Chickamauga AAR Thread

[Coon Dawg]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Anyone have any more pictures from this weekend?

Patrick ~

I took a bunch of pictures. Lots of the ANV and AOT as well as lots of the skirmish line.

Whenever I get them downloaded, I will provide everyone a link.

Joel Phillips

The Flatlander's Mess

[Kiev Thomason]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Great event! Had a blast.......By the way, does anyone have the recipe for that cornbread?

John Runyon
Co. A, 4th VA
SWB

Yes! As I:confused_ will never need it again!!!

Two table spoons baking soda.
One of salt
Two cups Rye flour
three and one half corn meal
half cup of melted pure lard

Mix in all the above with enough water to make the stuff look about like cement and pour on a bread pan and roll about one half inch thick.Cut with a greasy hard tack cutter and bake at 350 for about 45 Min.

[ley74]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

As a Southerner, the peanuts were just dandy, even raw. Where ever they came from must have had the sweetest soil on earth.

Neil Rose gets a star for the "don't ask" rice dish and church call on Sunday morning. It was great to catch up with many folks.

Hats off to Jerry and the entire crew of NCOs and officers of the 7th SC. It was a spectacular sight watching the percision of the skirmishers' drill. A heartfelt thanks to Jerry and Doug for making sure my adventure was all it could be.

What a beautiful park!

[toptimlrd]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Anyone thinking about publishing an article in CW Historian about the event? If we have some good pictures then it would likely be a welcome addition to the magazine.

I also want to add that maneuvering by the bugle was a welcome addition as well.

[coastaltrash]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

I would stick away from using melted lard, as that's what caused the infamous lard pockets. If anyone is interested I can give you the recipe of the cornbread hardtack along with the dimensions of an original piece of CS hardbread, and a recipe for CS hardbread made from Flour that everyone seemed to like at Fort Donelson.

[albrandon]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

"I'm still not sure what people are saying about the cornbread. The batch I had was a disgusting salty mess that made me sick. I didn't know it was possible to screw up cornbread that badly."

Rob.... That was the real recipe. Nummy Num Num!!!!! No Crisco in it, but some nice LARD and a few pinches of salt.

Cleans the system out very well.

Hey, Coatsy,

I wasn't at this event, but I hear there was an excellent photo shot of you in the woods. :D

Affectionately,
Amber Brandon

[boozie]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Had an great time at this event. Loved the horse drawn artillery, it's always fun to watch. Wish someone would do Lilly's Battery, doing the same thing at Chickamauga. Anyway it was very cool to watch the skirmish line move off over the hill and out of sight on Sunday. The bugle with the reserve would blow and then you could hear the others blowing the same call over the hill. Shows how important those guys really were. My favorite part was being able to sleep on Brock field the first night. It was special to me since I had family members in Strahl's Brigade.

Thanks to the WIG staff who did a great job and also to Captain Landrum who did a great job and put up with me as his Orderly for the weekend. Thanks to Sgt. Blunt and Tackit, it was great meeting you and the company ran so smooth because of your hard work. I talked to many new faces and remembered some old faces from our eastern brothers. The contrast was eye opening between the AoT and ANV companys. As stated before, thank you Neil for the rice pudding, thank you Kiev for the Turkey, and thank you Sgt. Hicks for sharing your haversack Sunday morning.

It was an honor to serve you company C, you boys made it look easy while having fun.

[Coatsy]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Amber,

Well it wasn't a photo shoot, but the guy was a little off. I was only taking care of some business thanks to the Confederate "Lard Pockets".

And Landrum, don't be hate'n on the "Lard Pockets". They did their job.:tounge_sm

[jones56ga]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Herb,
I figured you had posed for the guy:D.
Ricky Jones

[trippcor]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

I have posted a few images from the event on the WIG website. If anyone has anymore please send them my way.

[Dignann]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

One of the demos, mostly artillery with Ogden/Rose narration, posted on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_TgSHUev5k

Too bad it's not longer, as it just misses our skirmish line demo.

Eric

[samarshall]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

I just wanted to say thanks to the boys of Company C, Mr. Harding, Frito-lays and I had a blast this last weekend, We all look forward to Outpost, And hope to see you all again. Oh and also this time we will try to get our registration in earlier.



Seth Marshall

Liberty Rifles

[HighPrvt]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

One of the demos, mostly artillery with Ogden/Rose narration, posted on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_TgSHUev5k

Too bad it's not longer, as it just misses our skirmish line demo.

Eric

Never the less, it was cool to see us marching down the road, and taking arms. Would love to see a video of our skirmish line moving across the field, and up the hill.
Thanks for the link.

[charding4496]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Ive gotta echo what Seth said. All three of us had a great time. You never know what to expect when you fall in with completely new people and in this case I was definitely pleased. It was nice to make some more friends to fall in with the next time I get a hankering to do Western Fed or Army of Tennessee.

Our event got off to a bit of a rough start while wandering the battlefield trying to find everyone Friday night. Fortunately we found the parking lot thanks to a reluctantly helpful and spotlight happy local police officer. An hour or so walking in circles and we decided to give up and sleep in the field by the parking area. A quick ride from a park ranger in the morning had us back on track though.

It was nice seeing a few familiar friends such as Jerry Stiles and some of the folks from back east but I really enjoyed making even more new ones! Thanks to Capt. Landrum, Lt. Sorchy, and the rest of the leadership in company C. Also thanks to everyone who provided the information on the different units and movements throughout the event. Sgt. Blunt, I hope we weren't too much of a handful for you and the rest of second platoon!

I really enjoy falling in with new people and seeing how they might do things a bit differently. There were a few nuances to drill which I appreciated, among other things - heck I even finally learned how to properly stack arms by Hardee's revised. But I gotta admit you all gave Seth and I a shock to see how excited you all got at the sound of the bugle for roll call Sunday morning!

Even though the event was great, my favorite part of the weekend was making the exhausting climb up Buzzard's Roost on Rocky Face Ridge to see the grave of Pvt. Disney from the 4th KY and not to mention the great view. To see the terrain and rifle pits up there really changes your perception of that sort of combat. You can look at it on maps but its amazing when you see it in person.

Anyway, thanks again everyone. Ill definitely be headed to Outpost!

Cody J. Harding
Liberty Rifles
http://www.libertyrifles.org

[Eric Tipton]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Now that I have had a few days to catch up on real life, I just wanted to throw out my personal observations from Chickamauga. I'll try not to repeat too much...

First, as everyone has mentioned, the contrast between the AoT and ANV was interesting, especially for a Yankee such as myself. While marching with the ANV in front of the column, I kept having an optical illusion that I was in Federal ranks. Kind of made me feel at home. :D

Not having done nearly as much research on the Confederate side, I would have to say that the impressions overall were very good. I have been waiting to wear my Columbus Depot Jacket for a couple of years and was thrilled at the chance. One thing I noticed - my Confederate clothing seems lighter than my Federal stuff. I also noticed that wearing light gray and butternut is ALOT better in the Southern sun. The temperatures at times approached (but did not surpass) Vicksburg and at least we weren't walking solar panels this time around... although the fellas in the ANV might have a slightly different take.

A lot of new guys in NCO positions and all seemed to be attentive and competent. Water details were run on an almost continuous basis and we drained canteens at the behest of officers, sergeants and corporals alike. One thing I have always noticed at authentic events is that the first time we drill at each event, it is almost like starting over again. It was a slow year after Vicksburg for us, and I'll admit that I was rusty myself. I was glad that we got out and did company and battalion drill and skirmish drill. Sure wish we could collectively build a larger core of regulars to work this a bit. ;)

We stayed with Kiev, since we had a site visit south of Atlanta for the weekend and personally saw, experienced and loaded the now infamous cornbread ration. I kind of ate my quota standing on his porch Wednesday night partially due to the novelty of eating something different than the typical hardtack issue. Man, all I can say is that he baked 450 of those things and it looked like a gigantic piece of cornbread exploded on his back porch. What a mix of taste - salt corn and slip-and-slide material. Nummy!

I love visiting Chickamauga. The battle is so interesting and the site is very well-maintained and picturesque by it's own right. Didn't get around to as much of the field this time around. We even managed to avoid any traffic jams around Atlanta during our visit, which was a definite plus.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had mixed emotions about our assault at Snodgrass Saturday and Sunday. My homeboys from the 9th, 64th, and 125th Ohio are three that I know of right off-hand that have monuments on the hill. I'm sure a lot of people who would be interested in doing the 125th Ohio in a future living history, present company included.

I thought that the schedule of demonstrations and drill was well-balanced and kept us busy enough not to get bored, but gave us enough down-time to recover from being out in the heat.

Thanks to all you guys who put this together. It was a stellar living hoistory that allowed us to follow the path of the battle. The weather was excellent. The camaraderie was great, as usual and Pat Landrum and the rest of the NCO's in our company worked well together. Although I mentioned what I saw as rustiness early in the weekend, the entire battalion started to get warmed up as we got out in the field.

Thanks for the southern hospitality and good to see old friends. Now, time to get my Yankee stuff ready for a little running around in Tennessee next month. ;)