Hunting Forum

Go out and role in the dirt with the dogs .They might like that .

Great news, 45!  I have 3 of them in my shop right now to de-farb.  The locks are fitted to each gun and all I have come across are drop-in fit.  The bayonet if you got that is alos fitted and the scabbard is very good quality.  

Perryville was a climactic battle at the end of a long campaign race.  The 9th KY had been encamped most of the summer in north AL and south TN at the mouth of Battle Creek, TN.  Today, the area is close to I-24 at the SE slope of Mont Eagle before you get to Chattanooga.  While there they had spent time patrolling the regions for guerillas, drilled, and dug rifle pits and trenches to help hold the spot along the TN river.  The Rebs under Bragg made a move through the Cumberland Gap into southeastern KY in an attempt to take KY and encourage tens of thousands of pro-southern KY men to flock to Bragg's army.  Bragg worked out this plan with Kirby Smith and the 2 of them decided to work together to invade KY, drive the Federals out or force a major battle someplace to defeat them and cause Ky to officially secede.  Buell went chasing after them with a huge portion of his army including the 9th KY hot on the heels of the Rebs.  For days adn days men slogged along hot dusty roads, cris-crossed eachother, waited for hours as forcs moved past only to pick up after them and continue.  In KY the forces were scattered as cavalry platoons raced back and forth trying to locate eachother and the enemy body.  Finally the 3 armies were converging near one another close to Louisville only a day's march by foot form the OH river.  The result was the commanders quickly had to devise a plan to fight.  Bragg, always second-guessing himself lost his nerve and Smith woudl not cooperate as fully as Bragg wanted yet Bragg did not do what was necessary and force Smith to submit to Bragg.  It was a large battle but not as large as others of the time (Antietam had just happened a couple of weeks before) so it was not that important in and of itself.  The Confederates won the fight on the field in spite of Bragg.  But, the fight was not a brilliant strategy for either side.  The 9th Ky in fact never fired a shot, sending the whole day on a hill beside the battlefield watching and yelling "go team!".  They were part of Buells' reserves that were never called for but should have been to defeat Bragg.  The real importance in Perryville was that it effectively ended the Confederacy's designs on KY because only a few thousand, maybe only about a thousand of KY men actually came into Bragg's ranks as opposed to the tens of thousands he'd hoped for.  He developed a hatred for KY and this just as Gen'l Breckinridge's "Orphan Brigade" os Rebel Kentuckians transferred into Bragg's army.  Bragg heaped insults upon his KY troops as they went into the fall camps and winter camps south of Nashville.  Perryville set the stage for the battle of Stones River.  Stones River set the stage for the Tullahoma campaign that led to Chickamauga which led to the siege of Chattanooga.  Chattanooga opened the door into GA.  So, Perryville in the greater scheme of the region and war as a whole was important even though it is mostly forgotten today.

So, where I was leading with that diatribe was that our "look" should be of a campaign.  Our brass can be browned somewhat, pants dusty or muddy, shoes rough and brown, guns can have some rust spots, etc.  But, we do not have to have that look by any means but that would have been their look after a march of close to 800 miles done in a month.

http://www.nps.gov/chch/parknews/lo...eID=439518
Looking forward to a great weekend at Chickamauga!  Weather appears to be cooperating so we might have nearly identical weather to what was there 149 yrs ago.  I'll be on the full 6-gun Union battery with the other Park gun crews.  We are taking both Shelly and Betty down.  Kennessaw is brining their 3" rifle and Chickamauaga is putting out their 3" rifle as well as their brand new 12 pdr field howitzer.  The 6th gun is another 12 pdr field howitzer privately owned that comes to the Park Srvc. events from time to time because they are trained properly.  So, we have 2 3" rifles, 2 6 pdr guns and 2 12 pdr howitzers in a line to rock and roll!

http://landing.newsinc.com/apvideo/...3-06-25-11
"Mainstream" vs. "Progressive" re-enacting video explained pretty well.  The Napoleon is cool.  Their drill is adequate but could really be much better.  Still cool to watch though.

http://www.timesfreepress.com/video...p/16/6246/
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/...oar-again/
I am the gunner on the nearest gun , “Shelly” in the video. We had a great weekend to say the least. The weather was cool at night for pleasant sleeping with just a wool blanket on the ground and during the day it was warm but not uncomfortable which was similar to the weather 149 years ago. Approximately 750 Georgians swarmed lengthwise through the Poe field coming from woods to the southeast traveling up along the Lafayette Rd. They had just smashed through Federal lines at the Brotherton field south of the Poe field scattering Federal resistance all along the woods and broken fields. But 18 field guns had just accumulated here in the north side of the Poe field which at that time was only about 200 yds wide and 400 yds long surrounded by open woods and the now burning Poe cabin and its scattered out buildings also in the southern side of the field. As soon as the Federals cleared and the Georgians stormed forward the Union artillery opened up with exploding shell and case rounds followed soon after by canister and double canister. The firing was speeded in many instances by the canoneers cutting corners which was dangerous to themselves but in the immediacy of the event necessary. For 5 minutes the guns roared as fast as they could be serviced, recoiling and being pushed forward again and reloaded before the guns were even returned to position. Approximately every 15-20 seconds for 5 earth-shaking minutes the line of field pieces belched flame and iron into the Georgians. After 5 minutes, the field was so filled with smoke and dust that the battery commanders ordered a cease fire just to let it all settle so they could see the results. When the dust settled and the smoke drifted away, over 600 Georgians were found still or writhing on the field and the rest had fled. One of the Battry leaders was reported to have said looking at the dust-covered corpses of Georgians: “we bury our dead.”

Happiness is: Evening battery fire.  "Unleash Hell!"  This was late afternoon just about dusk which was when a lot of artillery was being fired at Chickamauga 149 yrs ago from near the same position we were at.  This guy got a lot of really awesome shots form the 2-day demos.  That's "Shelly" in the foreground which I was Gunner on and the other 5 pieces fired nearly simultaneously.

Shi, KMA for not telling me by email you wud be there and not coming by.....

Sorry bud.  I figured you'd wander down and completely forgot to call you while down there. Afterwards I stayed on-site for a couple of hrs until nearly dark exploring the 9th KY sites for research for a future book.
Check the guy's pics and videos at http://takeovertheworld.org/cannons/ specifically the 2 dated folders: 9-15-12 & 9-16-12.

http://articles.philly.com/2012-09-...est-battle
Got an e-mail alert that they have acquired more land for next year's big Gettysburg re-enactment July 4-7. The 18th MO from London have already started sending fees to us to send in by the end of the year to join in with our unit and several of them will be bringing their families along as well for a big U.S. Civil War vacation which they have done in the past.

We just visited GB in July, if anyone's going next year for the 150 year tribute, I'd advise making reservations YESTERDAY, and that's if you can find any.

There wil be 2 re-enacting events. The first one will be smaller and more "hard-core" happening the weekend before July 4th. I am not sure how it will be for spectators but it should be plenty big to see a bunch. The 2nd one wil be the usual larger one that is more main-stream and guest friendly which will happen July 4-7. I (and presumeably 45Hawken) will attend that one. At the 145th event my wife and I left Sunday after the last event headed south toward home with the intent of getting a motel room someplace for a shower and soft bed and A/C since it had been hot and humid and we were quite filthy. We found the 1st vacant room at a Super 8 in Harpers Ferry, VA after passing scores of booked solid motels and hotels to that point and I think we got the only vacant room that motel had. I think we left a permanent ring in the shower tub.

http://www.perryvillebattlefield.or..._2012.html
Signing-off until next week to go back 150 years. 45Hawken and his lovely wife are coming down as well so anyone that is able please come to the Federal infantry camps and search us out in the 9th KY camp. Can't miss us. We'll be the fat, old guys wearing blue staying in the white tent.

Best event I have been to this year!  The 150th Perryville had the usual "WTH?" things all events of this size have but the majority opinion I heard from all of our unit and others was it was really great!  The weather turned pleasantly cool after Friday night when a rain came in with gusting wind overnight reaking some havoc with tents.  But after that it was just plain great to be wearing wool.  As usual we had roughly 25% of our membership on effective duty, meaning 9-10 or so shooters and 3-4 non-combatants on the field falling in with out friends in the 8th TN & 125th OVI to make up a decent unit.  I have not heard numbers but suspect there were about 1,000 Federal infantry and a bit more Rebs. so we had a lot if good fighting and maneuvoring to do.  Our job was to lose so we did but we gave the Rebs a good showing all along the way.  I was very glad that 45Hawken and his lovely wife Robyn made it down and after an epic journey through the tiny village of Perryville found our little camp. 
(45Hawken still has that 'new re-enactor smell.')

Sadly I regret to inform all that just as in the corn field at Wilson's Creek last year, 45Hawken was horribly mangled and slain at Perryville atop the hill where we ended that day's fight.  But judging from the picture I snapped moments before a lone Reb sharpshooter kilt me, I think Gary was just tired of the long retreat and decided to relax a bit.

Notice though that even in death, to get his prized Lorenz they'd have to pry it from his cold dead hands.

I sent you a link on the 9ths email. Robin took over 100 pics plus quite a bit of video. sent the link on a file sharing website for the pics. the size of everything was so big, that I,ll probably copy the video over to a dvd and just send it to you. Hope the link worked, I must say Robin got some pretty good shots of the battles. To many pics to choose from, so I just sent them all.

Got it. Some good pics in there I've posted to the Facebook page and have to crop cars, crowds or power lines out of some to add to the website.

Roughly a regulation-strength battalion separated approximately by Companies.  In reality this would likely be 2 period Regiments or battalions at most battles since rarely were more than 30% of the on-paper men effective during a campaign.  We were about where the volley smoke is, probably that's our smoke.
Fog of war.  !st Battalion's right and 2nd Battalion's left.  Our own 3rd Battalion is lost in the smoke.
(Can't miss me - I'm staying in the white tent.)

We found a great new hang-out!  "Yes, men thiz iz whut we ara fit'n fer!  Liqur an hoors!"

Wiping that "new re-enactor's smell" off 45Hawken along with other recruits & welcoming them as fully-accepted members of the 9th KY.  Congratulations & welcome, Pvt. Wurster!

http://www.kentucky.com/2012/10/06/...rsary.html

Wondered how the defarb was going. If the aliens show up Dec 21, I might need to use the bayonet on them.