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Staff photo by Doug Koontz
Civil War re-enactors from North Carolina prepare to march through the streets of Boonsboro on Thursday morning on a two-day march over South Mountain to raise money for a Civil War monument.
Posted on 09/13/2002 10:27:20 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
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Staff photo by Doug Koontz
Civil War re-enactors from North Carolina prepare to march through the streets of Boonsboro on Thursday morning on a two-day march over South Mountain to raise money for a Civil War monument. |
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BOONSBORO — Roughly 30 men carrying rifles, wearing slouch hats and dressed in Confederate uniforms marched out of the American Legion parking lot Thursday, heading for Fox's Gap.
The scuffed leather boots of the 13th North Carolina Civil War Re-enacting Regiment, and those of a few local recruits, were about to travel the path that Brig. Gen. Samuel Garland's men followed to their battle at South Mountain on Sept. 14, 1863.
"A lot of history is not correct," says the 13th's Rex Hovey, whose great grandfathers fought on both sides of the War Between the States.
Proudly carrying a recent letter from Sen. Jesse Helms encouraging them to never forget where they came from, Mr. Hovey said that too many revisionist histories are obscuring the facts. "We're trying to present the soldier as he was, without all the politics. Did you know these men crossed this mountain four times?"
South Mountain was one of the hardest marches in the war, said Mr. Hovey, quoting the diary entry of one New York soldier.
Though the 13th may only hit the hill twice during their engagement this week — six miles up one side, seven down the other — it is not their first time at South Mountain. Their objective hasn't changed since the first visit in 1997: Raise money to pay for a North Carolina battlefield monument.
Paul Luzier, of Charlotte, N.C., said that camping on the battlefield would be an emotional experience.
"Last time we had a small ceremony, Taps, and a prayer," he said. "It's a different feeling being in uniform than without. You can't stop feeling a sense of connection."
Dave Radden, of Poolesville, was a late recruit to this year's march, offering his rumpled application to "Captain" Luzier minutes before the troops were to leave.
As Mr. Radden and his friend, U.S Army Maj. Dave King of Bethesda, made last-minute adjustments to their gear, they recounted other Civil War related exploits.
"Last weekend we went up to Yarrowsburg and found an old wagon trail that's not on any map," said Maj. King, pointing at a topographic map. He said his family was from the Burkittsville area.
Maj. King is lucky to be on the march this September. Last year he was nearly killed in the attack on the Pentagon. Under his Confederate uniform, his arms still bear evidence of his injuries. "I took the bandages off for the march. All they are going to do is keep scarring down."
Maj. King said the recent anniversary of the attack wouldn't much affect the way he experienced the march.
"I went back to work at the Pentagon," he said. "I'm thinking about it every day."
For others on the march, thoughts about the disaster still loomed large.
Randall Andrese, an electrician from Emerson, NJ., said his wife worried about him making the trip so close to the anniversary. He said his mission today would be "to do his unit proud" and to return safely.
Mr. Andrese had no objections to donning a Confederate uniform. Likewise, Maj. King said he's worn the Federal Army uniform in re-enactments to help balance the sides.
Though Mr. Radden winced at the idea of wearing a blue Union uniform, he didn't object to carrying a Yankee firearm.
He defended the fact he carries a Union army Springfield rifle instead of the Confederate-issue Enfield. He said it was historically accurate because many rebels carried captured guns.
The re-enactors all aim for historical accuracy and they are quick to confess when realism goes astray.
George Hatcher, of Fayetteville, N.C., pointed out that his regiment, the 51st, didn't actually fight at South Mountain. He was in town for the re-enactment this weekend of the Battle of Sharpsburg, or what Yankees call the Battle of Antietam.
Mr. Luzier noted that real troops camped at Turner's Gap, then fought at Fox's Gap in the morning.
He also said that though his regiment would carry vegetable provisions in their packs, there was a ham awaiting them for dinner.
One soldier whispered that he'd stashed a bottle of Rebel Yell somewhere in the hills.
Color Sgt. Stephen Howerton, of Charlotte, N.C., said that though the regiment's banner was made and painted with hand-made materials, he was designing one that would be much more accurate.
And though they were about to march into what was a grueling experience for the Confederates, the camaraderie between these re-enactor soldiers is apparent.
"We like to have a lot of fun. Can you tell that?" said Mr. Radden.
FReepmail to get on/off the list.
Then the next week I flew out to Burbank, rented a Mustang GT ragtop from an outfit in Beverly Hills, and drove the California coast road from Morro Rock to Crescent City. It was a "great year"!
The National Park Service deserves a lot of praise for what they've done on a shoestring with those great military parks. I've also visited Shiloh, Pea Ridge, the Crater, Chancellorsville/The Wilderness, Fort Oglethorpe, Lookout Mountain, Vicksburg, Chickamauga, and Manassas/Bull Run. Franklin, Nashville, Perryville, Glorieta, Missionary Ridge, Spottsylvania, Fredericksburg, Malvern Hill, Corinth, and the Peninsular Campaign and Shenandoah Valley battlefields are on my list -- as is Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, where Dr. Mudd was imprisoned.
yes, they have....several years ago when Congress couldn't agree on the budget there was fear that Sharpsburg would be shut down...it was considered an "under-utilized" property...thankfully, this didn't happen...
things in Virginia are deteriorating rapidly....land abutting some of the battlefields has appreciated so much that owners are tempted to sell to the highest bidder....Disney was planning to put a new Disneyland next to Manassas a couple years ago...they had anonomously cobbled together several tracts of land thru a third party broker...when word leaked out there was enough public outcry to kill the project...but is was a very near thing....this kind of stuff is going to keep on happening....Gettysburg is under attack now, so is Frerdericksburg.......so much is disappearing that it's sad..
.....when I went to college in Atlanta in the early 60s it was still possible to see the outlines of old overgrown trenchworks running thru the woods.....today, I wonder how many Atlantans would even know that a great battle was once fought there....
.....there's a new emphasis in the Parks now too....Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr sits on the appropriation committee and is starting to mandate that the guides emphasize slavery...if he had his way the battlefields would be little more than indoctrination centers with a "hate Whitey" agenda... ......IMHO you're smart to have seen all the Parks you have....I'm afraid that in the future they just won't be same...it's hard to envision a battle when there's a Wal-Mart across the street...
Good luck to everybody.... Stonewalls
Now that's not accurate at all. Maybe he should have stashed a bottle of corn squeezings.
God bless those brave men who fought for their homes & families.
I live along Johnston's River Line on the Chattahoochee. I know where most of the old fortifications are located, mostly on private property in people's back yards, etc. But they are disappearing slowly but surely. When we were buying a house we looked at one that had a beautifully preserved trench section, including a gun emplacement, in the side yard. (The house, however, was impossible.) I walked the dog over there a couple of months ago and discovered that the yahoos who DID buy the house added on a garage and simply tanked right over the trench. Must be Yankees. ;-)
But the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield Park has preserved a good sized chunk of land (my OTHER gg grandfather fought in that one). It is still in pretty authentic and well-kept shape. They allow horses on trails within the park, and I ride over there pretty regularly. Beautiful land, alternating woods and sweeps of open pasture.
Dad's family all lived in Alabama, some in Cherokee and some in Russell and Barbour Counties. One branch of the family did live just over the Georgia line in Coosa, west of Rome, GA, and one of my 3X great grandfathers lived briefly in Atlanta in a boardinghouse in the 1850s. But at that time the city was little more than a railhead and a cluster of houses. I think the state capital was in Milledgeville at the time. Some people think it ought to have stayed there (sorry, inside joke, Milledgeville is also the long-time site of the State Hospital for the Insane).
When Atlanta finally began to grow, it was the time of Henry Grady and Joel Hurt Jr. "booming" the "New South" and encouraging development. So relics of the war were the last thing on anybody's mind. I think that was a shame, but I am historically inclined and do not care for the Atlanta attitude of "wreck out the old." The city really has carried it too far -- old time Atlantans tend to give directions in terms of where things "used to be" - "go up Peachtree and turn where the Sears used to be" - "go out Ponce de Leon to where the old ballpark used to be" - and of course nobody knows what on earth they are talking about (my grandfather used to take me to Ponce de Leon ballpark to watch the Crackers play. Backward, turn backward, o Time in thy flight!)
..."I think the state capital was in Milledgeville at the time".....yes, I believe that's true...also it's believed that Georgia supplied some of the best equipped troops to the CSA...in 1861 it had a good transportation, industrial and agricultural base...which is one reason Sherman raised so much hell there...Georgia could have gotten back on their feet a lot quicker if could have sold all their cotton that was bottled up by the Union blockade...it was all siezed by the Union and sold at a handsome profit..."war reparations" don'tcha know!
"go out Ponce de Leon to where the old ballpark used to be" - and of course nobody knows what on earth they are talking about (my grandfather used to take me to Ponce de Leon ballpark to watch the Crackers play.".....Whooeee!...you're really taking me back here....I remember that old ball park ...the Crackers used to play their dreaded rivals the New Orleans Pelicans there...I also remember the old Sears too...I was sworn into the Army at the induction center next door to it*....(see below)
...always nice reminiscing with a southern lady from Atlanta....you sound just like my late aunt...she was an Atlantan from the old school too....in '39 she went down to the Fox Theatre and stood on the curb to watch the movie stars arrive for the premier of GWTW....actually SAW Gable and Lombard.....what a thrill!....she lived to be an old lady, but she never forgot that night...
*when they gave us our physical exam some guys tried to get disqualified; said they had an "old football" injury or some such...I'm standing next to a big ol' tall skinny poor boy from way up in the mountains of N.Georgia.....the doctor gets to him and says "what's that on your arm?"...(he had an infected boil the color and size of a plum)...the mountain boy says "aww hell, that's just a 'risin'....I'm ready to fight for my country"...I thought to myself "yeah, I know that kid alright...he's the same tough Georgia kid that lived on cornpone and collards and fought to the bitter end 100 years earlier.."
..I better go do some Saturday chores now.....good luck to everybody!!....Stonewalls
100 men a WEEK are joining the SCV here in VA, mostly because of the NEW SCV license plates.
our lads looked good-got misty-eyed numerous times over the weekend, especially when the gentleman portraying GEN Lee saluted ME!
free dixie,sw
free dixie,sw
"GEN Lee" rode up on his horse, with 2 aides de camp, saluted me and said "you Sons of Confederate Veterans make these old bones proud." (he looks like REL, BTW). EVERYBODY stood and CHEERED him!
the re-enactment was GRAND!
free the southland,sw
In the book Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz he recounts his visit to the National Cemetery at Salisbury, NC-
The log for Union soldiers wasn't long. "Most of the corpses were stripped of their clothes, tossed on dead-wagons and dumped in those trenches," Stice said, "so we don't know a whole lot of the names." Salisbury's tiny graveyard held more unknown dead than any other National Cemetery in America.
From a Website which tells the history of the 128 NYS Volunteers.
William, his fellow townsmen Potter Burton, James Norton and George Tipple, and nearly four thousand other Union soldiers were buried en masse in Salisbury's 18 long trenches- the largest group of unknown soldiers in American history.
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