Gentlemen,

"It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." I think that line from Charles Dickens’s book, A Tale of Two Cities; best describes the 145^th Gettysburg Reenactment. Those who attended from F Company included Michael Floyd, David Gammon, Matt Gammon, Shane Kisner, Nate Pate, Bill Ward, and myself. The 4^th North Carolina was also there. They included Tom Warner, Brian Kenny, Joe, and Carl (I’m sorry I can’t recall or know their last names.). With the 4^th North Carolina forming up with us we actually had a decent size company.

I arrived Friday night in the rain and during the evening battle. As the rain continued into the night I decided to stay in my "wagon" until morning. The rest of F Company arrived early Saturday morning shortly after I had discovered the campsite of the 47^th Virginia which was to be our home unit for the weekend. Many of our men had spent Friday night at the home of Jack and Muriel Alexander in Frederick, Maryland. I want to thank Jack and Muriel for letting them do so especially since they were not home for the weekend having to go out of town for Muriel’s mother’s funeral. We do offer our condolences to Muriel in the passing of her mother.

As we made our way to the campsite we ran into some old friends and former members of F Company that being Skip and Dotty Schirmer. They have their own unit now, the 26^th Virginia, Company K. Skip looked to be in good health and is Captain of the 26^th. Dott was recovering from knee replacement surgery and was on cruches. She had to hug everyone and of course was in tears as a result of our surprise visit.

The weather for Saturday was mostly overcast and humid. There was a brief shower just before we formed up for the afternoon battle. I had heard from one of the provost staff that over 13,000 reenactors had checked in by Saturday afternoon. We were held in reserve for the first part of the battle and were able to watch it unfold. The numbers were such that it made for a really awesome fight. The Yankees were lined up in the distance in their pretty blue uniforms. They always look so pretty don’t they! The cannons were shooting over our heads. The Confederate lines in front of us would come to the high ready, lower their muskets and discharge some awesome volleys at the enemy. The "ice angels" were doing their job in trying to protect the men from the heat. There were casualties both heat related and other battle type related injuries. One was in the next unit to the left of F Company. A soldier without realizing it had loaded several rounds into his musket. The subsequent discharge blew the end off his musket resulting in a cut to the soldier’s face. The battle was ended shortly thereafter.

I could tell that the heat was getting to some of the men. On the march back to camp after the battle Michael Floyd and Nate Pate fell out of their ranks saying that they would make it back at their own pace. Once we were dismissed and back at our campsite David and Matt Gammon both really had problems with the heat. Matt almost passed out and we called the EMT’s. I will have to give credit to Dotty Schirmer. When she heard that we were having problems she was straight away over in camp helping to ice down Matt not even worrying about her crutches. I want to thank her for her help and concern. I have never seen so many people down with the heat at this event. The EMT’s really had their hands full. They did take Matt to the Medical Services Tent. Once there David let us know that Michael Floyd was also there having his own problems with the heat.

When everyone was sufficiently recovered and back in camp it was determined that it would be best for those with heat related issues to go home. That being decided we then had the headache of trying to get permission to bring a vehicle into camp. After some negotiations with the provost guard we were finally successful in our efforts. After their gear was packed David and Matt Gammon, Nate Pate, and Michael Floyd were on their way home. I hated to see them go but I knew it was for the best.

After a somewhat restful night I awoke the next morning to greatly reduced numbers. Besides me, F Company only had two members remaining at the event, Bill Ward and Shane Kisner. The 4^th North Carolina also had casualties. Some of them had left on Saturday night. Tom Warner was still there but was planning to leave after church. That would leave only two from their unit. Altogether we only had five present for Pickett’s Charge. Of course we fell in with the 47^th Virginia under Captain Russell.

The Sunday afternoon battle was a little later than usual with a 3 o’clock start. It was more of the hurry up and wait. Not to belittle the battle but I thought it was somewhat anticlimactic with the result of course being a foregone conclusion. But we made it through almost without incident. I got word back from Bill Ward that Carl of the 4^th North Carolina had gone down with an asthma attack at the end of the battle.

Thus concluded the 145^th Gettysburg Battle Reenactment. While I am sorry that there were so many problems with the heat I thoroughly enjoyed the event. Saturday’s battle was awesome. It was good to see and spend time with Skip and Dotty. We even attended the church service together on Sunday morning. And as always it is good just to put on the uniform and hang out with the guys.

I think as a result of this event we need to come to some conclusions. We are in the 145^th anniversaries of the battle reenactments with the 150^th anniversaries to follow. Will F Company participate in these events? Yes, of course we will. But the hot, summertime events will probably just have limited participation. Several of our members do not like the heat and humidity that go along with these events and have a difficult time dealing with them. In the future at least until we get our numbers up it will be assumed that we will be falling in with the 47^th Virginia. Captain Russell has said that we can form up with them anytime and most everyone seems to be comfortable doing so. So, those of us who want to go to these events will be able to go and those who don’t want to deal with the heat won’t have to. We will register as the 21^st Virginia and not back our way into the event as we did at this Gettysburg. So yes we will be at the upcoming major events even though we may have to fall in with someone else. Now enough about Gettsyburg except please see Bill Wards related article elsewhere in this newsletter.

For the month of August the only thing we have is the muster being conducted by Scott Wilson and Mike Vice. It is following the route of Lee’s Retreat and will be in an air conditioned van so everyone should be comfortable. For more information please see Scott Wilson’s article.

I also wish to announce and do so with apologies because I should have done this in last month’s newsletter that Ron Lawrence has reenlisted in F Company. He took last season off and his participation maybe somewhat limited because of health issues but it is great to have Ron back. I think he is coming to the muster. It will be great to see him. Welcome back, Ron!

That’s it for now. Sorry to be so long winded I’ll see everyone at the muster.

God Bless and see you soon!

Captain Turley

No Report at this time

Gentlemen,

  Well, we survived Gettysburg if you want to call it surviving. I would like to thank everyone who helped out with getting Matt cooled off after Saturday's battle. That was some nasty humidity. I would also like to thank the Alexanders for putting us up on Friday night, it sure made the trip up on Saturday a lot shorter. I would like to also offer again the company's condolences on the passing of Muriel's mother. I pray that God will bring a new level of peace each day as they heal from this loss.

   We have the muster event coming up on the 9th of August. It will be an all day trip on Saturday. The cost is $ 30.00 per person. Please see the insert from Scott Wilson for the meeting spot, times, and details. I have the following people signed up (Turley, Stafford, Gammon D., Firth, Alexander, Baird, Catlett, Clements, Lawrence, Pate, Vice, Ward, and Wilson).  We have a few spots still available so if you want to go or know someone who would like to go, please let me know. Once we have 15 people, that's it.

   We also have Fort Harrison coming up on September 27th and 28th. This will be a living history event much like Cold Harbor except there will be no candlelight tour. I have the following people signed up for this (Turley, Stafford, Gammon D., Firth, Hughes, Baird, Alexander, Catlett, Pate, and Ward). We do not register for this event so if anyone wants to add on it will be no problem.

  Please keep Lt. Stafford's Step dad in your prayers. He had lung surgery on the Thursday before Gettysburg and is in the hospital in Roanoke. Please also pray for Jonathan Alexander who is still serving our Country overseas.

Respectfully,

1st Sgt. Gammon

145^th Gettysburg Re-enactment: I arrived on Saturday around 12:30 in the afternoon and immediately saw Dave and Matt Gammon, Nate Pate and Mike Floyd making their way across the sea of cars with their articles for setting up shelter. I had also touched base with Captain Turley by phone even before seeing them to make sure I found my way to the camp and he kindly came out and met me. Now, if you’ve ever been to one of these big events, you know about the sea of cars I’m referring to and the endless miles of walking…..but there’s no where else that you can go to get a glimpse of thousands of guys on the field like the big events will deliver. In my humble opinion, the 145^th Gettysburg was a great event and I’m very glad I went!

Despite some brief afternoon showers and thunder booming in the distance, Saturday’s battle turned out to be a fantastic display for both the spectators and re-enactors. The battle was stopped three times due to injuries and heat casualties. One poor chap apparently crossed a creek that separated us and the Yanks, but aimed his muzzle down and filled the barrel with a plug of mud. Perhaps he was just overcome with heat, perhaps he was so caught up in the excitement, perhaps he thought it would be funny to blast some mud at the yanks, but whatever his reason, I’ll wager he’ll never make that mistake again. When he went to fire, his .69 Cal blew up in his face and left a tremendous gash across his cheek. The blood that streamed down his alarmed face wasn’t for play though, and between that and the ground charges which were going off near us that threw dirt and flames into the air, we had a split second or two of wondering whether we were really at war. But when the event was stopped to tend to his wounds, we knew once again that we were safely within our own time period. And no matter how much those 1-2 seconds of uncertainty and horror made us feel, one cannot imagine what those incredibly brave boys went through one summer 145 years ago. The explosions they experienced ripped men apart, leaving arms and legs and heads covering the ground. Men were covered with the blood of their fathers, sons, brothers, cousins and childhood friends. No matter how close we ever feel to those great warriors, we’ll never fully comprehend all that they endured and suffered to defend everything that they held dear.

Despite the heat casualties we saw in the first battle, it was on the way back when the heat really started taking its toll. The humidity was thick and there were guys going down right and left. I was walking behind one man and he just flopped on the ground, while his pard stood there dumbfounded with amazement. Nate and I were several feet behind him and came over and began to get his gear and jacket off. He laid there in the dirt and we did what we could for him until a large crowd gathered and took over and the EMTs were notified. When Nate and I made it the short distance from there back to camp, we found out just how bad the heat was on our own guys, and F Co. would end up losing 4 out of 7 men that were present that day. Despite our reduced numbers, we still had several men of the 4^th North Carolina and the hospitality of the 47^th Virginia to swell our ranks for the Sunday battle.

Sunday’s climax was, of course, Pickett’s Charge, and the artillery boys had their fun burning what I imagine had to be several hundred pounds of powder. Both sides had about 20-25 cannons, and they put on a good show for about 40 minutes. The air bursts and ground charges added some realism for the thousands of spectators I’m sure. But the artillery wasn’t the main show……and everyone was waiting for the glorious Southern infantry to cross that field of death. This proved to be a splendid spectacle in which thousands of gray and butternut clad warriors maneuvered in large columns toward impending doom. F Company was well represented that day as our eager and well-uniformed new recruit Shane Kisner, the ever-faithful and astonishingly dapper Captain Turley and myself, stepped off with the rest of the 47^th Virginia and 4^th North Carolina towards our appointment with destiny.

As we crossed about a mile of open ground, the shells began finding their targets…….first there was the solid shot, then the canister, then double-canister, raking wide swaths through our splendid arrayed ranks. We then came into musket range, and the Yanks poured it into us with an unrelenting fury. I was intent on making it to the wall and somehow managed to go further in my wave than anyone else, but as I looked around and found that all others had fallen, I knew my own demise was near. I struggled onward until a Union volley felled me as an ax applied to a young sapling, and stripped me of my dreams and aspirations and robbed me of all of my tomorrows. As I lay mortally wounded, I continued to watch with a strange and morbid curiosity, seemingly disconnected from all the blood and turmoil which raged around me, and I witnessed several more waves of gallant Southerners swarm up the ridge as Battle flags and Rebel Yells filled the air once more. When all was said and done, the ground was littered with the dead and dying. The waves of Southern heroes ceased their momentum and many hobbled back to their lines taking Yankee lead with them. There arose in the northern ranks the vengeful and chilling chant of "Fredericksburg!, Fredericksburg!". When at last the Yanks had satisfied their yearnings for revenge, a quiet fell over the field of battle and a lone bugler began to play "Taps". The thousands of spectators gave a resounding cheer and thunderous applause and the 145^th Gettysburg event was now history itself.

Instead of going back down the hill, I made my way up towards the crowd so that I could purchase the movie that will be created for this event. I was greeted by the crowds like a hero and many people shook my hand and thanked me for my participation in such a wonderful event. I even had one man come up to me with tears in his eyes and he told me how much this event meant to him and that he had always wanted to see a large scale re-enactment like this. He went on to say that his great, great grandfather fought for the South and was killed at Gettysburg but he had no idea where he was buried……I of course, told him that I would be happy to help find him if it was at all possible. We exchanged information and he went off with even more tears and said that it was fate that brought him there that day and he was clearly overwhelmed by all he had seen. In addition to all the things that I enjoy about this hobby, that’s the kind of response that I live for……..

Respectfully submitted by Pvt. Bill Ward

The muster will begin at 5 Forks National Battle Field Park at 9:00 a.m. (Sharp). We will drop our cars at this location and will ride in a 15 passenger van along the Lee's Retreat route all the way back to Appomattox Court House National Battlefield Park. Due to time constraints and distances, we will be on a tight schedule and most of the time will be spent in the van. Do not bring coolers or luggage or steamer trunks since there is not any room. I will have a 1 cooler and will be filled with water and some drinks, which will be rationed out when needed due to lack of facilities on the route. The cost of this expedition will be approximately $30.00 per head (if we fill the van) cash at the start of the tour. We will stop for lunch in Farmville Va. and you are responsible for you own bill (they do take plastic). You should be back at 5 Forks between 4-6 p.m. Any questions please send me an e-mail.

Thanks,

Scott Wilson

Directions to 5 Forks National Battlefield Park

16302 White Oak Rd Dinwiddie VA

804-265-8244

From I-95: take exit #51 onto I-85 south. Then take exit #61 onto 460 West. Travel seven miles and take left onto Rt. 627- Court House Rd. Travel three miles to the contact station on left.

From I-85 north: Take exit #53 and left onto RT 703. Then make a left onto Rt. 1 and then a right onto Rt. 627 Court House Rd. Travel 5.1 miles to contact station on right.