Minooka Civil War Days 2009

Well once again Minooka has come and gone thus bringing our beloved hobby to seasonal end, which is why I both love and hate this event. I love it because it is one of the greatest events we do (has been ever since I first attended it in 1997), but hate it because aside from reading and writing, this is my only hobby, one that I don’t like putting away for five to six to sometime seven months at a time. That said I do have to admit that I was a little relieved to see this season come to an end, because, frankly, I was exhausted. So much happened this year (much of it unexpected) and we attended so many events, that come Minooka I was almost completely burned out (hence the reason this review and film has taken so long), and then was pretty much pushed over the edge by several incidents that occurred (two of which I was kind of asking for, so I can let that slide, the other of which was just idiotic -- for those that were there and are close to me you know which one I’m talking about, for those that don’t know the situation, rest be assured that is has nothing to do with reenacting, and instead a career I was involved in for several months right after my wife died, which I have since put behind me, but which won’t stay buried it seems).


Anyway, the event began Friday afternoon when Tom arrived at my house. For several events the two of us have been driving together in an attempt to get a good campsite for our unit and to straighten out any registration details that have purposely gotten screwed up by certain former members of Austin’s Battalion that don’t like our new unit. Thankfully this time around there hadn’t been an attempt to screw us over, so I thought we were in the clear, but that was before I walked into the Confederate camp area and saw the disaster looming before us (wall tent city with very little room for our mess). Fortunately we were able to secure a spot. Unfortunately it was right up against a camp that we wanted nothing to do with given the unfriendly faces within, but hey, you make do with what you have and try to make the best out of every situation, right. Knowing we would be neighbors for the weekend I even tried to make peace with one of the individuals, someone that was a great friend for many years (and the only true reenactor amongst the mess that surrounds him), one whose path has saddened me. My attempt was shot down, however, and made me realize it is time to close the door on that friendship. Oh well.

So, in an attempt to clear my head of that incident I took Tom up onto the battlefield to show him what he could expect to see the next day (this was his first time there), and then started back toward the camp where I hoped things would be nice and restful for a while, but then was confronted by the leader of a dismount unit, one that I have liberally criticized several times in the past for being poor reenactors, who had taken offense at some words I had used to deny his boys involvement in a candlelight tour scene at Lockport. Eventually our conversation ended and I was reassured that the unit was much more accurate than I had given it credit for, but then, afterward, was told by many other reenactors that what they saw in that dismount camp during the event and on the battlefield was pretty bad, and that having called me out for criticizing them, should have put some effort into cleaning up their portrayal, but instead went about doing things the same way as before, almost as if they wanted to highlight the criticism I wrote about.

Thankfully the rest of the unit arrived shortly after that and we were able to get into the spirit of reenacting and started to enjoy ourselves. Even better, many of the Cornfed Comrades showed up as well and camped right next to us, thereby giving the spectators a nice big example of what the camps really looked like during the Civil War.

The next day started out well. We had a nice big breakfast of biscuits and gravy, compliments of Lisa, one of the most authentic women civilian reenactors in this hobby (one who, in only a year, has done more research than most men in this hobby and has brought to our attention how involved women really were in the stationary camps of the Civil War, something most of us had never really been interested in but have now come to appreciate). After breakfast we headed up the hill onto the field to drill, which looked good, and was even entertaining thanks to a few interesting moments that showed how light hearted we all are, and then headed back down to the camps to talk with the spectators, many of whom were very interested in our camp and wanted to know more (always a great thing), and who kept us on our feet answering questions up until the battle, which, sadly, wasn’t planned out very well and looked pretty stupid and was boring. Afterward, however, we had a nice field hospital scene, one which got a lot of gasps from the crowed as I spit up blood from a lung wound and slowly died, Tim and Ian holding my hands as I slowly faded, their hearts aching with the loss.

After the battle and field hospital scene we headed back to camp and started getting ready for the night, one which was going to be cold, but thankfully, not as cold as the weekend before at Savanna. Camp ready for the night, we headed to the ball (and corn maze where some of us got lost) and then, because it was October, the graveyard down the road where Tom, Shawn and I sat and patiently waited for some ghosts, my camera constantly taking pictures but then malfunctioning (the batteries died even though they were brand new, batteries that work fine now almost a month later). Dewey made an appearance at the graveyard as well after a while and we filled him in on some of the spooky noises we had been hearing near the tree line. After that I upset some of the guys by shouting at whatever was out there and taunting any otherworldly beings into doing something that was cool rather than making stupid sounds.

Once back at camp we sat around the fire while the Cornfeds put on a show, which was fun, and then called it a night, one which I found incredibly cold frustrating because my body was in some pain from my disease and wouldn’t let me get to sleep.
The next morning we feasted on bacon which left a nice pan full of grease for us to dip bread in before cooking up some potatoes and onions (all of which eventually turned my intestines into a gastrological waterslide again, which made driving home fun). After breakfast we had a short drill, which involved some bayonet fun (especially once Mark and I faced off in front of the battalion). Finished with that we headed back to camp, answered more questions and then did some more bayonet duels, which ended with another broken bayonet (my own this time). Not long after that we were called to battle, which, unfortunately, was just as dull as the day before, though we were massacred nicely, which again ended with a field hospital scene, where, as usual, I died, blood gushing from my lips as I gasped for air.

Thus ended the Minooka event, an event that closed the door on one of the more interesting reenacting seasons I have taken part in, one which ended on a good note despite all the crap that occurred in August and proved to everyone that no matter what real reenactors will always find a way to be out there at events, while those that just want to dick around with politics and screw everything up will do so from home, far from eyes of the spectators, their importance to the hobby fading with each missed event until eventually everyone forgets about them and the hobby moves on.

The Importance of the Emancipation Proclamation

In school everyone learns about how Lincoln freed the slaves and then how they fought for the north and helped win the war, but most don’t realize this wasn’t the most important factor of the Emancipation Proclamation. Yes, freeing the slaves in the southern states was a great blow to the south (if the war were being fought today freeing the slaves in the south could be equated to cutting off the oil supplies to the south and thereby cutting off the fuel of their economy), and yes, freeing a group of people being held is slavery does look good on ones record, but the real importance of the Emancipation Proclamation came from the fact that it forced the British to stay neutral during the war. Before the Emancipation Proclamation the British were getting very close to siding with the south, which in turn would have made Lincoln have to fight a two front war because of Canada, something which the North probably wouldn’t have been able to do successfully. However, the British would not fight a war to preserve slavery, which is what the war turned into (at least in their eyes and the eyes of the world) when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. The document freed all slaves in rebellious southern territories, not the northern states that had slaves and stayed loyal to the Union and not the southern states that were occupied by the Union army.

Most also don’t realize how unpopular this document was and what happened in the north after it was signed. Most union soldiers were against the idea that they were fighting a war to free the slaves and in the north riots broke out in major cities, the one in New York being the most famous (soldiers fresh from battle had to be brought in and actually shot up the rioters because they were burning down black orphanages and lynching black people like crazy, not to mention destroying government offices). Lincoln knew this document was going to be unpopular and wasn’t even sure if his presidency would survive such a document, but signed it anyway because it was the right thing to do to win the war, which shows a lot of strength as a president.

NOTE: I find it sad that most reenactors don't know this about the Emancipation Proclamation. Here we are supposed to be teaching history to the public and they don't even know the basics of the war.

Was Gettysburg Really the Turning Point of the Civil War?

Everyone always talks about Gettysburg being the turning point of the war, but is this really true? Sure, it was an amazing victory for an army that hadn’t really been seeing many victories during the first few years of the war, but the Confederate army was still incredibly strong afterward, it still made it to Virginia, and the war still lasted two more years.

My thoughts on the battle have always been this. If Robert E. Lee had won the battle it probably could have ended the war, especially if he crushed the Army of the Potomac, but since he lost and had to retreat back to Virginia, the war continued and entered into its bloodiest time period. At the same time the Union army missed out on an opportunity to crush Lee’s army and might have been able to end the war if they had trapped him before he reached Virginia. So, the battle was one of great importance, but was it really a turning point? I don’t really think so. I also think that a loss for the Union army would have been more devastating than a loss for the Confederate army, and that the stakes were much higher for the North during this battle.

So, if Gettysburg isn’t really the turning point of the war, what is? I’ve heard some say that 1863 itself was a turning point year for the war, which I can understand and will more readily agree with. I also think the fact that Lincoln was able to get reelected was a turning point because his opponents were talking about signing a peace treaty with the Confederacy, something the Northern population was starting to grow interested in. Of course, if you say his winning the 1864 election was a turning point then the battle of Gettysburg had to play into that as well as did the fall of Vicksburg and the capture of the Mississippi River and the push into Georgia by Sherman (which was a great political victory for Lincoln just because of the media sensation it created up North).

I guess I prefer to think that there was a series of turning points rather than one specific one.

Civil War Reenactor Blog

Hey everyone, if you are interested our website now has a blog for reenactors. All are welcomed to join. It can be found here:

Civil War Forum

Savanna Civil War Days 2009

Great location, friendly staff, plenty of amenities (all of which were brought directly too us), good food, and some of the best moments during a battle any of us have ever experienced, what more could one ask for? Oh, I know: more reenactors and temperatures above thirty five degrees, especially since most of us go campaign. That said, this was still one of the best events I have ever participated in, which just goes to show, one doesn’t need a couple hundred reenactors to have a good event, just reenactors dedicated to putting on a good show, ones that know quality is better than quantity.


For me the event started Friday morning as I checked the trunk of my car just to make sure all my stuff was still there (when I first started reenacting I treated all my stuff the way a young woman treats her wedding dress - now, however, it is lucky if it makes it from my trunk to the house between events and during the winter it gets to air out in the garage, next to the Christmas decorations). Anyway, once certain I had everything I needed I drove to Tom’s house, which was on the way to Savanna and picked him up, and then proceeded to drive down IL-64 until it reached the Mississippi River and then started heading north on IL-84 until it came upon the old army depot north of Savanna. As usual Chuck, the original Civil War reenactor, had beat us there, but only by a few minutes, his A-frame tent one of about three that had been set up on the cold windswept plane.

Given the cold, wet air, the three of us decided that the first thing we needed after changing into our uniforms was a fire, which I proceeded to build. Knowing the nights would be bitter and that many of us would be sleeping around it without shelter, I made the pit a little bigger than usual, my hopes being that while lying next to it one could feel the flame along the entire length of their body, not just their chest, back or feet. Of course, at the time we had no idea just how cold it would actually get, and come Saturday night we decided that some additional steps needed to be taken in order for us to survive the bitter winter air (I know, it’s Fall, but those temperatures were not Fall temperatures).

After building the fire Tom and I went to the museum to register and bumped into our friend Christian (Double D) from the Cornfed Comrades who joined us by the fire. A few hours later our mess was nearly completed with the arrival of Bob, Shawn (Dewy) Jordan and Lisa, the only missing person being the other Shawn, who would be arriving the next day due his work schedule.

Friday night into Saturday morning was cold and around three in the morning those of us sleeping by the fire found ourselves actually sitting around the fire, blankets tightly wrapped around our bodies, our eyes completely enthralled with the frozen landscape that surrounded us (I’ve had some cold reenactments during my fifteen years in this hobby, but none of them ever matched what we experienced at Savanna). While sitting there we also started to notice that something was on the prowl in the trees just beyond our camp and eventually went to investigate (it was bad enough that some people claimed the old army depot was haunted, but to be hearing noises like that at three in the morning in October beyond the perimeter of our frozen camp -- that was just too much). As it turns out the sounds were actually frozen clumps of leaves falling from the trees, but we didn’t actually figure this out until Sunday morning when we saw it happening, and for the rest of the event we figured that squirrels were throwing things at us.

Knowing we wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep Tom, Christian and I decided to go for a walk through the depot. We took a path through the old army barracks, blankets still tightly wrapped around us, an extra pair of wool socks covering my hands since I hadn’t been able to find my gloves. The trip was spooky, especially when given the dark windows and the frozen fogginess that encased everything, and eventually we called it quits and headed back to the fire, which we build up with about ten pieces of wood and started making coffee (the beans, which were in an ammo box, were frozen, along with the box, and the coffee pot was so cold we couldn’t touch it with bare fingers).

Now, normally at an event the cold air leaves once the sun rises, or at least gets a little bit more comfortable. This didn’t happen that day. Instead the sun rose and made a brief appearance and then dipped back behind the clouds. After that the wind started to pick up and while out on the field drilling it began to snow, and continued to snow until the battle started at two, which is when the sun came out again and actually warmed things up for a while.

Given the weather and the fact that this was a first time event not many people showed up for the battle, and in truth that days event left much to be desired (the next day, however, would be incredible). Once finished we hurried back to camp and decided to start building a structure around our fire that would trap in the heat for those of us sleeping around it again, hopefully preventing the frostbite that was sure to set in given that they were saying the low would be eighteen degrees, one which involved us sticking all our rifles into the ground around the fire and then tying canvass shelter halves to them, which encased the fire with three walls. The forth wall was built with wood that we would use to keep the fire going all night long, which was brought to us in a truck by the event staff (they were wonderful throughout the entire event and would bring us anything we needed it seemed). Once all the walls were built Tom used a burning stick to write out a name for our canvass ‘fort’ on a flat piece of wood and stuck it on the wood pile. We also put up a sign that read NO GIRLS given that this fort looked like it had been built by a bunch of kids (this sign attracted a lot attention and got several laughs). At the same time many people were concerned that we were going to freeze to death overnight. Instead the canvass trapped in the heat so well that we were probably the warmest of anyone out there that night. NOTE: Only one of us remembered to bring their canteen into this shelter and the next morning we all discovered that the water inside them was frozen. We also hand to melt the old coffee and beans from the pot before making a new pot, and then had to heat up our cups as well.

The next day the sun decided to make an appearance and warmed everything up a bit. I still wore socks on my hands all day, but at least we were all able to function. We also had fun since the event allowed us to have little skirmishes through the abandoned town on the depot, though I do have to apologize to Jordan for shooting him in the face when he popped out around a corner. Hey, at least he has some cool wounds to brag about at school now. During the skirmish Christian and Mark asked us if we wanted to do some hand to hand fighting during the battle since they were going to be blue (the federals only had three or four infantry guys plus some cavalry and artillery, so Christian, Jordan, Mark and Shawn decided to switch coats for the battle to make things look a little better (four against four -- hey you gotta do what you gotta do). We agreed and practiced a bit and then decided that we would go out as skirmishers and get really close to these guys and after they fired a volley we would run into them, knock Christian and Mark to the ground, beat them to death, and then get fired upon by the other two, taking hits and running away, all while in spitting distance of the spectators so we knew it had to look good, which meant our hits had to be pretty real and our bodies positioned perfectly so that the spectators couldn’t see that we weren’t really bashing their brains in with our rifle butts. The fact that all of us were having misfires thanks to the powder we used and will never buy again only added to the realism of this hand to hand fight, which was the best hand to hand I have ever seen on a battlefield. Tom and I charged into Christian and I hit him as hard as I could with my body which knocked him into the ground (it also cracked my rifle stock, again). Tom and I then smashed our rifle butts into the ground just inches from his head as hard as we could while he was screaming, our feet blocking the fact that we weren’t really hitting him. Meanwhile Shawn and Bob took down Mark, who tried to get back up and was knocked down again, and then Shawn pummeled him with his fist (and canteen) while Bob held him down with his rifle until he wasn’t moving. Once this was done I grabbed Christian’s rifle since mine was all screwed up but didn’t get a chance to use it because the Union cavalry road into us, which we ran from, me being shot in the back all of which looked really good. A well placed cannon shot then took out the rest of our guys, thus ending the battle for our little mess. Afterwards spectators came up to us on the battlefield and told us the hand to hand was the best they ever saw. Some even admitted that they had to look away because it seemed too real. No other reenactors knew we were going to do this and on our video, which Lisa took for us, you can actually see the union artillery guys stop what they were doing and watch, their mouths hanging open. I don’t think they have ever seen anything like that either.

Once the battle was over we went into town and watched the video over and over again while eating. Even we couldn’t believe how real the hand to hand looked and now really want to do it again in the future. We also loved it that the cavalry road into us. It finished off the hand to hand perfectly.

Bayonet Hand to Hand Video

Here is one of our hand to hand fighting videos. Shawn and I (and others) like to do this at events because it draws in a nice crowd. It also shows us how scary such a situation would be, especially if you added in the hundreds of men that would be meeting face to face, and further shows how no one really walks away from an hand to hand fight without some sort of injury, even if they are the winner.

Now, there was a nasty injury during this one, mainly to a rifle which lost its sight. Shawn was also cut pretty bad when I stabbed him in the hand, but he didn't seem to mind that one much. I, however, managed to escape injury this time around, though my rifle was nicely marked up. Last time we did this my thumb got nailed so badly that puss was coming out all week.

"I out rank you!" - What?

It has been a few weeks since this incident, yet I'm still pissed off about it. First off, I don't know why all these women walk around with ice on the battlefields. The water in our canteens should be enough to keep us hydrated and if it isn't, well then that person shouldn't be on the field. The ice isn't going away, however, so I won't try to push anything in that direction. However, if I am laying dead on the battlefield ten feet from the spectators and someone comes up to me to give me ice and I say I don't want any, don't start shouting at me to take the ice. This happened at Lockport. A woman came up and told me to hold out my hand. I mumbled that I didn't want any ice and she said that it wasn't a choice. I told her no again (trying to be quiet since I was supposed to be dead and was within hearing distance of the specators) and she said she outranked me. I still told her no and said that rank doesn't really mean anything out here. She then went even further than said that she was the daughter of the man in charge of the event. Talk about an Ice Bitch. Wow.

If this had been a one time thing I wouldn't be so angry about it, but stuff like this has been happening a lot this year and I think it is because people see me and think I am a young kid. At Wauconda someone told me to go to bed when they saw that I was still up by the fire and I told them no. They then went and filed a complaint to our unit commander and told him that the kid in our unit had been 'lippy' to him. Ha, kid? I'm 26 and have been doing this for fifteen years. I've also been married and widowed and have nearly died from a horrible disease that has left me disabled. If I want to sit by the fire at 2 in the morning because I can't sleep due to pain then so be it. I also had a guy at another event say 'open your mouth kid, you're getting ice' while I was on the battlefield again. My mouth didn't open and he started yelling at me as well. Later I went up to him and spoke to him and he apologized, which was nice. I didn't even bother with the ice bitch though.

I also ran into trouble at Lake Villa when I tried to fix a registration mistake. The old guy behind the desk didn't seem to believe that I am in charge of a unit that had registered late for the event and didn't want to hear what I had to say and made me register under the old unit name which didn't even exist anymore. So frustrating.