Way Down South

Yesterday, Gabe, Jeff and I went to the Civil War Reenactment.  As it turns out, the biggest, and bestest civil war reenactment west of the Mississippi happens with 100 miles of where I live and I have never been there.  I have dragged my family to Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Manassas (Bull Run) and other civil war sights, but haven't seen the best reenactment west of the Mississippi.  So last Saturday, I decided to drag my family (or what was available) to see the battles.  I thought that my husband and son would enjoy the show, but they were more hesitant than I thought they would be.  Eventually we compromised on half a day with 2 battles.  Since Maddie had a Civil War type costume, I dressed as a Southern Belle, while Jeff tried his best to look like someone from that time period.  Gabe flat out refused to wear anything but a t-shirt and shorts but it turned out he fit in with the crowd a little better than we did, but didn't have nearly as much fun.
The event was fun.  We arrived just in time to see a cannon demonstration and catch the last dance of the afternoon.  Jeff agreed to dance with me and we had a great time whirling around the floor.  I have to admit, it is much more fun to dance a Victorian dance in a hoop skirt!  After the dancing, we saw our first battle.  It was interesting.  The troops maneuvered around the field, always staying about 150 feet away from each other and then shot at the other side.  Someone would fall "dead" (although not many people "died".  My guess is that many more died in the war and it was probably a lot noisier because the real wounded ones probably were screaming).  They were shooting real guns with blanks in them, so it was very noisy.  The cannons were being fired on each side, and they even had a calvary battle with brandished swords in the background.  It was fascinating.
After the battle, we wandered around the campsites.  They looked very real, I think that several people were really staying the night and "living" in the time period, cell phones excepted.  We saw photography demonstrations, newspapers, dressmaking, and other things.  Then they had another battle at twilight.  The fighting wasn't very exciting, they were simulating a real battle where the North just marched across a field to engage the South and were completely slaughtered along the way.  So the troops didn't manuever, but since it was dark, the rifle and cannon fire lit up the night and was very fun to watch!  We had a great time spending half the day 150 years ago in a land far away.