This past June, I attended
the On To Richmond event as part of a progressive adjunct battalion. With this post, I will touch on the event
report and editorial descriptive used in this blogs synopsis. The editorial portion coming from sharing
both the positive and the not so much positive aspects of the event, like an
event report should. Not every event is
the best ever and there are or should be learning opportunities from each.
With each event I attend
my minimum hope is that I get to converse with and see friends, new and
old. I also hope to gain some new
experiences or insights from an experimental archeology concept. I deem this event a success on both of these
aspects. I have not included any photos
with this post since I cannot stand seeing phones/cameras at something like
this. Plus, there were plenty of photos
taken which can be found all over the internet to see.
I was adjutant for
Roscoe's 3rd PA Reserves adjunct and had a good time through Sunday morning. Our camp on Friday and into Saturday was near
perfect! Men came in and got settled
while rations were issued. Some had to
go out on picket even with food needing to be cooked. Hopefully, these men took this as a real
experience challenge and dealt with it accordingly in attitude and action. Attitude meaning some complaining would be
expected but hopefully in a period way!
We were just about out of sight of anything modern which was an achievement
on this property. The land seemed a but
small to pull everything off and I know this was a greater challenge for the organizers because of
a lot of recent rain making property limitations.
This rain and mud was
one contributing factor that lead to the Saturday earlier scenario not working for us real well. We had almost
nothing to our front but were constantly being flanked on our right. Causing us
to have to pull back or be cut off. Not
an inaccurate thing but I know the boys wanted to fight! This pulling back, which eventually seemed to
go too far back, put us behind the port-a-johns, right behind on the right,
banging away. I repositioned first company (refused the line) so at least they
were not aiming right at the damn blue boxes. The reason they were in the way was explained
later as an issue with mud so their location needed to be moved. Putting them on the edge of the
battlefield. I can understand that with
thoughts that we could have ended the scenario a bit sooner or stopped pulling
back to still prevent that from happening.
Having them behind us is marginally better than in front.
Our
commander and adjunct organizer did what he could with the site for the adjunct
participants and what they expect in that capacity. I think we had the best
spot for the Gaines Mill scenario as we had the houses in our way of the cars
and vendors behind us. The smoke and the setting sun helped hide it all some
more. The Colonel did a good job "prepping" between things as to what we
were doing and how it was rooted in history, for those that listened. For
example, the Gaines Mill scenario, the 3rd PA Res. fought till they ran out of
ammo and then pulled back. They made a stand with bayonets fixed and bluffed a
fight which the Rebs backed down from taking on. He tried to recreate that and
said many, many times that we should be out of ammo and tried to make that
happen. When we made our stand he made a quick speech of how even without
rounds we would hold the ground and commanded Arms-Port. A few yelled they had rounds
or “I am loaded”.... completely missing the rooted history in it all.
For us I think the highlight was the night march Saturday. Everyone was tired from marching around and fighting during the day. Then we had a 5+ mile march to get to our next camp. That was something many, if not all, had never done. That being marching at night after a day of activity. He arranged for us to get hit on the road as a rear guard retreating again in the campaign. It was some tough ground we marched on after that. Much earlier that day we were ordered to drop our packs and haversacks, per the history. It was amazing to meet our packs again that night about 1am. That dry shirt and socks was a blessing before bedding down to sleep.
Sunday during the Glendale scenario I feel we lost the momentum at the event. We deployed as a battalion skirmish line and everyone was ready. I felt energy as we deployed and waited. Then the blue line fell back through us and the gray was formed in the trees to assault. Everyone was ready. Then it stopped...for...a...long...time. We sat in the hot sun and that seemed to suck the life of the moment away. The far left end of the battalion line said their goodbyes and headed out. Then I got detailed to get a company to haul a cannon several hundred yards up a rise to Malvern Hill, after this scenario ended. I thought we could treat it as a save the gun experience with how the task was presented. That was not how it turned out. While a new experience we were not excited to be a pick-up truck but we know they were appreciative of the help. Looking around for the Malvern Hill scenario, which I was looking forward to, more men had left. The battalion was melting since the big stall. My traveling partner and I already had concerns going into it on how to make the 12 hour drive home and then I had over an hour after that to my house. Some recent life changes made it not possible to not work that next morning as originally planned. We both admitted we lost the excitement and that we needed to get on the road. Beating the traffic out of the event site. Saving us a couple hours to get home. We said good-bye and walked to Endview to leave. Hearing the firing still in the distance as we pulled out of the parking lot. I felt guilt on the premature evacuation however not regret. Especially after both of us needed to sleep in the car to keep going and it was still after one o’clock AM when I pulled in the drive.
In the end, the adjunct that was planned worked in my opinion. He recreated history whenever possible (camp life, rations, dropping packs, mail call right before Gaines Mill as the 3rd had, fighting to no ammo and making a stand anyway, fighting by day and marching at night, surprise night fight, pay issued in the ranks before Glendale as the 3rd had). Everyone just had to listen some or know the history to understand the why. If it were not for all of those efforts I would be saying I am just glad I went to see so many friends. While that is still true, I also got some good experiences, which is what it should also be about, every time.
For us I think the highlight was the night march Saturday. Everyone was tired from marching around and fighting during the day. Then we had a 5+ mile march to get to our next camp. That was something many, if not all, had never done. That being marching at night after a day of activity. He arranged for us to get hit on the road as a rear guard retreating again in the campaign. It was some tough ground we marched on after that. Much earlier that day we were ordered to drop our packs and haversacks, per the history. It was amazing to meet our packs again that night about 1am. That dry shirt and socks was a blessing before bedding down to sleep.
Sunday during the Glendale scenario I feel we lost the momentum at the event. We deployed as a battalion skirmish line and everyone was ready. I felt energy as we deployed and waited. Then the blue line fell back through us and the gray was formed in the trees to assault. Everyone was ready. Then it stopped...for...a...long...time. We sat in the hot sun and that seemed to suck the life of the moment away. The far left end of the battalion line said their goodbyes and headed out. Then I got detailed to get a company to haul a cannon several hundred yards up a rise to Malvern Hill, after this scenario ended. I thought we could treat it as a save the gun experience with how the task was presented. That was not how it turned out. While a new experience we were not excited to be a pick-up truck but we know they were appreciative of the help. Looking around for the Malvern Hill scenario, which I was looking forward to, more men had left. The battalion was melting since the big stall. My traveling partner and I already had concerns going into it on how to make the 12 hour drive home and then I had over an hour after that to my house. Some recent life changes made it not possible to not work that next morning as originally planned. We both admitted we lost the excitement and that we needed to get on the road. Beating the traffic out of the event site. Saving us a couple hours to get home. We said good-bye and walked to Endview to leave. Hearing the firing still in the distance as we pulled out of the parking lot. I felt guilt on the premature evacuation however not regret. Especially after both of us needed to sleep in the car to keep going and it was still after one o’clock AM when I pulled in the drive.
In the end, the adjunct that was planned worked in my opinion. He recreated history whenever possible (camp life, rations, dropping packs, mail call right before Gaines Mill as the 3rd had, fighting to no ammo and making a stand anyway, fighting by day and marching at night, surprise night fight, pay issued in the ranks before Glendale as the 3rd had). Everyone just had to listen some or know the history to understand the why. If it were not for all of those efforts I would be saying I am just glad I went to see so many friends. While that is still true, I also got some good experiences, which is what it should also be about, every time.
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