I had fun, how about you?

[Pvt_Sullivan]

I guess I'm the first to offer public praise for "Raising the First Volunteers"

Joe, Nathan and Tara deserve a hearty "Hurrah!" for the work they put in to make this event happen at historic Fort Snelling.

The participants all came and stepped off with their best foot forward and brought Old Fort Snelling and the events of April 1861 there alive.

There were hundreds of moments from electing Officers and NCOs, to being examined by the surgeon, taking the oath of enlistment, drill, filling out muster rolls and morning reports, drill, sitting down to meals, drill, standing guard and did I mention drill?

On Saturday Afternoon, myself, ROB Murray and Jim Moffet were watching the company march back from the flag presentation and in our opinion we couldn't remember a group that learned the principles of marching so well. That company looked perfect while marching and it was a high point of the event to see theory put into practice.

I had fun, how about you?

[JEBminnesota]

Re: I had fun, how about you?

Thank you to everyone who came out to Fort Snelling.
We will be getting out an official AAr report later this week.

[Jim Moffet]

Re: I had fun, how about you?

As I write, Our weather experience over the weekend is about to be reprised at best and 4" of snow at worse, so those of you who thought it was nasty could have gotten something worse! The elements did add a level of misery not usually expected at a garrison event!

Capt. Anderson Nelson, 10th US Infantry, had fun, too.

(aka Jim Moffet)

[Jeremy Bevard]

Re: I had fun, how about you?

This event had more memories than I can sort out so far. All of them good. Those that did not come out really did miss out on something special and lightening does not often strike twice (remember that Capt. Nelson!). A group of men started out with no military bearing at all on Thursday night. We really did start out as civilians who did not seem to have a clue how to get going. Having an old copy of Scotts for us to learn and teach really helped out in that area. By Saturday afternoon things were really coming togather. The military presence started to be felt. I have NEVER seen a group of men march so well as I saw on Saturday evening. In two ranks, closed up to proper distrance in perfect lock step. It made my heart beat quicker! Other good memories are small moments that were almost not stop with the wonderful people that I met there. This ranged from conversations with civilians, talk at the officers mess and learning the drill and making plans with Capt Colvill (Nathan Dapper). The details of all of those I believe I will keep to myself.

[JEBminnesota]

Re: I had fun, how about you?

Picture of the 1st Minnesota

[JEBminnesota]

Re: I had fun, how about you?

Some more photo's

[wavey1us]

Re: I had fun, how about you?

Damn! That looked cold. Love the pics of practicing lock step. I have done 1812-1830 US Infantry impression, lock step is a lot harder then it looks and takes a lot of practice. Since I live in Iowa, would love to make it up to Ft Snelling at some point in time. Guess I will wait till the snow melts.

[Spinster]

Re: I had fun, how about you?

It was a wonder to look up across the parade ground and suddenly see that step fall into place, and maintain as the men proceeded.

The jaw of a nearby officer landed on the ground with an audible thump.

Bill, men of Minnesota and Iowa would term the weather 't-shirt and flip-flop'.

After driving/riding 1100 miles with the heater blasting at 80, the ice shards around my heart have thawed out.....

[Jim Moffet]

Re: I had fun, how about you?

As the AAR should show, event planners revelled when we contemplated the possibilities for a grand event "drill-wise." When the Minnesota First arrived at Fort Snelling, the ONLY manual that was available in reasonable numbers was Scott's Tactics, and those booklets were purchased, read, comprehended, and taught to the men by the new officers and NCOs. What a God-send to us event planners! We knew that near-none of the participants would have a clue, and therefore the notion that "we are new to this and have to overcome this obstacle" was manifest in those who had won the elections to lead their peers. I watched the Captain ( Nathan Dapper aka William Colville) and his second (Jeremey Bevard aka 1st Lieut. Charles Powell Adams) spend HOURS in the evenings at the OQ reading, discussing, and then teaching, the pre-war "oddities" that Scott's Tactics ARE. By the time the 1st Minn hit Federal City, they had been issued a more modern manual (Hardee's), but this very early war event was all Scotts, and was taught well and properly! Lock-step, and all!

Jim Moffet

[Hank Trent]

Re: I had fun, how about you?

Is lock-step what that was called? Very cool-looking. I could definitely tell something was superior about the marching.

Not really sure how to dress as Gov. Sibley, I chose "gentleman farmer" and then added fur, and I guess it worked for the Minnesota weather. Not once was I ever cold, which surprised me, since I generally feel the cold worse than average. Hated to wear my overshirt indoors in the evening, but would have frozen otherwise, and layering it with broadcloth, a silk vest and kid gloves, hoped it would do.

What I loved about this event was never being lonely. Mr. Taunt and I hit it off grandly, and discussed everything from politics to scientific discoveries, as we shared our hotel room. Everyone I met seemed to really care, really have their A game on, and really get in the spirit of bringing 1861 to life. Absolutely a top-notch event. I loved every minute of it.

Unfortunately, my skills and knowledge of the whole northwest, fur trade, Indian and French part of the country are so lacking that I couldn't really feel anything like Gov. Sibley on the inside, but I tried to do my best to give the illusion on the outside.

Could have knocked me over with a feather when Dr. Potts suddenly walked into the room. I'd somehow missed him in my research and wouldn't have had a clue who he was, until a couple days before the event when I wanted to look up a local doctor's name, since I knew someone would ask about my injured arm. That's when I discovered I had a brother-in-law who was a doctor and read a thumbnail bio of him. In fact, not ten minutes before we met, I'd mentioned his name to someone at the event, with no clue he was in the next building over. With luck, I managed to keep dodging bullets like that. Who knew my roommate would be fluent in French? Sibley was, but I'm not. I didn't find out until the event was almost over, but I stayed real quiet when he started speaking French to someone else at the breakfast table, and thanked my lucky stars he'd never tried to talk with Sibley that way.

The story I told at the lyceum is from Sibley's autobiography here (big pdf file, scroll down to pdf pgs. 14-19), overlayed with the way Sibley's biographer Rhoda R. Gilman described his casual articles: "Mocking humor and a fashionable tone of self-deprecating superiority."

Again, it was a great event, I had a great time, hope to do it again, and as I told Jim Moffet afterwards, since this one only took two years to plan, but y'all have experience now, surely you can plan for the next one in only a year and a half. :)

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Neitz]

Re: I had fun, how about you?

Unfortunately, my skills and knowledge of the whole northwest, fur trade, Indian and French part of the country are so lacking that I couldn't really feel anything like Gov. Sibley on the inside, but I tried to do my best to give the illusion on the outside.

And here I thought you must have been a full time Sibley impersonator! To learn this makes me all the more impressed that you delivered an entertaining 30 minute talk at the Lyceum reminiscing about your days in the fur trade in first person. Well done!

John Neitz

http://www.facebook.com/MinneapolisTownCrier

[JEBminnesota]

Re: I had fun, how about you?

John,
You and the rest of the boys did an excellent show after the Lyceum. I have never seen that room come alive as it did Saturday night especial when just a few hours before that I saw the most authentic dinner I have ever seen in reenacting.
That evening I didn't even want to take a picture because I thought it would wreck the moment.

[Neitz]

Re: I had fun, how about you?

...the most authentic dinner I have ever seen in reenacting.

I hope somebody will write about the officers' dinner (and post photos, if any were taken) because, being a Private, I wasn't there. I would not have been too proud to press my face up against the window and gawk, but I didn't get around to it.