Monday, March 25, 2013

Back into Wool



Hurricane WV

March 23-24, 2013


The regimental meeting had brought back the taste of wool and the desire to wear it.  Hurricane WV came and offered that chance to get that wool fix.

I arrived early on Friday, setting up camp with the 5th KY.  It was a cold day—unlike our experience from the year before.  Jeff Carte was not going to be arriving until late, so he gave me his tent to set up.

The 5th KY and I meandered out to the Hill Billy Hot Dog—the place we discovered at Guyandotte last year.  With only a half hour drive, there was not much problem getting out to it.  They remembered us from last year—this will likely be our regular semi-annual feasting place.

Somewhere in setting things up I lost the heel plate from one of my brogans, but fortunately the sutler—Riverside—who had sold me heel plates at Guyandotte when I lost my other heel plate was there to attach the slab of metal.

That night was cold—I was bundled up as tight as I could, but the zipper of my army sleeping bag had stuck—so I had to fight with keeping the bag closed underneath the seventy blankets I had on top of me.  But I managed to make it through without any frostbite.  Someone said the temperature had dropped to the teens during the night.

Biscuits and gravy with potatoes waited for us at breakfast.   It was a decent experience.

I was under the impression this was the 5th’s spring drill, but though the did drill, it was no different than a normal drill at any event.  But at least we did drill.

We fought the battle in the valley against a hill, pushing the few Yankees back, flanking them up the hill—though only Capt Steiner and a few others of us were will to tredge up the hill.  I got volunteered by Jeff Carte when Capt Steiner shouted down the hill for volunteers to follow him up.  The only issue I ran into was with Christine—my musket.  I had greased the lockplate up so well for the winter that the hammer would not click when going to half-cock or full cock.   It was perfectly silent—I had to guess at the right position and hoped it would hold.  I cleaned off that excess grease immediately following the battle.

We saw a mix of units there—one unit seemed okay as far as what they were doing, but several others scared us.  One unit lined up beside us on the path as we waited to enter the battle, and when their commander ordered, “Front,” he qualified it with “Now when I say, ‘Front,’ I mean that I want you to form a single rank toward me.  Since I had my ear plugs in, I was not sure I had actually heard right, so I turned to the private in front of me and asked him.  “You had heard right,” he said, with the same of surprise as I had.

The end of the battle brought another shocker to me—I learned a new command as the color company passed us returning to their camp.  From Color Company, I heard their sergeant shout, “Prepare to halt,” followed with “Halt!”  I wonder if the also have “Prepare to right face” or “Prepare to march”.

That night we spent our time around the campfire, reminiscing of past events and planning for the coming events, along with laughing and joking.  I missed these times, even if only a few short months ago, and was glad to be back into it.

Saturday night was much warmer than Friday, and I was able to fix my zipper.  But the morning brought with it a serious threat for rain, so everyone dropped canvas early.  We were all packed by around 10 am, and many already started leaving, expecting rain to hit about the time for battle.  We were hearing of 6 to 8 inches of snow back home.  We paid $10 to be here, and it did not sound like a fun way to finish the weekend.  Capt Steiner, Susan DellaFlora, Jeff Carte, and I were the last of the 5th KY to leave, waiting for the last of our fire to die, shortly before noon.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

The Regimental Meeting 2013


The Regimental Meeting

Heritage Center
Springfield, Ohio

March 2, 2013


Finally, we take a look at the year ahead of us.  Capt. Sharp opened the meeting with a review of 2012, going through each of the events that were on the 1st Tennessee’s schedule and bringing up what was remembered about them.

Ten events were up for vote, with two being on the same weekend in May.  Surprisingly, some of the regular events did not make the official list—garnering an insufficient number of votes.

The list of events that the 1st Tennessee will be attending for 2013 include:

April 13-14 Spring Drill at Pioneer Village
May 25-26 Ohio Village, Columbus, Ohio
June 22-23 Reynoldsburg Ohio
July 4-7 Gettysburg, PA
July 19-21 Buffington Island, OH
September 28-29 Pioneer Village

As Capt Sharp noted, it is a bit of a lean list, although the Durbin Bean Bake Labor Day weekend is also unofficially on the list.  I’m certainly not satisfied with only six events.

The events I have on my plate include the above (except for the company drill):

March 23-24 Hurricane WV
April 13-14 Battalion drill at Fort Recovery.
May 18-19 Conner Prairie, IN
July 13 Harrison OH
July 27-28 Greenville OH
October 12-13 Hartford City
August 10-11 Hale Farm, OH
August 24-25 Jackson MI
September 7-8 Zoar, OH
September 19-22 Chicamauga, GA
October 26-27 Fort Wayne, IN

Sharon Woods was a popular choice among the 1st Tennessee, so there might be enough for a company going there.   The Independent Guard Battalion is going to Conner Prairie, so since I’m on staff as major, my duties fall there.

Awards and promotions were given, with Chris Silvers promoted to corporal, Jeff Carte to quartermaster sergeant to replace Gary Shaw, whose health (after four heart attacks last year) can no longer hold out for the role.  Andrew Mott was promoted to Lieutenant, and Jim Kletzli to 1st sergeant.

Pvt Butch Foster getting his "Most Memorable Moment" award.