Jonesville:Hell In Lee County

[Half Rations]

Re: Jonesville:Hell In Lee County

Upon hearing both sides of the argument it would appear that not event date but the event itself needs to be changed. From what I have read union forces operated in Lee county during the summer of 1864. It would seem best to do a tactical based off one of these operations if you see a need to keep the current dates.

Just my thoughts.

[lukegilly13]

Re: Jonesville:Hell In Lee County

Now, after giving it long thought, here is my response to the whole mess.

1. Brian Hicks is absolutely right and I appreciate you respectfully posting on here to prove a point that several folks have brought up. Who the hell are these guys hosting this event? The answer: NOBODIES. We are nobodies who have never hosted an authentic event before. Our thought was that maybe somebody would like to chance soemthing new and a little different. We have been in touch with some well respected organizations and some very well respected commanders and we awaiting there replies.

2. Nobody is attacking anybody on this thread so please everyone get off the defensive/offensive. All I have read are questions by potential participants that are understandable and organizers who have done a good job, completed their pre-event plannign, and have their ducks in a row should be able to answer. Maybe the fault lies with someone jumping the gun trying to make the event a "max effort" event on our first go around. That being said, I hope all of you come. I hope we have to close registration because the whole dang community decides to give us a whirl. But none of this can happen before some more planning has been done and some confirmations made.

I totally understand why folks who plan to drive many hours and use their saved up vacation time for an event would have questions such as these. Here's the truth. Most of the questions can be answered....but not until more planning has been done. Chad Wrinn had a good suggestions that the event move back.

I agreed to help Shawn as an organizer/coordinator because I have some experience with putting on events. Although this would be my first experience with hosting a reenactment of this sort...I have organized and planned many events at the National Park and I live rather close to the site. I do not have the experience to, nor do I wish, to command anything militarily. This is why I told shawn I would help organize and coordiante instead of backing out on him because of his lack of experience or because things weren't what/when I wanted them to be. I personally would like to see a group of young men come through for us and form a hell-of-a-time so I offered to help them in any way that I could.

I hope this helps. I will do my best to address any specific questions folks have posted but again...i'm only an organizer and cannot/will not answer some of the military aspects questions you have. It may take me a little while as I have a teething one-year-old on my left leg right now.

[btfire]

Re: Jonesville:Hell In Lee County

I deleted this post...moderators please complete the process...

[lukegilly13]

Re: Jonesville:Hell In Lee County

Upon hearing both sides of the argument it would appear that not event date but the event itself needs to be changed. From what I have read union forces operated in Lee county during the summer of 1864. It would seem best to do a tactical based off one of these operations if you see a need to keep the current dates.

Just my thoughts.

You make a good point. There were a few military operations during that summer. However, the surrender we wanted to recreate was a powerful happening and would be a blast to portray! I have sent shawn and the planners information on other portrayals that happened much closer to the dates he selected for the event.

[lukegilly13]

Re: Jonesville:Hell In Lee County

Any answers to the questions I asked in post 18? I think that would help reassure people that this season-change has been thought through. Marmarduke's Raid was held in the fall, portraying events in the spring, and when I asked the civilian coordinator the same kinds of questions, she gave a helpful answer.

I'll second what Brian and Joe say. Saying that reenactors don't want to be cold during reenactments of cold-weather events ignores many successful cold-weather events.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

I hope I answered this in the above post. Mr. Trent, if you have more questions feel free to ask and I'll do my best.

[lukegilly13]

Re: Jonesville:Hell In Lee County

Gentlemen,

1) What safeguards do you have in place to keep your planned tactical as a historically accurate portrayal of Civil War events and keep it from devolving into a game of 'Cowboys and Indians' while wearing 1860's clothing?

2) Why does your planned event rise above the efforts of other organizations to host events in 2010 and is worthy of being recognized by the AC Event Committee as one of the six best events of 2010?

I am just one of the skeptics wondering why I should plan to expend my personal resources in support of your event.

1. We are contacting experienced commanders with the know-how to get this done on the field. When shawn said tactical he misspoke. He should have said that it will be like a tactical experience for the enlisted men but of course the commanders will have an agenda as to end up in the proper places to do the exact historic portrayal on day 2. In other words, commanders will know where A and B are, but how they get there will be up to them.

2. To answer this one, right now it doesn't. Again, someone jumped the gun on trying to make this a max effort event. However, it does take place on orginal ground, it will involve a unique foraging experience, and maybe it will be a little different than some events you've been to before. I think the grounds are some of the best that you could expect and have all the aspects of creating a very special experience for those that attend. As planning continues we will have more details but of course we want to keep some of them secret as not to spoil the expereicne for participants.

If you have more questions feel free to shoot me a PM.

[BrianHicks]

Re: Jonesville:Hell In Lee County

.......

2. To answer this one, right now it doesn't. Again, someone jumped the gun on trying to make this a max effort event.

You're probably right on this one. If their hadn't been such a sudden push by so many members of the mess sponsoring the event to make this one of the 'Max Effort' events in the 2010 folder, then it most likely wouldn't have suddenly attracted so much scrutiny.

I'd encourage the event organizers to designate a single person to be the open communicator for this event. Let that person post information, and reply on the forums to issues about the event. This person should be in continuous communications with the other event sponsors so as to make certain that all responses and communications are coming from everyone with the same voice, and that the other event sponsors know what is being posted ahead of time... so that no one is blind-sided. A good practice is to circulate a draft of all open forum responses, e-mails and PM replies to event specific questions, as well as general event information posts, amongst the event sponsors so as to get everyone's input prior to making the post/email/pm.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Jonesville:Hell In Lee County

I hope I answered this in the above post. Mr. Trent, if you have more questions feel free to ask and I'll do my best.

Um, guess I missed it. Or I didn't ask my question clearly.

Or did you mean that the answer is that the scenario might still be switched to something that historically happened in summer, so plans for January-in-July aren't definite yet?

Here was my question:

Out of curiosity, will you be pretending it's January in July as much as possible? For example, obviously not wearing greatcoats and scarves, but doing things like limiting food to what's appropriate for midwinter rather than midsummer, and expecting participants to use a January date for newspapers, letters from home, mention of current events, etc.?

Or will you be pretending the historic events happened in July rather than January, and if so, the July of the year before, or the year after?

In other words, if someone had a recent newspaper or letter from home, should it be dated January (or late December) of 1864, or July of 1863, or July of 1864?

On a separate topic, any need for a civilian or non-combatant role? :D I'm always willing to throw some support toward new and upcoming organizers.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[lukegilly13]

Re: Jonesville:Hell In Lee County

Um, guess I missed it. Or I didn't ask my question clearly.

Or did you mean that the answer is that the scenario might still be switched to something that historically happened in summer, so plans for January-in-July aren't definite yet?

Here was my question:

Out of curiosity, will you be pretending it's January in July as much as possible? For example, obviously not wearing greatcoats and scarves, but doing things like limiting food to what's appropriate for midwinter rather than midsummer, and expecting participants to use a January date for newspapers, letters from home, mention of current events, etc.?

Or will you be pretending the historic events happened in July rather than January, and if so, the July of the year before, or the year after?

In other words, if someone had a recent newspaper or letter from home, should it be dated January (or late December) of 1864, or July of 1863, or July of 1864?

On a separate topic, any need for a civilian or non-combatant role? :D I'm always willing to throw some support toward new and upcoming organizers.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

As of right now, it should be dated January. We still want to go with the actual Jonesville engagement. I have recommended that maybe we switch to portraying the picket struggles that happened around July. If we decide to go with that change, we will do so by Wednesday and someone will post the change. The thing is, the surrender there is a really neat thing to portray and the deck is stacked against us in the Winter.

We do have a scenario for civilians...i'll e-mail you the details!!!!

[Haversack]

Re: Jonesville:Hell In Lee County

I did jump the gun on this with trying to make it a max effort event on our first time planning an event of this sort,and I apologize for that.I will say,however,that I did have people advising me to try and make it an EBUFU event.Sorry.

[BrianHicks]

Re: Jonesville:Hell In Lee County

I did jump the gun on this with trying to make it a max effort event on our first time planning an event of this sort,and I apologize for that.I will say,however,that I did have people advising me to try and make it an EBUFU event.Sorry.

... and it appears as though this event has the potential to be a rather good, small sized EBUFU event. If you haven't participated in numerous EBUFU events before, then you may have difficulties understanding the expectations of your target audience (and hence the many questions so far).

You've received some good advice from a number of folks here, I hope you consider much of it, and continue to work towards a successful event.

Good luck.

[Haversack]

Re: Jonesville:Hell In Lee County

Thanks Brian.We are definately going to be looking at all of the advice we have been given by some more experienced people.We are going to do everything in ourr power to make sure the event is successful and that all who attend have a wonderful experience.

[Jim of The SRR]

Re: Jonesville:Hell In Lee County

First, I think Shawn and his guys are a great addition to the c/p/h community. I really enjoy the enthuisiam they are showing. However, I truly feel you need to get some experience under your belt as c/p/h reenactors before attempting to host and organize an actual event. My advise is to get a at least a few events under your belts and take part in the c/p/h community first! Heck you just formed your mess and attended your first c/p/h event over the past 6 months and now you are ready to organize an event!? You don't start writing books having not read any beforehand. To be blunt, aside from Shawn, I have never seen any of these names on any c/p/h event roster or met or seen at any c/p/h event (and my understanding was that Race to Knoxville was Shawn's first c/p/h event and I met him there for the first time without ANY of his comrades).
Also, you have 125 acres of land. Hardly enough for a baseball game, let alone a reenactment of any size.
Second, getting qualified commanders is different than having qualified organizers. It is incumbent on teh organizer to earn everyones trust that they know what they are doing and have the EXPERIENCE to do it.
Yes, all events are imperfect. I have seen some curve balls thrown at experienced organizers in the midst of an event. It has nothing to do with the scenario or dates. I consider the experience and maturity of the organizer when determining if I will support the effort.
Again, I think these guys will be great addition to the c/p/h community, but maybe just taking a deep breath and slowing down a bit first might be suggested. I hope I am proven wrong and their efforts are succesful in any case.

Jim Butler

[Ryan Halsey]

Re: Jonesville:Hell In Lee County

THanks for all the advice guys. I know you guys havent seen me at events before.....thats because I play baseball almost year round. I end up registering and not be able to go because of baseball.I perfectly understand the questions and doubts. Once again, thanks for the advice.

[Charlie Newman]

Re: Jonesville:Hell In Lee County

thanks for the advice guys,we really appreciate it!