Marmaduke's Raid AAR

[Jeremy Bevard]

Re: Marmaduke's Raid AAR

You did not dream all of that Mrs. Crabb.

Both of you being there was outstanding. It was another first for the Michigan men there to interact with a period sutler with period currency and prices. Thank you for your hard work.

We also wished we had a chance to interact with civilians more. However, I understand what Hank is saying and I'm glad the event was allowed to flow naturally for so many. I wouldn't want it any other way. More civilian interaction will come at another event I am sure.

[Charles Heath]

Re: Marmaduke's Raid AAR

Beth,

While observing the brisk freemarket activity that Adam Smith would have appreciated, I couldn't help but paraphrase something an incredibly frustrated Seth Williams wrote back east when dealing with skinners, vendors, merchants, and I won't use the term he used here, but "it is fascinating how a certain class of people nearly always seek protection with this army when they have a wagonful of goods, and just as they manage to sell the last item they suddenly need protection no longer." That wasn't precisely the case with the stranded Barnhouses, but it brought to life some of the descriptions of CW vendors who just happen to find themselves in the midst of willing buyers.

Thanks for taking the starving officers & Sgt. Major off our hands, and I'm sure their digestive systems thank you as well. For what it is worth, this is the third event where we in the cookhouse and the sutler/merchant and his charming better half have been able to coordinate a few things beforehand, and I do believe this works well. On the other hand, it may be considered collusion later in the 19th century....

P.S. I seem to have lost that skillet within days of arriving back at The Bunker. It seems my child bride has latched onto the darn thing.....

P.P.S. For a brief shining moment, some claim they saw the ghost of Erasmus Hopkins behind the "counter" at the sutlery. Bah!

[LindaTrent]

Re: Marmaduke's Raid AAR

Subtle is good. We had a very brief interaction with the two civilians near the mouth of Goose Creek Sunday morning as we were on our flank march toward the Federal Fort. It was brief, but seeing them there when we did not expect them there was good and I am sure my exchange, however brief, with the man that if he told any one he saw us I would hunt him down and the icy iron glare from the woman was as good as any long winded exchange.

Hi Tom,

So that was you, eh? It was us. :D

Linda
who's still working on her AAR. :)

[Old Reb]

Re: Marmaduke's Raid AAR

The free flowing, unscripted aspect of the event, especially regarding bushwhackers, civilians and mossbacks was the highlight of the week-end for me. Powder can be burned any where, but the subtle or not so subtle mix of people bumping into one another was the best I have ever experience, even better than the chicken killing at Franklin. I appreciate that Frank let us be independent and that Silvana positions the civilians for a true refugee experience. So, I like free flowing and unscripted.

Linda, your glare scared me and I was suppose to be a hardened bushwhacker.

[Gallo de Cielo]

Re: Marmaduke's Raid AAR

Frank deserves a great deal of credit for what he did to make this event happen. The site was fantastic as were all the folks he asked to take on leading roles, be they US, CS, civilian, mossback, ox drover, bushwhacker, or other.

I arrived late Friday night, fresh in from the left coast, and joined my chums in Reeve's Scouts in a cold, dark camp. By dawn the next morning we were moving and kept moving constantly. Our loyalties were to ourselves, our appetites, and our livers. I enjoyed the heck out of our time with the civilians by the ox wagons as well as hauling in the three Federal prisoners. Too, I enjoyed the company of my compadres in the Ground Hornets.

The ground was fantastic, the weather was great, and the effort put forth by everyone, whether they wore blue or grey, trousers or petticoats, was first rate.

I did end with a heck of a gut ache, due largely to the captured provisions in the US fort. Cold coffee, a whole bunch of vinegar, tomato juice, a bottle of hot sauce, pickled onions and peppers, and rum made a vile swill and likely I won't mix them in the same proportions in the future. Likely some of my pain was due to Charles Heath doctoring up the food before the Federals skeedaddled.

Hope to see everyone in the Kisatchie woods come March.

Kind regards,

[Charles Heath]

Re: Marmaduke's Raid AAR

I did end with a heck of a gut ache, due largely to the captured provisions in the US fort. Cold coffee, a whole bunch of vinegar, tomato juice, a bottle of hot sauce, pickled onions and peppers, and rum made a vile swill and likely I won't mix them in the same proportions in the future. Likely some of my pain was due to Charles Heath doctoring up the food before the Federals skeedaddled.

Fred,

You may have a hard time believing this, but Uncle Tom and I actually coordinated this aspect of the Secesh Sunday Buffet prior to the event, to make sure there was nothing wrong with the food beyond the normal situation. The beans were cooked especially for you fellows, and the documentation Uncle Beau found for some federal cavalrymen writing home describing tortillas added a little to the variety that morning. You'd have had more tortillas, but some starving federales down at the marina Friday were famished enough to tear into them with vigor.

We did one thing on the side of Smokey-the-Bear safety, and that was to douse the fire completely before departing the fort. Unfortunately, that meant the coffee, frijoles negros, and chicken-cabbage combo meal contents were pretty much cooled down by the time the home team arrived to take the fort. The beans had thickened nicely, and the four smoked ham hocks (with shanks) were falling off the bones. Some of the federals had the soupy top layer for breakfast, and you can imagine the "field music" inside their vehicles on the way home. We had two "master blasters" in the back seat of J-Ho's little blue 4-dr Ford truck, and the trail home was a mighty rough olfactory receptor neuron road to trabble. Having fed the lads both cabbage and beans, the results were predicatible. As Sherman said, "War is Hell."

Boston translation: "Wicked faatz."

The vinegar in a white jug with the blue eagle that would normally house a tasty fermented small grain libation was the slight-of-hand work of those sadistic and onery Cheeseheads. The boys received a touch of that as an anti-scorbutic Saturday morning at the hands of Marquis de Sgt. Major. I had a couple of slugs from the jug and found it to be quite tasty and effective in removing the canton flannel from tooth and gum, and not a man one reported to sick call due to scurvy.

How'd you thieves miss the oysters? ;)

See you in March.

[MO-Pard]

Re: Marmaduke's Raid AAR

We were a bit frightened by the found shot gun, but its owner gave us a lot to talk about. Sorry for going through your bags Jay, but really it was great to see everything you carried. I was truly impressed with the authenticity.

Ah Shucks!

Thank you, that is the ultimate compliment.

Best Regards


AAR still coming.......I'm about half finished, but have been playing catch-up at work.

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Marmaduke's Raid AAR

So I guess John & I only dreamed we drove over 500 miles, used a cart to haul stuff into the fort, feed the officers and slept on the rockiest ground ever seen??? :(

Well if it was a dream, it was a VERY good one!

Mr. Lloyd one thing to keep in mind regarding civilians, many of the best interactions are very subtle. It is more than "trying to run our lines, stealing supplies from us, spying on us etc."

:confused_

Sorry... mea culpa... No offense intended... I didn't mention your excellent wares and presence at the fort. You are included as well... :wink_smil

I was thinking about the civilians that were outside the fort in regards to your last statement. In my own mind, I considered you and your husband to be included with our forces.

-Johnny

[Jeremy Bevard]

Re: Marmaduke's Raid AAR

You'd have had more tortillas, but some starving federales down at the marina Friday were famished enough to tear into them with vigor.

and they were mighty tasty too!!! :D

[LindaTrent]

Re: Marmaduke's Raid AAR

At long last, here's my AAR.

What was Marmaduke's Raid like? Well... it was pretty much what the organizers said it would be, only lots better. :D The pre-event information included topographical maps, the 1860 census, some background of Patterson and the immediate area, etc. to give participants an idea as to what they could expect in regards to the steepness of the terrain, water location, and other miscellaneous things. Silvana and others were very helpful in answering questions about the historic local area, iron mines and so forth. I can't rave enough about all the positive aspects of the event! :tounge_sm

Like most adults living in Patterson, my character wasn't born in Missouri. One of the states from which people immigrated to Missouri from was Kentucky, and I chose to be born in Kentucky and lived in Patterson for about 10 years. I portrayed a widow, who had sent her children to Illinois to live with their older brother till trouble settled down. Unfortunately it didn't. We had been frequented by both US and CS raids and had suffered greatly, so my character didn't wish to run into any military -- she'd had enough.

One thing Hank and I didn't want to do was drive all that way only to be by ourselves the entire weekend (we can do that without traveling however many miles), so it worked out really great to camp out the first night with most all the civilians, and then the next morning we took off with Ron Mueller who stayed with us for another day and a half. Not only did he give us someone else to talk to, but he was really good and really helped to add to our fun and overall experience. We had some really neat conversations, and enjoyed sitting out looking at the stars at night.

Hank picked out a perfect little camp that was ours for both Friday and Saturday night. It had large stone deposited by the river in two sections of beach that made crossing it treacherous if taken too fast (twist ankle kind of stuff). We knew that it would allow us time to quickly depart into the woods ahead of the army should they find us, so we felt secure, and indeed we were. At night, when we finally went to bed we were lullabied to sleep listening to the river gently lap upon the shore, and should we open our eyes we'd see a combination of willow branches and stars overhead, and feel the sand underneath. It just doesn't get much better than that. I believe we found Milton's "Paradise Lost." I really didn't want to leave it on Sunday morning, but I didn't have a choice as the event would be ending in a few hours and then it would be back to the 21st century.

On the way back we were careful to try to avoid detection by either army, but alas the bushwackers accidentally ran into us on their way to flank the fort. They let us go with a warning not to tell anyone we saw them, and we asked the same of them. We finally found Silvana and gang at the wagon with two large shorthorn oxen grazing nearby. We all (still in character) shared our experiences with the armies, and talked about how we might find our homes upon returning, and wondered many other things that people wonder when they've been forced to refugee. All too soon the event was over and we all carried our stuff back up the hill that we had come down.

What an event! Oh, and did I mention the quartz? Yep, my suitcase was heavier coming home than it was going. :cry_smile

Linda.

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Marmaduke's Raid AAR

Hank/All-

Please don't be mislead if I haven't explained myself well enough. I feel that certain events (possibly consider Marmy's, Westville, Bummers) are the kind where civilians constitute almost a "3rd force". I certainly agree with Miss Silvana's feelings that civilians should be considered as important (and in certain events such as these previously mentioned- the focus of the event) as the blue or grey forces. Civilians add a wonderful aspect to our hobby and they should not be ignored, misused, disused or underestimated.

Well... Suppose 20 civilians show-up to an events and want to all be anti-Union portrayals? Well, I think in this case, the blue boys could lose-out on great interraction and an important facet of why they might have come to an event. The chances of this happening I don't think are great, but you never know.

I certainly don't advocate "controlling" the civilians, but I do think we could benefit from more organization, but only in certain events where civilians can be deemed central to the action. At Outpost, the civilians were not the focal point of the main scenario- so they were dealt with just fine. But in events where civilian interraction is a big part or a main part of the event action, like Marmaduke's, then more organization of the civilians could be helpful.

I think the military boys might have benefitted from an OC with each of their forces so that there would be a controller for 'dead platoon' (which can be fun to take a break from the action for 30 minutes or so and march back into the event under the command of a different commander from a different direction- this is challenging on commanders as well), give ideas and suggestions to commanders they might not have thought of, as well as a central point for EMS contact/safety concerns. Just an idea.

No "rigid control", but just "casual suggestions from a third party"... you could take the suggestion or leave it at your pleasure as the participant.

Hank, I know how feisty and independent you are, so I sure ain't telling you a thing... ha! :wink_smil LOL

Sorry if I didn't make that clear...

All the best... Johnny Lloyd :D

PS- Anyone got some good pics of the event? I have none due to the rules posted for the event.

[Amos]

Re: Marmaduke's Raid AAR

I was the lead prospector who allowed myself to be taken to the fort. If I wouldn't have been sick, I would have never gone anywhere near the fort. Friday morning I guess it was Reeve's Scouts who came down the ravine about 20 yards to the left of where I was. Sounded like a herd of cattle. :tounge_sm
Too bad the Fed's didn't check my pockets. I had some stuff they might have wanted to look at.
I was pretty disgusted that I drove 13 hours and then got sick.


Chuck "Amos" Reynolds

[LindaTrent]

Re: Marmaduke's Raid AAR

Well... Suppose 20 civilians show-up to an events and want to all be anti-Union portrayals? Well, I think in this case, the blue boys could lose-out on great interraction and an important facet of why they might have come to an event. The chances of this happening I don't think are great, but you never know.

So I take it you're being hypothetical here and not referring to Marmaduke's Raid in particular? If so, I must respectfully disagree. Great interaction isn't always dependent upon both civilian and military being on the same side. There's been a lot of great interaction between anti-Union civilians and Union military and vice-versa. Some of the greatest highlights of events for me is getting caught by the opposing side and having to maintain my poise and keep a clear train of thought as I try to talk my way out of situations, and I have heard military reenactors in their AARs agree about how much fun they had too.

But, if you were referring to MR specifically then yes, if the boys in blue remained in the fort all weekend and the civilians didn't wish to approach the fort then they did miss out on some cool interaction. But again, historically the citizens around Patterson did tend to be of the Southern persuasion, and after two years of raids from both sides, didn't particularly relish meeting up with either side.

But as it turned out several civilians were in the fort over the weekend. Amos, Ron, the Crabbs, and maybe a few more civilians, so I'd say you had a pretty fair number show up.

But in events where civilian interraction is a big part or a main part of the event action, like Marmaduke's, then more organization of the civilians could be helpful.

I don't know what you mean when you say more organizing of the civilians could be helpful. Silvana was the civilian coordinator and I think she put on one hell of a great event. Since you weren't on the civilian list for this event you weren't able to see the incredible amount of hours of detailed planning and organization that Silvana put in. The maps and emails and massive historic information provided to the participants, and the effort spent keeping the historic demographics realistic, I think it might be best not to complain about a lack of organization.

I can honestly say that Silvana's goal was to have the civilians be as historically accurate as possible, not only in their clothing and gear, but also in who they chose to portray. Perhaps the next event will have a more even mix of Union and Confederate civilians, or tip the scales more toward Union, but regardless our job is to try to recreate who lived in the area, and if the military encounters us then they will encounter someone similar to what they would have in 186x.

Linda.

[IowaYank]

Re: Marmaduke's Raid AAR

Chuck, so you actually were sick?? I thought that was all in first person. I was the younger of the three cavalry troopers that took you in on Friday. I must say, that jerky you had was awful delicious!! I would not have been so calous if I had known that you acutally were sick!

[Amos]

Re: Marmaduke's Raid AAR

I didn't think you were calous. I was just glad you weren't EMM. I was going to stop by and give you cav. guys the jerky on my way out but I got to gabbing and it slipped my mind.

Chuck "Amos" Reynolds