Through the Woods

Sharon Woods Heritage Village
Sharonville, Ohio

Photo courtesy Cincinnati Enquirer

July 9-10, 2016

Arriving Friday at Sharon Woods Heritage Village was unremarkable.  I was the first of the company to arrive, so I found our designated campsite and pitched my tent.  A steady stream arrived, and by nightfall most of the 1st Tennessee was present.

The night was warm, so I laid my poncho under a tree near my tent and slept there, undisturbed and rather comfortable through the night.

As I cooked my morning bacon and eggs, there were concerns for a light reenactor turnout.  Although the 1st Tennessee was there in force, with numbers that included several new recruits, many of the other companies, both Confederate and Yankee, lacked the expected numbers.  Capt Sharp, breveted to colonel for the weekend as the overall Confederate commander, worked on contigency plans in the event the necessary soldiers were AWOL for the battle, including the possibility of splitting the 1st into two companies, as we had nearly 20 rifles present.

With the duties of overall command, Capt. Sharp left the military responsiblities of the company to me.  We drilled for about an hour, spending extra time with wheels since there seemed to be difficulty in keeping a straight line.

After a break of a few hours for lunch, we formed with the battalion for battle.  The scenario for both days was the Battle of Balls Bluff.  Capt. Sharp reassigned about five of the 1st Tennessee to another company to balance the numbers.  In all, we had three companies to take into battle.  Capt Sharp led the first two onto the battlefield, while I took the 1st Tennessee the other way, down a trail into the woods.  At a point where the gravel path turned away, I led them off, heading up a hill.  The steep grade proved difficult for a few, so we paused at the top to catch our breath.

Continuing, I led them through, leaving the men guessing as to our destination.  We could hear the sound of cannon and muskets as we pushed our way through untraveled brush.  We soon came through the woods onto the road, following it to the top of the hill beside the battlefield.

Carefully finding out footing on the way down the hill, we reformed at the bottom, charging out to assault the Yankees.  The other two Confederate companies were being overwhelmed by the enemy, but rallied once we provided the numbers.  We pushed the Yankees back, turning the battle and quickly gaining victory.

Once the battle concluded, a couple of Yankee soldiers ran back and forth with a litter, overwhelmed as they carried off the dead and wounded.

We had a few hours after the battle to relax and got a few games of Euchre in.  It had been awhile since we had played, so it was nice to get back to tradition.

We formed for parade and held inspection shortly after the men were given enough time to clean their muskets.

Supper included barbeque chicken and shredded beef with macaroni and cheese.

Another warm night brought morning to more bacon and eggs.  We canceled drill, so most of the morning was relaxed to hanging around the campfire and playing some Euchre.

Capt Sharp met with the Yankee commanders to discuss the battle, and informed how impressed he was by the relationship that was building.  He told me they saluted him to honor him as the planner for the battle scenario.

As the time for battle arrived, the 4th Ohio joined us, switching uniforms to galvanize as the 4th Florida.  With their numbers, we were more balanced and did not need to split off the 1st into another company.  I was surprised to get a number of requests of the 1st Tennessee to repeat the action through the woods that we had done Saturday--which provided us less time to burn powder.

After we inspected arms, I again took the men down the trail through the woods, then up the hill.  When we came onto he field, we pushed hard and fast at the double-quick after the Yankees, quickly pushing back toward the creek.

As we neared the conclusion of hostilities, one of the soldiers experienced a malfunction in his musket.  The cleaning screw of his Springfield blew out.  A couple of men next to him received a bit of the blow-out, but no one--fortunately--was hurt.  One had a small cut, while another was protected from an eyepatch he was wearing for medical reasons.

Other than that malfunction, the weekend was a solid success.  We heard reports that the battle scenario was the best ever experienced at Sharon Woods.


More photos

The Surrender

Sharon Woods Heritage Village

Sharonville, Ohio

July 11-12, 2015

Courtesy David Burns

Saturday morning at Sharon Woods was quiet.  I didn't feel like much for breakfast, so had a couple of slices of the banana nut bread and coffee the organizers offered.  The coffee wasn't my four-cups-in-one, but it was passable, and the bread was satisfying.

As we prepared for the day, Pvt Chris Wellman, a relatively new recruit for the 1st Tennessee, needed to borrow a musket.  His musket had become non-functional with a problem with his mainspring, so I loaned him Christine, my musket.  Capt Sharp, in returned, placed me as flag-bearer.

This event was solemn.  For the first time in its over 20 year history, the 1st Tennessee would be surrendering.  The event was using Appomattox as the scenario.

Since we represent a western-theater company, our 1st Tennessee, which was part of Maney's brigade, was not at Appomattox.  But Turney's brigade was, and there was a second 1st Tennessee that was part of Turney's, so we bore the flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, the St Andrew's Cross and Confederate Battle flag, instead of our flag, which was the Polk pattern flag.

We formed for parade, and Capt. Sharp gave the announcements.  The battle plan laid out, we were ready for fighting a skirmish we were to lose.

We were a battalion of three companies.  As flag bearer, I was attached to the 9th Kentucky, which was second company.  A consolidated company consisting mostly of the 13th Virginia was first company, and the 1st Tennessee was third company.

The 9th Kentucky started the fight as soon as a couple of Yankee scouts made an appearance, forming a skirmish line just outside the picket fence marking the edge of the battlefield.

We fought a hard battle, pushing the Yankees in skirmish, then pushed back to defeat.

We recovered our dead and wounded and marched off, awaiting for the results of General Lee's parley with General Grant.

Since the flag I bore belonged to Andy Enyart, I switched roles with him--he bearing the flag while I took his musket.

After a time, we marched back to the train depot.  Capt Sharp opened our ranks and had us ground arms.  Each company carried their own flags, and trailed them through the ranks.  Emotions were high.  This marked the epitome of what we reenacted.

The flags were brought to the front, and Capt Sharp ordered them furled, presented to the Yankees.

That evening held a dinner of barbecue chicken and pork.

Sunday morning introduced us to a deluge.  Rain flooded the camps starting around 5 am and proceeding through the seven o'clock hour.  Many of the tents were flooded inside and out.

I was among the lucky.  Instead of setting up a tent, I chose to sleep on the back porch of one of the homes.  It was well sheltered from the rain, and all my gear remained dry.

Due to the drenching rain, many of the reenactors left before the gates opened to the public.

A good number stayed, however, but there were insufficient numbers to hold a battle, so we presented a living history.

Among the scenarios that remained included Lee's surrender.  The event coordinator needed someone to portray Col. Marshall and Sgt Tucker, who were part of the surrender.  Capt Sharp asked me if I would portray Col Marshall, and gave me his coat, while Sgt Kletzli portrayed Tucker.

A narrator spoke through the script, and we, with Generals Lee and Grant walked into the home to give the impression of the signing of the surrender.  I felt a bit of emotion to go through this, even participating in a little period small-talk with the Lee impressionist.

The event was a good experience, one that enlightened us to this time of turmoil.

Slow Yankees

Sharon Woods

Sharonville, Ohio

July 12-13, 2014

It was hot, and I was tired, so I tossed the very minimum of needs into my car for Sharon Woods, opting for a dog, my officer’s uniform, and basic gear.  I was in such a mood that I forgot completely to pack my skillet and eating utensils.

I set my dog as a shebang, hanging the ends over the front to provide a bit of extra shelter.  So long as it didn’t rain, it was plenty.  I set up against a tree to use the mulch for the soft ground, though it was sloped bad, so made it feel like I’d roll away if I wasn’t careful.

J.R. Sharp worked with Chris Edwards for most of the scenario planning.  Dave Julian took overall Confederate command, which gave me the opportunity to come as battalion major.

The 4th Ohio came to galvanize to help us with the expected low Confederate numbers.  The 9th Kentucky was also there in force.  The Confederate Marines was there as our artillery.

We formed for morning parade and I had a bit of difficulty getting them on line.  Working with the colonel, I determined that my problem was in not enforcing the companies to bring their guides to the line.  I was following a shortcut I had seen in having them simply dress to each other.

We were supposed to lose the battle Saturday, starting deep into the village and be pushed back to the field.  But the Yankees moved like a drunk slug.  It was clear they would not take ground from us—we would have to pull back and give it to them.

The battle went sluggish—the Yankees only advancing when we pulled back to give them ground.  Once we were finally pushed into the field, the men ran low on ammunition.  But the Yankees stopped to parlez, so the battle ended with us holding the field.

Supper was noodles and salad—a bit of a let-down from Ohio Village, but the meal from Ohio Village cannot be topped.

After supper, I relaxed awhile.  We could hear the music of the ball, and eventually Keisha Farelly came to me and asked if I could dance with Cheyenne, Trish Carte’s five year old granddaughter.

Making a child happy is always a good thing.  I took the short toddler to the dance floor, but the dance we were to do was the Spanish Waltz, a somewhat complex dance difficult to teach to beginners.  I tried working with her a bit with Keisha and John (who also were beginners at the period dance), and found failure.  Cheyenne was easily distracted and confused—we were making no progress—so I pulled us out to wait for the next dance.

The next dance was rather simple, being similar to the Virginia Reel, called the Liberty Reel.  It was energetic, and by the end of the dance I was drenched in sweat, but Cheyenne loved the dance.

I slept somewhat well.    The day went pretty quiet, with a couple games of Euchre.

We formed for battle.  There was a rather huge amount of attrition in the Yankee numbers, so the 4th Ohio switched to blue.

The battle started at the train depot, and was to push us back to the hill where we would defend and win.  This time the Yankees pushed much better, but clearly the 4th Ohio was also a significant portion of the Yankees we faced.

We were pushed back to the field and made a rush to the woods to make our stand.  Unfortunately, as we prepared our fight, lightning strikes nearby unsettled some of the soldiers.  Personally, I thought it was a bit early to call the fight, but the threat of electrocution was a bit too much, so we ended the fight there.

The Season Begins

Sharon Woods, Sharonville OH
May 19-20, 2012

Arriving Friday evening, we set up camp in rather cramped quarters.  Expecting to have sufficient space reserved for us, the camp organizers decided we didn't need all that space, so gave half our space to the Confederate Marines.  We somehow managed to make it work, though we occupied every square inch left to us.  We barely had space for a fire pit.

Rick Hahn of the 76th Ohio stopped by and chatted with us for a bit.  He's a good friend of the 1st Tennessee, and it is always a pleasure to make a target of him and his unit for the battle.  He was to be on the battalion staff for the battle.  He complained a bit of one of the Federal units--some "Red Legs" or something--a Kansas unit. Basically they were Jayhawkers.  As Capt JR Sharp put it--they might as well had been reenacting Al-Qaida. 

Not really a promising start.  But there are yahoos at every event--we can always make our fun through things.

Saturday morning brought us a new recruit--Shawn Swart.  He was looking for a unit to fall in with at Sharon Woods and got in touch with me through cwreenactors.com.  From everything I can tell of him, he's going to fit right in with our company.  I'm looking forward to seeing him more.  He joined us for a few Euchre games--said he hadn't played for 15 years, but I think he was just hustling us.  He and Matt Moser (aka "Satan") played against JR and I and broke our winning streak.  Unfortunately he did not get to fall in with us during the battle--the battalion commander felt some of the other units needed their numbers brought up so had him fall in with the 9th Kentucky.

The battle was hot, but it seemed to go slow--nothing but straight forward and back for the better part of the battle.  Capt. Sharp finally got bored and double-quicked us into a flanking position around the Federal forces; which, in my opinion, should have been done much sooner.  After all, General Lee is famous for flanking the enemy, so I'd assume most of the decent leaders in battle would also attempt to outflank the enemy whenever they could.  We did got a lot of heavy fire in--many of nearly emptied our cartridge boxes. My musket got so hot that even the stock around the barrel was starting to get too hot to handle.

I'm not really sure how to convey my overall impression of the weekend, other than that it had a sort of "weird" jibe.  Maybe it was the Kansas Jayhawker unit.  Maybe it was from being cramped up.  Maybe it was the near zero sutlers (unless you needed a hoop skirt). Maybe I'm just crazy.  I enjoyed the weekend--but it felt weird.  If Sharon Woods conflicts with Conner Prairie again next year, I might throw my vote in for Conner Prairie.

The Sunday battle was a big improvement over Saturday, even though we were supposed to lose on Sunday.  We lost a few soldiers, but gained Shawn, the new recruit.  Our objective was to support the Confederate retreat, starting in the town.

Our unit deployed as skirmishers beside the train depot.  Cpl Jeff Carte and I were deployed on the other side of the depot to prevent being flanked.

The federals pushed us pretty good--in fact it was a bit more than we had expected, which is always good since normally they don't seem to push at all.  We were to hold the Federals back as long as we could, then the plan was that at the bend from the village to the main battlefield, Capt Sharp would take a hit as the signal for us to start dying in progression--and have our line fall apart as the Federals fired on us.

The fire was heavy.  The hip machine-gun fire from the Henrys went ignored.  We were pushed back to the bend and held fast as long as we could, then JR went down.

At first we were slow to take hits.  I still had a number of rounds, so was indecisive about when I should go down.  But when Sgt Mott went down, we all started dropping like flies.  It seemed barely 30 seconds from when Sgt Mott went down when the only ones left were Sgt Nyman and myself.  I formed up beside him and he immediately warned me he was going down.  The Yankees seemed a little slow to offer that opportunistic shot, but it came and Jack was down.  Since I was the only one left, I looked over the Yankee line to see if I would get a shot from them, but none seemed ready to shoot.  It felt silly standing there waiting  to be shot, so I loaded my musket, all the time hoping a shot would come before my musket would be considered "hot" and therefore should be fired before I went down.  But no such luck for me--the shot from the Yankees only came as I was firing my musket.  Well, I did go down right in front of the public--I hope it was quite a show for them.

The weather for the weekend could not have been better--cool enough at night to require two blankets, but sunny and almost too warm during the day.  Those that campaigned it didn't complain much about the cold--they found ways to keep themselves comfortable by the fire during the night.