Sunday, 20 May 2018

This weekend, Arge and Judy are in town.  We (Brenda, Adam, John, Arge, Judy, Isabella and friend, Cassandra) travelled about an hour north of our home to visit the Resaca battlefield and view a Civil War Re-enactment battle.

The Battle of Resaca was fought in May of 1864 with largely inconclusive results.  There were more than 7,000 casualties combined for the Union and Confederate armies.  The Union lost more soldiers, but the Confederates were forced to retreat and dig in further south toward Atlanta.

There were vendors selling 19th century items and the re-enactors had camped all over the grounds for the full weekend.  It was a lot of fun to see all of the gear and speak with the people there – who were very eager to share with you their hobby/passion.

The day terminated with a full battle – solders maneuvering and firing, attacking, cavalry charges and LOUD cannon fire on both sides.

This guy’s homemade sign:
PROVOST HQ
No smokin’
No drankin’
No cussin’

We talked to several of these guys and learned that for most of them, this is their one weekend away “from the women” when they can drink, smoke, sleep in the woods, and play with guns.  There were a small handful of women participating, but not very many.  I was really surprised at the number of young boys.  I assumed it was going to be mostly Old White Guys (and there were plenty of those) but a large number of the re-enactors were boys who looked to be ranging in age from about 12 to 20.

As we passed one group of teenaged boys getting ready for the upcoming battle, one of them saw me walking by and gave me a “howdy Ma’am” head bob; then I saw him spot Isabella and Cassandra a few paces behind me.  He was suddenly very alert and I heard him hiss “GIRLS!!!” to his buddies, followed by a round of elbow-nudges and an abrupt end to their conversation.  They watched Bella and Cassandra walk by.  (Maybe “gawked” is a better word than “watched.”  In any case, the girls were completely oblivious.)

That’s when I noticed that Bella and Cassandra were, quite literally, the ONLY teenaged girls in attendance.  I saw a few young women participating in the calvary event on horseback, but that was it.  This was, by and large, an event appreciated by boys/men.  The few women there to watch as spectators were my age or older (i.e., mid-40s and up.)

One of the few families participating with a couple of children.

Getting ready for the cavalry competition.  This guy said, “It’s just so much fun.  You try not to take the competition too seriously, but when you get out there you turn back into a 12 year old boy and can’t help yourself.”

A few of the women participants.

There weren’t very many spectators at this event so we stuck out like sore thumbs in our modern clothes.  The vast majority of the people here were part of the re-enactment. It was 91 degrees in the shade; very hot and muggy.  The participants were all wearing heavy wool clothing.  One guy showed me that he had flannel pajama bottoms from Target underneath his wool pants because even in the intense heat it was more comfortable to add more clothes than to itch from the rough wool cloth directing touching skin.  The same guy (wearing a Union uniform) said to me, “I’m so sorry I’m in the wrong uniform, Ma’am.  But some of us had to take one for the team and play the bad guys.  I truly do apologize.”

The cannons to be used for the Confederate side of the battle later in the day.

Below: Doing weapons checks prior to the start of the re-enactment.  

Practicing the drumming and flute playing.  (They played Battle Hymn of the Republic during the majority of the battle.)

John, Brenda, Cassandra and Isabella headed across the field to the location of the calvary competition.  On the horizon you can just barely see the earth works used for the battle.

As we sat down to watch the Calvary competition, the battery in Adam’s Leica camera died.  He went to get his back-up battery and it was not there … turns out it was sitting at home.  For the remainder of the day (all of the cool parts where people were doing interesting stuff rather than just getting ready) he had to use the camera in his phone.  That was a huge disappointment.  Anyway …..

This guy was by far the best horseman and very impressive to watch.  That horse could run like the wind and it was breathtakingly beautiful.

Here come the Confederates.

The battle has begun:  Confederates behind the earthworks in the distance and Union standing to the right in the field. The smoke is from their muskets.

Union army.

The figures in the grass (middle of frame) are injured and dead.  They’re “out” for the remainder of the battle. Most of them propped up on their elbows so they could see the action and sipped water from canteens with huge grins on their faces.

Battle is over — cavalry headed back to camp to pack up for the weekend.  The lone figure to the left is Arge taking a photo.

Below is a 3:39 minute video Adam compiled of the battle.  The sound from his phone doesn’t do justice to the experience.  The cannons were so loud your ears would ring for minutes afterwards and the sound echoed through the valley like thunder.

At the 2:24 mark the cavalry got into a sword fight right in front of our position.  The riders were having a ton of fun, grinning from ear to ear. (Many of the cavalry were women …  I didn’t see any female foot soldiers but there were several on the horses.)