Chickamauga AAR Thread

[coastaltrash]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Joel,
Look forward to checking them out when you get them uploaded.

[Mtn.Guerilla]

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!

I get those peanuts in bulk thru my business and you can thank the great state of Georgia for the soil. For those going going to Outpost as Confed, there will be some real dandy parched corn.

[JustRob]

Chickamauga AAR Thread

For those so interested, I discovered while on guard mount that it takes just about one hour to recite all fifteen decades of the Rosary.

Rather than stave off sleep and boredom, I kept watch for the enemy and kept watch with the Lord by saying my "beads". My relief showed up a minute after closing with the Salve Regina.

Yet another advantage of being a Catholic soldier.

[Tenthtexas]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Gentlemen,
It is very pleaseing to see all the positive comments about this past weekend. What we, the WIG, has always tried to do is offer events that are different than the norm and that also give us something new to conquer. This event we had Kent Ostenstead and his horse drawn artillery who were superb! They did a fantastic job keeping up and moving with us and on Sunday coming galloping past to unlimber in the field. Also we had 4 buglers this time and a skirmish line that was larger than what we had done before.
Chad Gray, Buddy Jowers, Matt Grubb and Mr. Pfluger were a great addition and worked well together.
I can not thank enough Justin Runyon, Brian Hicks and Kiev Thomason for their support and assisting with logistics to get this event underway. Also, each of the company commanders and their staff and nco's; Jerry Stiles, Pat Landrum and Tripp Corbin. Great job in assembling your men and getting them organized and drilled.
Highlights for me over the weekend;
--Marching out over the cover of night with the moon lighting our way to Brock Field
--Seeing the contrast between the ANV and AOT in uniforms and how well they all worked together
--Saturday morning, being asked by Pvt Marsh Craddock "how much coffee do you put in these boilers" while standing over 8 boilers to make coffee for his company while they were drilling. Tea toddler indeed
--The awesome skirmish line moving up toward the SC monument with no calls but from the bugle
--seeing how many made it up to the monument with very few stragglers at all
--hearing the cheers when deciding to camp on top of Snodgrass Hill rather than down the hill
--seeing the artillery rolling by at a gallop on Sunday morning
--for men that for the most part just got together for the first time at this event, how well they all drilled and marched together. They resembled the well drilled troops they portrayed.
--seeing the skirmish line disappear over the hill at Snodgrass and only hearing the bugles make the calls to adjust movements, as it was done
--seeing the face of Mr. Landrum Sunday morning when his company formed facing the rear of the battalion line of formation and 10 paces away while he was figuring out how to get them turned around and moved up.
--out of 140 registered, having 118 show up.

Thank you all again for your participation in this event. We are working with Mr. Stiles to plan a trip east sometime in the next couple of years.

4 weeks til Outpost, see you all then.

Art Milbert

[Milliron]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

--Saturday morning, being asked by Pvt Marsh Craddock "how much coffee do you put in these boilers" while standing over 8 boilers to make coffee for his company while they were drilling. Tea toddler indeed

Absolute #1 moment of the event for me: Congratulating the aforementioned Mr. Craddock for his recent elevation to company "Coffee Bitch.":D

[DougCooper]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

--out of 140 registered, having 118 show up.

Art Milbert

That says volumes Art - way ta go! You defeated reenactor math!

The other thing I will always remember were the incredible echoes from the gun fire - cannot imagine what it must have been like those two terrible days.

[Coatsy]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

Well it has been a week since I went to the Chick for the LH. I was actually a little “ho hum” about the event when I was traveling up there since I’ve been busy with real life stuff *wedding plans* cough cough *house hunting* cough cough. So getting set up and getting into kit I started to come around.

Friday: Seeing the “Chick or bust” and “Kershaw Rulez” messages on the van windows from the Easterners was great. As Art said, we’ll definitely have to come east soon! I had the good luck to pull up as Joe Walker was showing the Columbus coat to some folks. Getting a real close up at the jacket was a real treat. The ration issue on Friday night was almost comical. The juice oozing from the beef grossed some of the guys in the recreated Waco Guards out and Kiev chastising them added more stories to the Kiev Lore. I’ll say it now, as I have in the past and probably in the future. I despise plain peanuts, but by Sunday as usual I was eating them like candy. As it has been said the march out to the bivouac site was great. Seeing Cap’n Corbin’s shoes spark up and down the road was fun. Thanks Cap’n Sparky! The sleeping on arms as usual makes me grumble, but I bedded down and in no time I was asleep, which is rare for me on a Friday night.

Saturday: Drill, Drill, Drill!!!!! One of the biggest problems with the authentic side is the lack of regular drill that we get to have when we all come together. We all have different ways of doing things, especially those who primarily use Casey’s and those who use Hardee’s. But dang, we clicked! It wasn’t perfect, but it worked. Thankfully, to play on a joke, our NCOs are alive and well. It is a good thing that the leadership within the NCOs of our battalion was top notch! So we all drilled as companies and as the battalion with skirmish drill being the big aspect that the recreated Waco Guards worked on. It was great that ALL of our buglers were top notch and they were helpful in explaining the calls to us. I have been fortunate now to have worked with Buddy, Matt, Chad in the field and they are all great guys. We did our marching and demos for the public, and got to work with the artillery. It is still a great site, even at living history demos to see a field piece be wheeled into line by horse. I’ve been lucky as well to have been at events where Mr. Ostenstead has been at with his crew.

Now I missed the WIG ’03 Chick skirmish a palooza, but dang all! Everyone is definitely NOT exaggerating when they say the battalion skirmish line was a site to behold! It was. It was also amusing to watch Bill Barfus and Marse Craddock navigate the brambles of the low ground next to Horseshoe Ridge as well. Cap’n Corbin makes sure his boys stay out of that nonsense. :) The massed battalion forward to the obelisk was definitely a challenge. I did not really realize how much ground that we had covered and how busy all were until we hit that last rise and everyone was panting in unison. It was then I got to hear the legend of the Pink Panther at the South Carolina monument. Then it was off to storm Snodgrass Hill. Umm. Say what?????? I was tired, but I was going to get “up and over” and we all did! Saturday evening’s guard mount was interesting, but then again, not everyone who reenacts knows all of the nuances of guard duty. One day…… But it was fun to cut up with the guys on Snodgrass while in the back of my mind I was dreading a “Corporal of the Guard, Post Number….” Luckily that did not happen!

Sunday: No Green Eyed Monster assaulted the camp, so all was well. We got together for the last two demos, and usually the Sunday demos are a little lackluster because most folks are thinking about getting home. The Sunday demos were OUTSTANDING! Again, working with the artillery, Art threw a maneuver in that many of us rarely get to do. But it worked and then we deployed as skirmishers in platoons and made it to the ridge line. The last demo was the one were the men went over the hill. I was in the Waco Guards reserve platoon so I got to see the men crest the ridge and then disappear over it. That was a great site! On the way back I stopped to help a pard out that was having some problems, and I watched the battalion move, it looked damn good folks! As a guy who is getting a little burned out of Living Histories, this one was a good turn around, and a great event to boot!

The Good:
~Marching by the bugle
~Beef!!!!!
~Seeing Cody H and Co from out east in Cornfed getup. I didn’t recognize you guys at first, but then again Fire Zouave kits are a little different from Western Cornfeds.
~Good solid leadership, good attitudes, and a minimum of “Who made your blah blah blah?” You really can’t escape it, but it was really to a minimum.
~Sewing Cap’n Landrum’ sleeve together to show him that the Waco Guards really did like him.
~The contrast between the ANV and AOT guys, I got so into the mindset that the ANV guys were total foreign that I really did not talk with most of those guys all weekend because I just couldn’t figure them out.

The Bad:
~Cornbread, sorry Kiev
~Participants whining about people not staying in first person. Um now really…. All of the monuments, the cars coming by, the rangers talking to us, the visitors coming by to see us…. The black top. Come on now…… There were great moments all weekend where I got into it, but I did not expect it to be a fully immersive event. But to each their own.
~Not getting over my “Those ANV guys are foreign, I can’t talk to them”. Eh, next time. But it was good getting to talk to Kirby. And Doug…… Kiev and I did speak to you. But I think the Green Eyed Monster had you attention…:)

The Just Plain Ugly
~Well the cornbread…. Sorry again Kiev.

To quote the evil Heef…… “I had fun how about you?”

[VA-Patriot'61]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

I had a very enjoyable time last weekend. I was actually depressed when I went back to work on Monday... I'd rather have been touring battlefields again. Overall it was a great weekend. I was finally able to put a face to many names I've seen and heard over the years and made a few new friends. It was a great first experience in the "western theater" for me.

The ANV company was impressive to say the least. I loved the mix of gear and the eerie appearance friday evening when we formed up, we looked very Northern at first glance. I have to say coming from a military school that prides itself in drill that the ANV company took me by surprise when we were drilling saturday morning, the first company wheel we did was spot on! Everyone seemed to click instantly into the drill manual and what we couldn't do first off we picked up with ease (the Hardees revised version of stacking for example). The ease in learning new things came from our very experienced NCOs and the few old timers among the ranks who spoke up and showed us the way. Having been in the "hobby" since '89 I'd say the SWB and PLHA guys were the friendliest bunch to work alongside having no connections with either group.

It always pleases me to do living histories at NPS sites, to me they are the most enjoyable and rewarding. I hope to see more participation in the future from groups like that last weekend at other NPS and state park sites.

Thanks for a great time to everyone who put the event together, my hat is off to you fellows!

[Pritchett Ball]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

I’m real proud to have been a part of this event, at such a historic place.

Two big Kodak moments for me were looking down the skirmish line, wondering how far we were stretched out! The other was the last demo when we rallied, and I looked over to Landrum’s Co. C formed into a square, and saw all those bayonets sticking out!
That sent a chill down my spine.

A learning experience…
The extra Drill we did, was desperately needed…by ME! I sure have some boys to thank for the PATIENCE they showed. I learned I had developed some bad habits. I’m ordering hob nails for my shoes so Tripp won’t have to push me up that hill again!

I gained a much improved perspective because of this event, never having done skirmish drill with such a large number of folk. Marching at night to the bivouac area was neat. The rations were a pleasant surprise. Hearing the last bugle call while I was out on guard duty was hauntingly beautiful. Having to do a quick mending job on my trousers before a demonstration left me reflecting on how many time THAT was repeated in the war.

Meeting new folk for the first time, and seeing old acquaintances is always a highlight for me. I felt humbled to see a fellow like Jim Ogden work his butt off keeping us in water.

NO BUGS! At least I wasn’t bothered by any. I was wondering where they were at, and how the bats flying overhead in the evening kept from carrying their own rations?

An outstanding event, the best one to date for me. Those in charge are worthy of all the praise we can give them. I’m ready for another one, but let me rest a while before we go out again!

Kevin Dally

[toptimlrd]

Re: Chickamauga AAR Thread

If I may offer three cheers to Art for his fantastic job as batallion commander.