Just thought I'd make a post here. This weekend, I was at the Marbury May Day event attached to the 14th Brooklyn Regiment.
As a first venture into American Civil War, I had no idea what the hell to expect, but me and 2 of my friends arrived there late Friday night, and after a lengthy walk through fields of ponies, cows and hogs, we arrived at the Union camp. In total darkness, we met with Sergeant Andy, and were directed into a tent. Little did I know I would not be removing this uniform for the duration of my weekend. Have to admit, I'm a big fan of the Zouave uniform.
As soon as we were uniformed, it was straight to the pub. There follows a night of drinking and dancing, and Andy hands each of us $15 in replica period notes, I still have no idea why. At some point in the night, we return to camp to drink more around the fire, and I somehow burn the hell out of my hand on a stove, leaving me in dull agony for the rest of the weekend even into now. We clamber into our tent, my friends are asleep as soon as they hit the sack, as am I despite the pain in my hand. When morning comes the next day, we're made hardtack porridge for breakfast and we are given a quick run through of drill alongside the 69th New York and 118th Pennsylvania regiments.
After that little introduction to orders and drill, we head back to the camp and prepare for the day. There's a little bit of wandering, but the event was rather small and there wasn't really much to see. We had some awful weather, hailstones, rain, sunshine, clear skies, more rain and hailstones. I was a little apprehensive about dying in battle and lying in the wet grass for 20 minutes, but whatever. We were told we had to die, as we were the 3 without licenses, so our guns would be using percussion caps only... No gunpowder allowed, sadly.
So, when battle came, the Confederates ambushed the Union camp from the direction of the church, catching us at ease around campfires. We hurriedly form up around the colours, feigning panic and confusion. And then, the volley fire began. And it was damn intense. The cannons were firing, muskets banging on either side. And the whole while, orders are being screamed and the Confederates are doing their rebel yells. Having to make do blasting percussion caps at the rebs, the 14th Brooklyn gets called back by the Major who then orders us to charge the Confederate cannon. And that's our cue to die. We run at the thing, screaming our guts out, and the instant it fires, the three of us are down. I feign wounded, and get dragged behind the Union troops by one of our own. He holds a canteen of water up to my lips and tells me everything will be okay.
Watching the battle carry on, I soon see the Union charging the Confederates off the field and scoring us victory. At some point, our Sergeant Andy hobbles into sight, using his musket as a crutch and occasionally dropping to one knee in "pain". And then, we hear the order "Resurrect!" and the dead come up and we form a new line, fire a few volleys for the crowd. And then we clean up all the junk we left on the battlefield such as cartridge papers and making sure there is nothing dangerous lying around. After that, it's back to the camps to warm up around the fire and Andy takes the three of us to the back of the tents and gives us gunpowder so we can practice firing the guns. What a blast (Excuse the pun), firing a musket for the first time properly was an amazing feeling, and then seeing how fast I could load and fire 3 rounds had me shaking from adrenaline. (3 rounds in under a minute, booyah!)
The next day happened much the same, except this time the Union and Confederacy fought each other to a standstill, we didn't charge the cannon, but we were decimated by enemy fire. Me and my friends died relatively close to each other, and I ended up with my buddies foot right in my back. But for the audiences sake, I didn't move. I'd never been so happy but uncomfortable in my life.
There's nothing quite like it, I'll be honest. I've done Roman before, dabbled slightly in Medieval and shown interest in Napoleonic. I never thought I'd get to American Civil War. But I did, and I don't regret it. The 14th Brooklyn showed me a fantastic time, they were kind, helpful and hilarious. Handling muskets is awesome, firing volleys is exhilarating and I don't think I'll ever stop flinching whenever those bloody cannons go off.
Tl:dr - Fuck hardtack porridge.
Also, me
