"Dutch" Company for McDowell 2005

[Bill Cross]

Now that folks are talking up next year's McDowell, I want to re-post the announcement for the "Dutch" company (Company D) for the 82nd Ohio. Anyone with German roots or simply an interest in doing something particularly distinctive is invited to join me, Mark Jaeger, Hank Trent, "Schnapps" Schaffner, Gordon Markiewicz, "Fran the Elder" Kiger and others with German roots and passions by falling in with Company D.

A knowledge of German is NOT REQUIRED!! :)

In fact, after researching the historical records of Company D, we determined that more than half of its members were not German, though some names like "Hatmaker" ("Hutmacher") indicate a strong desire to assimilate!

We had a load of fun at the last McDowell (Schnapps was the peskiest company clerk ever in the hobby, and entertained his tentmates in the rainstorm with a discourse on human rights and German socialism, providing some outstanding first person moments in a setting that invites falling out of character). Mark has been researching the German training manuals, and we will provide information on Marion County, OH where Company D was raised for anyone interested in portraying one of the members. While first person portrayal is NOT REQUIRED, all members of the unit will be asked to remain in period for the weekend.

Those of you who have attended past McDowells know what fun it is, as well as a great cause for preservation and to honor those who served there. Those who have not yet attended have missed out on a good one. This will be my third McDowell, and I certainly am looking forward to doing it again and applying the things we learned about the "Dutch" Company last time to hopefully improve on them, or at least do our very best.

If interested, please send an email to:

McDowellDutchCompany-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

[Charles Heath]

Re: "Dutch" Company for McDowell 2005

Bill,

Is your company planning on having a mail call by any chance -- in German?

While Robert Schenck's 2,000 man command, including the 82nd OVI was in a bit of a hurry up and come up situation with their 13 mile march from the other side of Monterey, it's not entirely out of the question given some of the living history aspects of the 2005 effort, as stated by Bill Watson. Why ask? Well, I still have something I've been meaning to send to you, and this is the most appropriate scenario....

If so, I'll need the particulars for addressing the package (Franklin, Virginia?), and some background for a return address (Marion, Ohio?) and, I'm fairly certain it will not catch on fire. With a nod to Gutenburg, you just might want to brush up on your formal archaic German, too. ;)

Charles Heath
Tanned, Rested, Ready

[NY Pvt]

Re: "Dutch" Company for McDowell 2005

Charles,
Is there going to be another package surfacing at McDowell from "The Nutmeg Boys"?

[DukeRPSC]

Re: "Dutch" Company for McDowell 2005

Bill:

Thanks for agreeing to reprise this worthy enterprise for the McDowell 2005 event. 2005 will be my fourth attendance at this event and I've had a great time at all three of the preceding iterations. McDowell really is the Grandaddy of Authentic Events. It's the only reenactment recognized by the Library of Congress as a local heritage treasure. With the event taking place on real ground, a preservation component, excellent first person, outstanding civilian interaction, huge local support and a wonderfully scripted historical scenario, this is truly one not to be missed.

And it'll be nice to be able to watch this one unfold from the ranks.

[Bill Cross]

Re: "Dutch" Company for McDowell 2005

Is your company planning on having a mail call by any chance -- in German? ... If so, I'll need the particulars for addressing the package (Franklin, Virginia?), and some background for a return address (Marion, Ohio?) and, I'm fairly certain it will not catch on fire. With a nod to Gutenburg, you just might want to brush up on your formal archaic German, too. ;)

While mail call seems to have become a bit of a "ho-hum" at events lately, I think it's a terrific component to a period experience. The problem is usually one of manpower: unless you have a large pool of willing letter writers and information about each recipient, the results tend to be somewhat generic and bland. Period newspapers should also be part of the mail, and we just don't have enough individuals who have access to them or who can recreate them. Getting letters written in German could be a useful way to generate period interaction ("Can you read this for me, it's my uncle in Stuttgart and usually my mother reads letters from the old country to me"). While the emphasis will be on third person for the event, I'm hoping we can use as much Company D time to be in first person and/or period. It may be an uphill push with the modern distractions of McDowell, but if we're camped outside of town, and march anywhere away from the Third Millenium (as Bill W. calls it), there should be ample chances to board the old time machine.

All that having been said, it will be up to the team putting the company together whether there will be mail call in Company D. Also it depends on having enough folks willing to put the effort into a good mail call. Your package would be welcome. I haven't read much Fraktur lately (the funny squiggly printing things German were once printed in) but I suppose I could brush up on it over the Winter. Something combustible would be useful if the weather is like last time, though I'm glad to hear this will not attract the curiosity of the postal inspectors. :wink_smil

With the event taking place on real ground, a preservation component, excellent first person, outstanding civilian interaction, huge local support and a wonderfully scripted historical scenario, this is truly one not to be missed.
And it'll be nice to be able to watch this one unfold from the ranks.

Duke, I would be very pleased to have you and any of my RP pards in the Dutch Company, as I said above, less than half the historical members of the company were Germans, many were just plain Americans. And I don't know if it can be said too much how you and Steve Pannier did a great deal to build the Federal side of this event. I'm as glad as you are to see it continuing, with plans to build on past successes with some new components and changes.

[Charles Heath]

Re: "Dutch" Company for McDowell 2005

Bill,

Consider it done, if there's a Co. D mail call. It weighs about 4 lbs, so make sure your company mail call is before the Sunday morning march. :sarcastic

Mail call and packages from home used to be a standard feature of EBUFU events regardless of the scenario at hand. In some cases, such activities were inappropriate, and it goes without saying the larger food packages from home were more of a campaigner crutch than a vignette which could be drawn directly from the scenario. Urban environments, fort garrisons, training camps, and winter hut events tend to be good venues for these tableaus-come-to-life from Billings, Watkins, Bull, Hindman, and so many others. Oddly enough, the 51st PVI received a mail call just prior to their famous charge at Antietam, so never say never. Dane Utter referenced the pillaged crate (surely a vile deed courtesy of the nefarious Nutmeg Boys) from the 151st NYVI's Winter 1864 at Brandy Station event this past February in Newfane, NY. Such events happened during the war. A pent up demand for that genre of activity existed at one time, and it appears the craving for letters and boxes has subsided, and is relegated to more appropriate events. It's nice how these things begin to balance after a while.

McDowell 2005 will be very, very special. In many ways, it is as if a dark cloud lingering over the event has finally blown away leaving nothing but blue skies ahead. Remind me I said that during the likely Saturday evening freshet.

Charles Heath

[DukeRPSC]

Re: "Dutch" Company for McDowell 2005

[/QUOTE]Duke, I would be very pleased to have you and any of my RP pards in the Dutch Company, as I said above, less than half the historical members of the company were Germans, many were just plain Americans. And I don't know if it can be said too much how you and Steve Pannier did a great deal to build the Federal side of this event. I'm as glad as you are to see it continuing, with plans to build on past successes with some new components and changes.[/QUOTE]


Bill, I am very pleased to see this much enthusiasm for something into which I have invested so much time and energy. I've been lucky to recruit some very talented and dedicated people who've devoted alot of energy to this event. Steve Pannier is at the top of the list and really pulled the event together in 2001 & 2003 from an administrative standpoint. I know that Bob Denton and Dave Pridgeon, Jim White and Diane Kline must all be excited as well. We've had great event teams that have made things happen in the past on the Federal side of the event. I'll never forget Don Hubbard's enthusiasm for this event and his contributions. Your own contributions with the Dutch company at the 2001 edition and BillWatson's service as SGTMAJ in 2001 & his "Company I" (Incubator Company ) in 2003 have done much to build the event and the authentic end of the hobby. And the efforts that Doug Cooper has made toward this event by his attendance and support as a commander and field officer are certainly worthy of recognition.

This is a great event and if there is a cph wing/movement/community, the folks that call themselves such need to get behind this one because we really 'own' this one. It's as good as it gets and has always had major support without regard to region or locality of the reenactor. It is a truly "national event."

Be there or you are L7.

[PogueMahone]

Re: "Dutch" Company for McDowell 2005

Okay, my curiosity is up. Duke, elucidate please.

"McDowell really is the Grandaddy of Authentic Events."

When was the first McDowell and when was it first considered authentic? I'm thinking that 2001 was the first time it was overtaken by authentics and prior events were the typical Ham'n'Yam fest. But, I could be off on the dates and information, so I'm asking for recorded history here.

thanks,

[DougCooper]

Re: "Dutch" Company for McDowell 2005

Joe - I might not term it as the granddaddy but we turned the corner in 1999, the second year of the event (begun in 97). Somebody died and they put me in charge that year. The possibilities here are huge, and it gets better every year. I have never seen an event that continually learned lessons and put in improvements - Bill Watson has already mentioned some plans for fed campsites that will be a another step forward.

New blood from all points will help that trend continue so am glad you guys can make it. Warning though - once you see what a little paradise Highland County VA is, you may alter your retirement plans.

Lot to be said for a place where the squirrels vastly outnumber the people and ya gotta spend a week to find a billboard.

[Bill Cross]

Let's keep on topic!

Gentlemen,

There's an Asian proverb that goes something like "when the elephants make war, the grass suffers" (there's a variation about the elephants making love, but I don't think that would apply here :D ). This is a grass roots effort to raise a company for the next McDowell; discussing previous McDowells is very interesting, but I would remind everyone the purpose of the thread was and is to raise awareness (and rifles!) for Company D, 82nd Ohio, a company historically composed of a large component of German-Americans from Marion County, Ohio.

There's a great deal of talk in the hobby about the significant contribution "Dutch" soldiers made, especially on the blue side. This is a chance for those with German ancestry or an interest in things German to help raise awareness and educate both the public, themselves and their fellow living historians. We provided a good deal of information last year about Company D. Since then, Mark Jaeger and I have been doing our homework (with Mark doing yeoman's work in the library) to improve on that offering. Our goal isn't to make this into homework for the participants, simply to provide them with the information. How or whether they choose to use it is up to each individual member.

And if someone is just curious for a new experience, they're welcome, too. As I have said repeatedly, the make-up of Company D was only about 40% German-American from what I can tell (though the officers were 2/3 German-American, Rieg and Diebolt).

As such, I would ask the moderators to keep an eye on this discussion and make sure it stays focused on the topic. Thanks in advance for your cooperation! :wink_smil

[Bill Cross]

More German material

Someone over on "the other forum" made a joking reference to Deutschland Über Alles, and I wanted to make the same points over here I did there for those who might not realize both how old the song is, and that it did not start out as a panegyric to global expansion. The song, variously known as "Das Lied der Deutschen" or "Das Deutschlandlied" did not become the sinister musical stand-in for German nationalism and expansionist fantasies until long after the First World War, when soldiers in the trenches made it popular. There is a nifty site that sums up the song's history,

http://www.brandenburghistorica.com/page5.html

Ironically, it was penned by a refugee from the Revolution of 1848 (usually referred to as "48ers" in German), a revolution whose goals were the establishment of liberal democracy and greater human rights. The gentleman I portrayed at the last McDowell and hope to reprise again next May, Captain John Rieg, was a "48er" who served in the Baden forces during the revolt against the old order, settling in Marion County, OH, where he was later asked by the powers-that-be to raise a company from the Germans and German-Americans who had come to Ohio in large numbers (according to a book I have been reading about 48ers in the US, Germans were the single largest ethnic group immigrating here in the early and mid-19th Century). His military experience was rather cursory, it was his political connections and their resonance with local men that appealed to the governor and his staff.

In justice to the song, it was set to music by Hayden and was intended as a rallying cry for Germans to put their petty differences aside and work together for national unity (the now-odious phrase "Deutschland ueber alles in der Welt" does not mean "Germany triumphant over the whole world," but "Germany above all else in (your) life"). The song was written at a time when Germans were about as unified as the CPH wing of this hobby, and was not intended as propaganda for "Blut und Eisen/Blood and Iron." In fact, it was not adopted as the official national anthem until the weak, non-militaristic Weimar Republic in 1921.