!

[briangauthier]

Re: CAPTURED! Taking Prisoners in Civil War Living History by Kevin O'Beirne, Columbia Rifles

That was a great article. Definitely going to try this at the next event. So often at immersion events, when you are "taken" prisoner, you are mistreated to the effect of not having fun. I have had this happen on more than one occasion. A group gets the wise idea to capture some people, and they end up pouring water down barrels, rendering the weapon useless(there was powder in the barrel). Be careful who you try to capture too. Some people are incredibly finicky about their gear. At most events, unless working with a specific unit that you trust, keeping the gear on and removing caps and bayonets is probably the way to go.

Sincerely,

[lukegilly13]

Re: CAPTURED! Taking Prisoners in Civil War Living History by Kevin O'Beirne, Columbia Rifles

At a mainstreem event, I have surrendered to my actualy pards. In other words, half of us fought blue and the other half gray for this purpose. Of course it was small numbers...but we didn't mind being handled roughly nor our gear taken as we knew our captors.
Thanks for the article. I enjoyed the read and plan to use its contents. This could be useful info at Bummers.