At High Tide

by Tyler McHone

Last week I was in Gettysburg, PA for "At High Tide" (145th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg or the other Gettysburg event)  The event started Friday with everyone arriving in camp.  For the event I fell in with my group, the Liberty Rifles.  Our company was one of the most authentic I have ever been a part of.  After we all were at the event site some of us got together to practice for a little show we were putting on the following night.  The play was MacBeth.  After that we all fell in for company drill.  When drill was over we started cooking dinner and turned in for the night. 

The next morning we were woken up at 5:45.  We started the fires and fell in for roll call.  During the night we added about five more men to our company.  After roll call we made breakfast and then we went to do more drill.  Then we waited for a few hours for the battle to start.  The battle started with Union skirmishers shooting at us as we marched through a field.  We pushed them back through a marsh and up a hill.  When we were going up the hill I took a hit in the leg.  The ambulance corps picked me up on a stretcher and took me to the field hospital.  I was then put in a wagon and taken farther to the rear.  After that we rested for a half hour and went back to battle.  We pushed the Union off the hill then I took another hit and that was all of the battle I saw.  We went back to camp and rehearsed for the play that night.  Then we ate dinner and formed up for the night battle.  Both the Union and Confederate armies were formed up and ready to go into battle then a thunderstorm hit and the night battle was canceled.  We couldn't go back into camp because of the strong winds and we were camped in woods.  The storm let up so we started the play.  It turned out to be a comedy because were hadn't practiced much but the crowd seemed to enjoy it.  The play ended with a standing ovation and then Clifton Hicks and Lars Prilliaman played fiddle and banjo late into the night. 

We were not woken early the next morning. Morning drill and dress parade were canceled which made everyone happy.  We ate breakfast and sat around waiting to go into battle.  We were formed up after a while and marched out of camp and into a field where we were ordered to rest.  We waited in the hot sun for a while until we were ordered to repulse the Federal charge.  We marched through a wheatfiled and were met by a wall of blue.  we pushed them back but there was too many of them.  Support came behind us and drove the Yanks from the filed.  We were ordered to rest again.  We then marched through the wheatfiled and on to open ground.  There we met the 1st Minnesota who unleashed a volley of musket fire that took the breath out of me.  After I recovered I shot back and then we moved foward.  We fired a few volleys and then retreated.  We marched back to camp packed our things and the event was I would say "At High Tide" was one of the best events I have been to.  I would like to thank Chris Anders and the Western Maryland Heritage Foundation for a great event and a great weekend.

Comments

[Sandy]

The pictures and the post are awesome! Like the new picture.