BACKWATERS AARs

[Michael Comer]

Re: BACKWATERS AARs

I know that didn't feel good but I have to admit when we reformed the company after that fracas and you were standing there with a bloody mouth and Davis next to you with blood all over his hand from wrestling with a bramble bush on the way in to the attack, it sure looked like we'd been in a real scrap I must say.

[Jon The Beloved]

Re: BACKWATERS AARs

What about that totally freaked out local who was in the wrong place at the wrong time when we (1st Battalion CS) were looking for a fight? His look and hands up were priceless.. "For God's sakes don't shoot!" We even made a fearful impression on the local fodder. For all I know this man could have been involved in.. event support?

Oh and btw, I keep meeting the best people all around in this hobby.. or maybe I just keep going to all the right events. Well done, all.

[Mcguire]

Re: BACKWATERS AARs

This was without a doubt the most physically demanding event I have experienced. Having endured rigourous events in the past, to include Fighting Withdrawal, Banks Grand Retreat, and Marmadukes Raid, this event was the first that I fell out from the main body. With about 3 miles to go to the parking area I just had to sit down to regain my strength and over the course had to stop several more times. I'm no spring chicken but I have always been able to hang with the boys. To have to fall out was demoralizing to say the least. It left me wondering whether I should just get out of the hobby; living history doesn't cut it and the thought of doing mainstream is not an option. After reading some of the posts I feel a little bit better about these concerns. I guess I''l just have to choose my battles with a bit more srutiny in the future.

To Mike Comer and the boys in Co. A: thanks for the commraderie and a great experince. To my file partner (you know who you are) You obviousley didn't read the impression guidelines and you didn't even try to stay in first person! Thanks for ruining the moment! Mike, it was a pleasure to serve under you once again. You always look after your boys and we always appreciate it. You are the type of commander anyone would follow to the death!

Great job by all of the Confederate Commanders, often times this is a thankless job and until those that would condemn your performance have walked a mile in your shoes they have no right to criticize. Patrick, detached, aloof, and somewhat irritable would have probably been the norm for Confederate commanders especially at this time in the war. Thrust into roles that they weren't prepared for due to attrition, having to endure scarcity, four years of suffering, and finally continuing to wage war in a lost cause would have had a profound effect on behavior. Great job this weekend! Some people just can't seperate the impression from the person behind it.

[BrianHicks]

Re: BACKWATERS AARs

219 Total registered.

170 Signed in at registration and were active on Saturday morning.

142 Men were active at the start of the march on Sunday morning.

In 24 Hours of active campaigning, 24 men were attrited.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Federals had 74 Registered

Total number of Federals on the field at the start of the event: 57

On Sunday Morning they were down to 52 who started the march out.

-Company C had 30 men at the event on Saturday Morning:

They had 27 make the walk out on Sunday.

-Company B had 27 Men at the event on Saturday Morning:

25 Walked out on Sunday Morning

Confederates had 127 Registered.

Total number of Confederates on the field at the start of the event: 99.

On Sunday Morning they were down to 76 who started the march out.

Partisans had 18 Registered.

14 participated in the event.

[Coatsy]

Re: BACKWATERS AARs

Well Brian beat me to the punch, but there is a discrepancy since I forgot to count the Ken, myself, Kaelin, Nate, Landrum, and Chad in our Saturday numbers..... I don't care anymore since the war is almost over anyway.... I need to get back to Georgia!!!!!

At the event the Confederate forces had a unique opportunity to portray portions of 2 regiments of Mercer’s Georgia Brigade. Pat Landrum’s force was portraying portions the 57th Georgia and Kiev Thomason’s force was portraying portions of the 54th Georgia. I say “portions” because according to the documentation the men had been strung out on their travels from Winter Quarters in Mississippi to the Carolinas. Colonel C. Olmstead the usual commander of the brigade had gotten permission to go back to Georgia to round up men on “French Leave.” So the rag tag commands were not uncommon at this time.

57th Georgia

Rickett’s Company: 11
Lewis’ Company: 13
Dyckes’ Company: 8
Bruegger’s Company: 21
Staff: 3

Total: 56

54th Georgia

Hancock’s Company: 14
Cooper’s Company: 9
Comer’s Company: 23
Staff: 1

Total: 47

Brigade Staff: 3

Grand Total: 106

Picket Duty went well enough in the drizzle/rain/wind/cold.. Thank you to all the men of the brigade who stood guard like the men of old. We had one deserter escape during the 10pm to Midnight shift. Sgt Roberts and others told the cowardly deserter (all fun and games here) to halt and then fired upon the man. The deserter received the same welcome form the Federals as we all heard…..

Bruegger’s Company 4-6 pm
Cooper’s Company 6-8 pm
Dycke’s Company 8-10 pm
Comer’s Company 10 pm-Midnight
Lewis’ Company Midnight – 2am
Hancock’s Company 2 am – 4am
Rickett’s Company 4am to 6am

Very exciting stuff!

Sunday was a bit different though. We went from 106 to 76.. Yikes! Prisoners, injuries, and Skunk Ape takes a toll!!!!

My morning reports were either captured or soaked and made illegible. Only by the quick thinking of Lt. Vernon doing a head count of the brigade did the Sunday totals come out in a reasonable sense. Kaelin thank you very much!

It was an interesting event from a staff roll. The constant rain made it difficult to take the time to tally the numbers when. It seemed to always drizzle or rain when I had a chance to compute the totals. Also at this time historical returns for these two units are almost impossible to find. I went with the standard company morning reports and weapons inspections. Then up to battalion morning reports and battalion weapons inspections. My form 13s and 14s got soaked and were useless and one of my form 3’s got used to start a fire…. (Schnapps don’t have a heart attack I had not filled it out yet) Interesting note: The “brigade staff” ended up splitting up between the two commands. Our bugler went with Captain Landrum and the two remaining staff weenies Ken Cornett and some Herb guy went to assist Captain Thomason seeing as his battalion staff was on French Leave in Augusta, Ga.

The stepping up of the “junior” officers to take charge of the companies, and senior captains getting bumped up to battalion and brigade commands made for an interesting command experience.

From my staff weenie vantage point all of the Secehs company commanders did an outstanding job. From Lt. Hancock’s quiet and noble bearing to Lt. Bruegger’s daredevils the command had its different styles of leadership, but they melded together to form a rag tag band of Johnny’s that worked well together. Captain’s Thomason and Landrum did an outstanding job in their positions. (wanted or not!) I was slightly embarrassed that I was not in camp Friday PM to help direct arrivals to their company camps, but alas I was helping ferry participants to their respective drop off points. Lt. Jones of Comer’s Company filled in for me and I appreciate that

Finally to all of the men that I was able to serve with this weekend... Thank you very much for just being there and going through the event recreating the men of 1865 to the best of your ability. I've been very very tired of this whole hobby since after that event that cannot be named last November. If you can believe it in some bizarre way this event helped remind me how much I like being a moron and camping on the ground and eating salty pork. (sho am good!)

Art, Bill, Josh, and that Crazy Brian guy get mad thumbs up for a unique, challenging, and ultimately rewarding event. It wasn't perfect, but it came very close to what I've read in those history books that we read every now and again.

Also I swear I had a Yearby/Baker/Aufmuth/Ox/Mobely/Holler sighting, but I attribute that to severe fatigue.

[sam H]

Re: BACKWATERS AARs

Brueggers company actually had 18. 2 guys were no where to be found friday and one cut up his hand soon after ariving to camp. The original Company H at Bentonville had 1 captain 2 Lts. 4 NCO's and 13 privates. So we came pretty close.

[Hairy Nation Boys]

Re: BACKWATERS AARs

"Also I swear I had a Yearby/Baker/Aufmuth/Ox/Mobely/Holler sighting, but I attribute that to severe fatigue. "

I was not there. Must have been fatigue.

[unclefrank]

Re: BACKWATERS AARs

Did anybody catch the serial number of the rifle that busted my mouth as we (well some of us) hit the Federal works on Saturday? Awesome event.

Or the hobnailed boot that broke one of my toes and sprained the rest of the foot

[Greg Barnett]

Re: BACKWATERS AARs

Backwaters.

demoralizing: to deprive (a person or persons) of spirit, courage, discipline, etc.; destroy the morale of: The continuous mud sucking march demoralized the infantry.

Good Times.

[Old Reb]

Re: BACKWATERS AARs

Well, I admit it, we were there, but we did no harm to women or children because there weren't any women and children to harm. Below is what my AAR would be if partisans wrote AAR's.


Despite the loss of one third of the effective combat team from the onset including me due to the fact the three squads became separated early Saturday morning while moving in the creek bottoms east of Tharp road the remainder of the team managed to cross north of Tharp road and achieved all objectives of the mission. Cut off behind enemy lines and with shortages of water and adverse weather conditions the operation was successful in forcing the enemy to divert needed resources to defend against a much smaller harassing force and plagued the enemy on its movement out of the area. I contribute this to the quality of the men in the group with special praise for squad leaders Johnson and Mobley who showed expert leadership under adverse conditions. I submit the names of the following men for there above and beyond actions in the Backwaters area.

Adam Johnson
Cody Mobley
Jared Nichols
Geoff Lehman
Ryan Johnson
Caleb Henson
Frank Aufmuth
Cornbread
Joe Allport

wounded:
Steve Boecker

MIA:
Fred Baker
Jake
Holler
Uncle Tom

Submitted 15th March 1865
Tom Smyth
Captain Yadkin Independent Scouts

[Phantom Captain]

Re: BACKWATERS AARs

Wow,

Had a miserable (GREAT!) time! I want to thank everyone for putting this on and letting us all take part in it. And especially a big thanks to our officers and NCO's who kept it all together and running as smoothly as possible. Finally a HUGE thanks to Lt. Eichler for the sleeping cap (life saver) and 1st Sgt. Roscoe for lending me a wool issue shirt (huge life saver). Thank you!! I am so happy and proud to have been a part of this event.

Highlights for me...

The ration issue, just amazing. That soft bread and cheese for Feds saturday morning really got our spirits up! I truly felt blessed as the soldiers must have when they got more than hardtack and fatty salt horse. Guarding the prisoner friday night was a really neat addition. Me and my guard partner sat there trying to figure out who he was or what he did. No one had given us any details other than we were to guard the prisoner. Moving out saturday morning on the march as our advance platoon cleared terrain feature to terrain feature through the rain and mist. Had a series of period moments through that morning on that march looking at the men and the moving line. Picket duty once we had reached our objective and being stuck standing out there in the rain and cold complaining to the other pickets around me. Awesome! As soon as we got back from that duty one of my section pards mentioned that as soon as we sat down he had a feeling we would get hit. Sure enough, five minutes after sitting down came the warning that Reb skirmishers had been spotted, gear up! Awesome. Being posted as a flanker and spotting Reb pickets moving down from the woods probing us was fantastic. I even got a few shots off at them. Unfortunately as we were moving back to the brestworks one of there pickets managed to skip a ball off the ground and hit me in the back of the calf (pulled my calf muscle pretty bad in actuality). I stuck to it and did what I could being restricted to pretty much one leg and the other on fire with every step. Good times! I took wood duty within the works and did as much as I could.

Saturday night picket duty was one of the most miserable, cold, wet, awful things I've ever done and I'll NEVER forget it. As terrible as it was it was the BEST thing that I took from the event. I've truly had a taste of the misery those men must have felt EVERY DAY. It was incredible. It was so dark in the clouds and rain I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. The rain was constant except at the times where it picked up and poured instead. Me and my picket partner complained that a whole company could move up between the LP's and we wouldn't be able to see or even hear them due to the rain noise. It was total hell and in retrospect truly incredible.

Sunday morning being roused and formed up on the road in the dark was also a period moment I'll never forget. Moving out and being told to muffle everything and stay quiet as the sky just perceptibly lightened. Hitting those Reb pickets and pressing the fight down that road as dawn broke will never be forgotten by me. I pitched in all I could while limping along to the medical wagons. Unfortunately due to my wounding I had to be evacuated out by medical wagon as I could never have made the march through the mud (very pissed about it actually but what can you do. My pards told me that I would never have made it and been stuck out there in the mud so it was the best thing for me to do).

I too got to bring a few (4) wood ticks home with me as new friends! Just like the real soldiers. I'll never forget it and will hold the entire miserable, wet, cold experience always close to my heart.

Thanks to everyone!

[Micah Trent]

Re: BACKWATERS AARs

57th Ga. Co. E
1st Battalion
Rickett’s Company

We arrived in camp shortly after dark on Friday evening. Our battalion was camped along a road in some woods, where we spent a good time in the dark trying our best to find wood for fire. After about an hour of gathering wood, we were ordered to go get our rations. The rest of the evening was spent trying to keep the fires stoked, cooking the rations, staying warm as temps were dropping, and get what rest we could get.
The night was cold with little drizzle at times. For the most part it was pretty quiet only hearing sounds travel from men talking around other fires in the woods. Every once in a while you could hear a pack of coyotes off in the distance making noise but that was it.
Shortly before sunlight Saturday morning, we formed company in the street. Our company was at eleven men strong. Once accounted for, we broke camp and fell in as a battalion. Around this time the rain had begun to pick up and many of us were using our ground clothes or whatever we had to wrap around us to keep our clothing and leathers dry.
After little battalion drill, we began our march down the muddiest roads I have traveled on. The rain had made the roads muddy with water standing in spots, and as each man passed and stomped through one spot, it made that one spot tougher to pass through for the next. Other then a short 10 minuet break, we went six miles before our first major stop for water refill. During this time, there was this one big hill we went up that bothered me for the rest of the weekend. While going up, my left hip popped and the pain from it grew more and more with each step I took. I kept pushing forward, but my pace was much slower.
Several miles up the road we finally made contact with the Federal army. After a few rounds we fell back. At this point Runyon and Adams disappeared from our company. I was placed on picket for a while waiting for a possible advance from the enemy, but no advance was made. Typically I am talkative and so forth, but this afternoon I was more then quiet. The pain in my hip was at the point of I quit.
When orders were given to fall in, Clark and I stayed in camp to keep fires going and rest a bit as we were both not feeling capable of moving a few more miles as the boys were going to go out and find the Federal’s somewhere not too far away.
A couple of hours later we were told that camp had been moved and that we were to join our men about a mile in a half up the road. Disgusted and cursing we slowly made our way to our new camp. The dry socks I had just placed on my feet from the earlier march were soaked within minuets going down the road. We arrived at our new camp tired, hurting, and as a typical soldier I complained and cursed the place and the officers.
The rest of the evening I tried to sleep and get rest. Still not saying much, cold, wet and hurting I slept next to a fire. I got some meds which helped some, but never really got to feeling better till sometime late night.
At four a.m. Sunday morning, we were assigned to Picket Duty. I was assigned to first watch and it did not take long to hear movement up ahead on the main road and in the tree lines up ahead. There was movement going on as campfires were blinking in the distance. I reported to Sgt. Ewing what was happening as we were not sure if it was just federal pickets, a company, or if the entire army was on their way.
We acted as a guard as the battalion was formed. We were replaced by another company as we fell in on the battalion. We fell back forming lines at various points. Our company took casualties as Sgt. Ewing, Cpl. Rector, and Privates Clark and myself were done for.
All in all, other then the pain, I had a good time with my pards. The environment, the surrounding, the setting, etc…it was as close as you could get to feeling what the real boys did. It literally kicked my butt and some. The highlight came after the event as I was pulling out of a gas station there in Dover and a Stewart County Sherriff stopped me for speeding. Ugh…

[unclefrank]

Re: BACKWATERS AARs

Boy, what a backbreaker that event was. It really made me realize that old men didn't last too long in the ranks. Biggest lesson I learned was that you can't have too much dubbin on your brogans!

[yanksaintgood]

Re: BACKWATERS AARs

I wore no socks, other then a slight bit of corduroy over my toes. I ended with not a single blister or rub. Guess that's what being in Co H from 61-65 does to your feet.

P. Bernardo Abbey

[Tejano]

Re: BACKWATERS AARs

Tom,
So going to Backwaters is what you ment when you said that you were going hunting.