by Andrew Turner
This past weekend (June 20-22) I attended the Pamplin Park Civil War Weekend as Confederate infantry. I will attempt to put down on paper a few of the events of the weekend.
I rose around 5:40 (after a night of sleeping campaign style) Saturday morning to play reveille with the Park’s Field Music Interpreter at 6:00. The reveille went well and it was said that it could be heard by all. It was truly a treat getting to play with other experienced drummers this weekend.
Photograph by Chris Morgan
The next event of the day was company drill at 9:00 in order to prepare the Confederate company for the scheduled public drill at 10:00. The Confederate company was led by Mike Hendricks of the PAG and Lee’s Sharpshooters who masterfully led the company through the manual of arms and various maneuvers such as by company into line and on the right by files into line. The men seemed to execute these very well after a bit of practice to knock the rust off.
After drilling until about 9:40 we were ordered to rest until the public drill. At about 9:50 we formed up and marched over to the demonstration area where we drilled for the spectators. The drill went great and everybody did their jobs great. We then marched back to camp and were ordered to rest until it was time for dress parade.
At around 12:50 we formed up in camp in preparation for the dress parade. When we formed up I was joined by fellow drummers William and the Field Music Interpreter. We marched to the demonstration area where the Federal and Confederate companies were formed into one battalion. The drummers were posted on the right of the battalion where we played the Three Cheers and then trooped the line with Army 2/4. The officers and NCO’s of the companies then reported to the battalion commander and the dress parade was concluded.
The Confederate company was then marched to some and shade near the battlefield and the Federals to there camp. While we were resting in the shade we were given ice much to the relief of the men because the temperatures rose into the 90’s!
After a brief respite the company was reformed and we were marched to our end of the battlefield and the Federals to theirs. The battle opened with the artillery of each side and then the Confederates deploying a platoon as skirmishers The Federals, having a small company, deployed their entire company as skirmishers. After some brief skirmishing the platoon of skirmishers rejoined the company and we marched toward the Federals. We drove them pretty far but then we broke and ran. In the process of running William and I were “wounded”. We were then forced to lie on the field during the ensuing artillery barrage. The battle was ok but there was some miscommunication between the two side which caused both to retreat off the field.
We were then marched back to camp where we were dismissed for the day. Following the battle I made a visit to the Park’s café and museum which were both excellent. While in the museum I visited the bookstore where I picked up Drum Taps in Dixie which so far is an excellent book.
When I got back to camp I relaxed in camp with my pards until it was time for dinner. Dinner was provided by the site which was very generous of them.
After dinner where I went back to camp where I picked up my tinwhistle and played several hours of music with the Minstrel Band, The Huckleberry Brothers. That was very fun and soon after we were done I turned in for the night.
The next day passed much as the first with the exceptions of reveille being at 7:00 and the battle being better coordinated. Also, on Sunday I sat down my drum and carried a musket during the day. I was in the skirmish platoon during the battle which was much fun.
Before the battle on Sunday I had my likeness made with my pard Ellis Braswell. It was made by Chris Morgan who I consider to be a master of his art. When I picked up the image after the battle Mr. Morgan’s wife said it was great and I couldn’t agree more. I got many compliments on how period we both looked.
All in all the event was a great one. It is definitely worth the trip to Pamplin for there great site and this great event.
Awesome photograph! Happy Independence Day, William!
Posted by: Sandy | July 04, 2008 at 09:51 PM
William, I have something for you over at my blog (http://curlyscorner-sandy.blogspot.com/). Please come and see!
Posted by: Sandy | July 06, 2008 at 11:05 AM
Thank you very much! That is quite an honor! Happy July 4th to you as well.
-William
Posted by: william | July 07, 2008 at 06:54 PM