Perryville 2006 AAR

[MercyAngel62]

Re: Perryville AAR

As usual, I had a well spent weekend at Perryville! The weather was absolutely beautiful, although it did get a bit chilly at night but that is to be expected in KY during October. I also enjoyed the Ghost Walk Saturday night! Great job to everyone who was involved! Everything went really well except for the fact that my car wouldn’t start Sunday and is still sitting in the field waiting for me to come get it this weekend. But other than the car trouble, I had a good time. ;) Can't wait til next year!

[Jim of The SRR]

Perryville pics

A few Perryville Pics are posted at:

http://www.geocities.com/saltriverrifles/PerryvillePics.html

Regards,
Jim Butler
SRR
SCAR

[KyCavMajor]

Re: Perryville AAR

Good-The Saturday morning battle.....Priceless
Bad-The loss of a comrade and good horse (Blue)
Ugly-The Mud on Thursday and Friday!

Paul Richardson
9th KY Cavalry

I kind of thought you were the "Ugly" Paul... lol
Especially after your first night of campaign style sleeping, in the rain and mud no less! My horse did think you were tasty though. :D
You will probably never set up a tent again!

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Re: Perryville AAR

Did I forget to mention that on our way up to Perryville, the rather large van we were riding in was totalled by an even larger cement truck in Atlanta? even that didn't keep us from our appointment with destiny - we hitched a ride with another pard and crammed 6 full-sized men in a not-so-full-sized Jeep Cherokee. Lesson(s) learned: God was looking out for us, its great to travel light, its a long way from Atlanta to Kentucky with very closely packed pards, and Momma was right - wear clean underwear because you just never know! You should have seen the look on the cops face when we brought out the fake rubber leg with the brogan on it at the accident scene!

[csa blacksmith]

Re: Perryville AAR

I kind of thought you were the "Ugly" Paul... lol
Especially after your first night of campaign style sleeping, in the rain and mud no less! My horse did think you were tasty though. :D
You will probably never set up a tent again!

Tod,

Your horse eat yankees too? Reb thought they were tastey and good with cetchup.:D

It was good meeting ya, didn't get a chance to catch up with ya during the weekend.

[Silas]

AM battle good? You must be kidding.

Good-The Saturday morning battle.....Priceless

I'll say. At times the firing distance between battalions was thirty feet. And immediately behind the Federals was the payin' public. We're darned lucky some of our guests were not hurt by something dropped down a musket by some good ol' boy. I saw some elevated, Confederate muskets, but not as high as they should have been.

My personal rule of thumb is that if you're having to elevate anywhere near 45 degrees to fire, you're way way way too close.

Even at that close distance, there weren't too many hits being taken on either side. It was sad.

Not sure who had the great idea about having the Federals come through the tater line and flank the Confederates. A small opening existed for such a tactic, but the left of the Federals overlapped the crowd by a good thirty to forty feet. I assisted in moving the crowd - more like stuffing them - back as far as we could shove them. I'm used to being inside a blast cone of a battalion firing, but few taters have had the privilege. The Federal left brushed against the crowd. There were tators for forty feet straight down range. Didn't seem to stop the left most company from firing. Some of them did seem to fire at a right oblique, but withholding fire might have been a better idea.

That battle was grossly unsafe. That battle may have been designed by generals who were concerned about safety and had a clear plan about how the battle was to be fought, but Major Charlie Foxtrot assumed command once the first musket was fired. There's something about the odor of consumed black powder wafting through the air which causes perfectly sane people to lose their minds.

Despite the best intentions of the two generals who tried to manage that battle, I witnessed two armed mobs slugging it out. I am very thankful that no one was seriously hurt.

That battle was the most unsafe battle I've seen since the Franklin scenario at the NSA event in 2004. Being that I reenact in the wild and wooly Pacific Nor'west and participated at Rich Mountain where ramrods were used, that's saying quite alot.

[Spinster]

Re: Perryville AAR

Dang it! Not only did I not get to see the Minstrel Show, I missed the Dancing Princesses too!

I MIGHT bring at least one of the Dancing Princesses up to Sullivan's Tavern--if'n you send me some pictures, sizes, and prices of the tinware you didn't come down and sell us Sunday morning.

Next time you want to see a minstrel show, remind me to pack the full length pier mirror so you can.

[Micah Trent]

Re: Perryville AAR

The Good - Saturday mornings battle. Hollywood couldn't even make it look better. Quite heavenly!

The Bad - Some of the officers at HQ not having the slightest clue on what was going on. It showed a couple of times, especially when one minuet we were to do drills and then not. This went on for some time.

The Ugly - Couple of spectators running on to the field during Saturday afternoons battle. I ran over this one guy hard as our brigade was getting pushed back...I have no clue if I hurt him or not...didn't stick around to check...I hoped he learned his lesson though. Ropes are there for a reason!

All in all...just an incredible weekend!

Micah Trent

[bAcK88]

Re: Perryville AAR

I had a killer time at Perryville as part of the Living History that Jim Conley organized.

The Good:
Visiting Perryville for the first time and walking over almost every inch of the battlefield.
Meeting a lot of new people from the AC.
The LH guys were great. It was great to meet the Tater Mess, Jordon, Matt, Joe, and Ben and hopefully I'll be at another event with them soon.
Mail call was cool especially the letter from my sister, thanks Jim for writing most of them.
The ghost tour was unique.

The Bad:
Getting a little chilly on Friday night when my blanket fell off my shoulder.
Leaving at 2 PM on Sunday in order to catch my plane.
Flying.

The Ugly:
Catching up on my schoolwork.
Sun burn.

[Chris Suppelsa]

Re: AM battle good? You must be kidding.

[QUOTE=Silas]
Even at that close distance, there weren't too many hits being taken on either side. It was sad.

QUOTE]


We were ordered not to take hits

[Jim Moffet]

Re: AM battle good? You must be kidding.

Overall, P'ville was a great event. I have to agree about the Sat. morning battle - looked great as we advanced into it - the WB came in in a column of companies & wheeled into line - but it surely got too close too quickly. My close friend Marc Benedict from the 53rd PVI called it "the Great Bogocity." He was part of the flank attack (executed by the CG) and told me that they closed to 15 paces before firing the first volley! Of the 3 actions, it was certainly my least favorite.

The Sunday fight was lots better. The WB was posted as the 21st Wisconsin down in the mudhole at the base of the central cornfield. The boys waited at 'in place rest' for a good 20 minutes, listening to the battle getting closer while all we could see was the 'corn' rising steeply in our front. Feds were retreating on both our flanks. Then the tip of a CS flag appeared above the hill, and we opened up. The volley sounded like tearing canvas! This battle developed just right - reasonable ranges, heated firing - until our left flank was seriously threatened and we broke back to the road, and then up the hill with the AoP covering our right. By the time we reached the Federal batteries at the crest, we were down to about 40%, so we took lots of casualties, as did our enemies.

Other highpoints - the fife & drum jam w/ US & CS down by the Sutler's area Saturday evening; Gen. Dolive's Field Day on Sunday - wish other Federals had participated, it was better than we had first postulated; eating REAL salt pork (we found a source here in Minnesota) and the fact that the WB didn't go anywhere by the flank (except where that was all that would fit) - we did most of the SoB all weekend. For me, that's what big national events are all about!

Jim Moffet
Minnesota First
Western Brigade

[KCLoewe]

Re: Perryville AAR

As a visitor and Adjutant of the WB, all I can say is that I had a great time. It was the best event I've been to in some time. And that is becuase of the men. All those in my battalion were an absolute joy to work for. I look forward to working with the WB again.

Kurt Loewe

[Greg Barnett]

Re: Perryville AAR

It sure is nice to hear from everyone about the event. I attended only as a spectator and what I saw was impressive. I really enjoyed many of the activities that have been mentioned previously. Everyone involved surely did a great job all around. I have never been a spectator at an event before, but I have to say that this was a great event to attend as a spectator. I can only imagine the quality experience that a participant would have had.

Regards

[Beaner]

Re: Perryville AAR

Chris the reason we were asked not to take hits early on Saturday afternoon was the battle scenario had just started and there was another 45 minutes of movement and fighting to do.

There were several hits taken during the Sunday battle. I saw yanks and Johnnies falling everywhere. Chris took a flip over the rail fence in front of the Federal position on top of the Hill. Half my company including myself went down due to a point blank cannister shot. Billy was lying everywhere. So was Johnnie.

Wide Awake filmed us as we advanced through the high grass and up the slope (We were on the extreme left of the Medich Battalion.The rest of the battalion followed on in eshellon on our right). Mr. Hodges stated he'd never seen so many reenactors taking hits and loved every minute of it. All I can say is excellent!, Laddies excellent!

Sgt. Sam Billingsley
4th texas Co. E

[Jim of The SRR]

Re: Perryville AAR

All of the battle recreations generally developed into silliness. Ranges FAR too close, Rebs flanking our line down along the modern road edge of the property (as if historically there would not have been another division on our flank), lack of hits, force ratios way out of proportion. Our company took 150% casualties on Saturday afternoon battles (if that doesn't make sense...just think about it). Folks, we can not drag out a battle to 45 minutes when the Rebs have a 3:1 force ratio and insist upon crashing into/and flanking us at a rapid rate. Just f&*kin stupid, mainstream, powder-burnin, behavior!

However, I will say that the impressions looked much better than typical mainstream events. I really never saw any REALLY bad, glaring farb impressions (not saying there weren't any, I just didn't see any).

Regards,
Jim Butler