In September of 2016, a little over 150 years after the end of the American Civil War, a group of reenactors, sponsored by the Shelby County Historical Society and the City of Sidney, set up camp in the Tawawa Park area. This was to be a weekend of reenactments, period music, education, and time for our local residents to actually come in contact with "Billy Yanks" and "Johnny Rebs". The weather wasn't very cooperative, but I guess that depends on your point of view. I thought it added the final, best touch of reality. I know for a fact that it rained more than once on me when I was in the service, so this just added a whole lot of reality to everything -- at least from my perspective. Can't speak for everyone else.
In the bivouac area, there were lots of tents spread throughout the woods, broken down into the Yankee and Rebel camps, separated by a respectable distance and suitable terrain and guards. The coolest part of the separation was the two sides each occupied a side of the old red covered bridge. They had bales of hay and barricades set up and yelled things back and forth at each other. Of course the "observers" were allowed to cross over into the various camps, but only after being warned about the "low life so-and-so" troops on the other side.
One of the first tents I came to in the Union camp was that of General Burnside. This gentleman had him down pretty well, even to the famous sideburns. It seems we interrupted the General as he was inspecting his rifle prior to going into battle later that afternoon.
The tents looked like every other tent I have seen at battlefields and in books. Nothing fancy, and probably not very dry or warm.
After walking around, talking to some of the soldiers there, we went over to the Rebel side of the creek and had a look around. Things looked pretty much the same.
There was a small boy over in the Confederate camp. He traveled with his parents on some of the trips during the summer or to some of the bigger events. This was September, so it must have qualified as one of the bigger events. He looked pretty wet and tired.
One point I was really glad the group emphasized was the medical aspect of being a field hospital on a Civil War battlefield. There was a "surgeon" who set up a tent with a lot of visual aids and lots of antique period medical pieces. He spent lots of time talking to people about the horrors of his part of the war. He really emphasized that a lot of his "medical training" was hands-on and field expediency. You don't see it in this picture, but he had a big pile of "arms and legs" piled up to the side of the tent.
Later that day, after walking around for the whole afternoon, talking to people, learning a lot more about their craft, we were treated to a concert by a Yankee band (made up mostly of college students and National Guard and Reservist band members from current day units around the states). They did this all over the place and were very good. It was still raining off and on, so the band played under a tent. It was an evening performance, and it really just felt good to take it all in and listen to the dialogue as well as the music. The director wanted to use kerosene lights in the tent to continue the mood, but the musicians were unable to see the sheets so they settled on one spotlight aimed up at the tent.
And just before the night battle, we walked around the night campsite. People were settling into their nightly routines. Cooking, building campfires, and singing some songs and playing old music instruments.
I know a lot of you probably aren't in to this very much, but it was an absolutely fantastic weekend for me.
"Here, in the dread tribunal of last resort, valor contended
against valor. Here brave men struggled and died for the right as God
gave them to see the right." (Adlai E. Stevenson I)
Hooah
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