Stone's River AAR

[coastaltrash]

Arrived Friday night about 8 p.m to find the camp active and alive. It has been since Pickett's Mill that I've been out with the usual group of guys, so it was great having all the jokes fly and then I noticed Mitch Critel. Mitch brought with him much knowledge of the Trans Miss, commissary and Pancake Schnapps. All present had too good of a time and slumber was heavy in the camp.

Saturday brought great drill during the demos. I got to see some folks I haven't seen in a REALLY long time, like Ethan Harrington, Dale Davidson and Sam Skemp.

The commissary did a great job and made this deep south boy realize that there is some gravy I'm just not willing to have seconds of. Morris, Ellis Skemp, Davidons and Woodburn kept us well fed all weekend long.

I want to say thanks to Joe Blunt for coming up as our regimental sutler, Art Milbert for doing the work on the event and the guys that showed up. The WIG has been crying out for a battalion drill event for over 4 years now, we did it and I'm thankful to the guys that showed up. Numbers were low, but we had a great time, hope to see the others out in the near future.

More Pancakes!

[Justin Morris]

Re: Stone's River AAR

To second what Mr. Landrum said, this was a good event, with many good friends. In 10 years of being in this hobby I had never been in the commissary/quartermaster end of things. Cooking for 30 men is a hard job and kept 5 of us busy.

Thank you to Yankee Justin for carving up the side of beef. Excellent job sir.
Glad to have Temperance Justin (Pope) fall in with us, you did an outstanding job sir and we hope you can come back soon.
Great to spend time with old friends and be back out in the field with all of you. Looking forward to Resaca and Bummers next year. Hope to see all of you at the Nashville Show!

Signed,
Secesh Justin

[Hardees Guard Private]

Re: Stone's River AAR

Sirs it was a pleasure to fall in with yall and i look foward to being able to attend more excellent events such as this.I would like to personally thank everyone in the W.I.G for accepting me as one of their own.As with secesh Justin i look foward to Resaca and Bummers next year both look to be very different and exciting events.Until next time (and the Nashville Civil War Show)

Respectfully

Temperance Pope

[Michael Comer]

Re: Stone's River AAR

I had a very good, relaxing weekend. The weather was beautiful, the drill was good and I learned quite a bit. I especially liked doing stuff by the left flank which is very seldom covered.

I came back feeling quite refreshed and very glad I attended. I enjoyed the entertainment on Sat. evening and thank the fellows who were in contention for WIG commander for providing that for us.

One of the gauges of event success for me is if I come away learning or having a better understanding of something and I got that this weekend. My personal thanks to all those that put this together.

[Matt Woodburn]

Re: Stone's River AAR

I had a fine time and it was good to see so many friends. I want to thank all of my hard-working and very able assistants in the Commisary and Quartermaster Departments for having worked their butts off. That would be Commisary Sgt. Dale Davidson, Quartermaster Sgt. Justin Morris, and army cooks Evan Ellis and Sam Skemp. I'll second thanks to Adjutant Justin Runyon for butchering the leg of beef. You all executed the plans perfectly and even gave the boys something to complain about when the gravy wasn't exacly like their mama's made. We leave the men continuing to have high thoughts of their mother's cooking. And thanks for seeing that all of the quartermaster stores were properly issued and signed for. It's not often that every man is issued socks and half of the enlisted men are issued bayonet scabbards. The WIG event planning committee hoped that many of you would enjoy going home with $100 of new gear that you weren't expecting. Cheers! I also want to thank Rick Green, aka Professor Barclay, for a fine 19th century magic show. I've always enjoyed magic shows, and a researched one from the Civil War era was a real treat. To the rest of my fellow event planners, thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Quatermaster. It's always an honor to work with you all.

[fahtz]

Re: Stone's River AAR

I am just now back to Evansville. I had a pretty good time down in 10-I-C.
Had a good time drilling with the various commander of the WIG. Also had a wonderful time seeing old pards and refreashing relationships that have lapsed over the years. I was one of the lucky few to get my $100 dollars worth of gear. Carrying an empty bayonet scabbard around saturday and sunday helped Tim Prince make a sale of an original bayonet this morning. So the money the WIG gave me ended up going to one of their members! All and all it was WELL WORTH the time and money spent on the trip! Even the billion and a half mosquito bites all over are little to squash the quality of this event.

Thansk to the WIG for planning a great event, Joe for a quality sutlery, Jim Lewis of the park, and everyone involved! See everyone at the Nashville Show in December!

[stri volunteer]

Re: Stone's River AAR

From Jim Lewis, my old boss when I was an intern last summer at STRI:
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It was a blast. Great weather, lots of visitors and an amazing group of
guys. For me the highlight was the sutler and full-blown quartermaster
issue in camp.

Jim Lewis
Park Ranger
Stones River National Battlefield
3501 Old Nashville Highway
Murfreesboro, TN 37129