How did your mess get its name?

[Mississippian]

Re: How did your mess get its name?

The Tallahatchie Rifle Guards were named after the Tallahatchie River in north Mississippi. The river was very close to the traditional winter meeting camp of Cleburne's near Oxford MS. Several companies raised in the area during the war were named after the river.

Will MacDonald
Tallahatchie Rifle Guards

[Iceman]

Re: How did your mess get its name?

My mess, the Butcherknife Roughnecks, is a mess out of Arkansas, with some members in neighboring states. Taking inspiration from history and how some companies would identify themselves with local rivers, streams or creeks (i.e. The Beaver Creek Rifles, 4th Louisiana Inf., etc.) we found that in the State of Arkansas there is a creek by the name of Butcherknife (spelled as one word). Then, not wanting to use a generic term as "rifles", "grays", etc., we opted for "Roughnecks", which is a term that dates back to the 1830's.

[LWebster]

Re: How did your mess get its name?

Circa 1998 there was a decrepit cinder-block bar in or near Pasadena, TX called "The Night Monkey Lounge." The name was painted in lurid hand-scribed letters on a piece of black, warped plywood. Thus the Night Monkey Mess. Formed on the evening of the night assault @ Chickamagua in 1998. Founding members were Don Smith, Stan Whitehorn, Richard Sheppard &c. Joe Smotherman, Cody Mobley, & Tom Ezell were associated at one time or another, though I doubt they want to be reminded. All authenticated "Vaunted Giants of Reenacting," to use Mr. Whitehorn's phrase.

CL Webster
NMM

[GreencoatCross]

Re: How did your mess get its name?

The Randolph Mess was named in honor of the Vermont town (West Randolph) where Co. F 1st USSS was mustered and departed for Washington in Sept. 1861. We invariably have three to six members and the theme of the name is that we are all "original enlistees and veterans." Whomever is missing from the contingent when we actually get together to do a USSS impression, we explain away that they are sick in the hospital or detailed to break down the brigade commissary ovens.

We keep the name when we do other impressions and change the meaning if someone asks. My favorite explanation (and the stupidest) is that Mortimer Randolph was once a friend and benefactor who entered into a bet about whether or not a destitute beggar and a banker could successfully adapt to each other's lifestyles; in the end his two subjects turned against him and he was made penniless. For those of you paying attention, this is almost exactly the plot of the 1983 comedy "Trading Places."