I went to Misery My Misery... the only good part was the cornfield battle. The Battle on that Saturday was horrible, it rained right before hand fore like 30 min. then we were the last Brigade into the fight and fired 7 shots and were pulled out for no apparent reason as we were not flanked or compromised in any way. The Saturday night battle was canceled due to more rain so me and my unit shivered and froze as we took off our jackets to dry them over the fire. We were to wake up at 3:00am sunday and form for the tactical yet myself and those sleeping around the fire were awakened to one of the cooks telling a private he was on fire. We all looked as he sat up and patted his smoldering sleeve. The fire had gone through his wool blanket his jean wool frock sleeve and stopped just before burning through his shirt. We all looked in amazement as he had a shocked look on his face then he began to laugh and we followed suit. The worst part about burned jean wool is that the smell is terrible, it is a combination of burned Mutton and Tomcat Piss which made us not want to eat breakfast but we knew we had to. After waiting an Hour and a half for the Yanks to pull their arses out of bed we commenced in the cornfield battle which was exhilarating and terrifying all together. after the cornfield we slept in the field to wait for Up-Comes-Hill. That battle was cut short do to improper troop training i.e. dehydrated people, soldiers who use pyrodex,and soldiers who don't realize they did not fire then load 10 more times with it finally going off. The only real downside to that battle was when my Battalion was fired upon by a cannon from 25yds which is 25yds inside the safety limit. One man received a piece of shrapnel in the ankle(tin foil from the gun.) others had partial hearing loss. All in all it could have been better but it could have been worse also. As for the Other Antietam Event I hope they enjoyed themselves even though it is not an event I would attend ever.
HWMHall
1st Sgt. Hall
33rd Va Inf Co E
7th Battalion ANV
