It's Saturday! Today's plan has us heading to the Royal Gunpowder Mills for the American Civil War reenactment. The American Civil War Society or ACWS and in particular Company E of the First United States Sharpshooters were happy to host our guests. Since the uniforms and dresses draw so much attention we decided that we do have breakfast first then go back to the hotel to change before heading to the event. Breakfast was an easy decision, as we opted for the typical breakfast a bap. Stomachs full it was now time to squeeze in to corsets and waistcoats. Okay so the guys are going to have as much trouble getting into their uniform with a full stomach as what ladies do getting into corsets, but that's another story completely. Antina and I had both brought a date dress for each day of the event and so what we were to wear for the day was based upon the proposed weather report. Since Sunday called for rain and Saturday was supposed to be relatively clear, we opted for our better dresses or Saturday. Which meant that Antina wore her new beautiful pink and cream plaid silk dress. This was the first I had seen of this dress and it was spectacular. I opted for by Vivian which is cream and green floral print. Not to leave the guys out, they opted for their Berdan green uniforms. Once we were mostly dressed, we gathered in David and my room for finishing touches such as hair and jewelry. It is Antina and I primped with the final touches, Mike and David packed the vehicle with the things we needed for the day. As we exited the hotel, the staff asked if we had a wedding and we explained the event to them. As we attempted to climb into the vehicle, we had visitors from another country (not England or USA) ask us if they could take a picture with us to which we obliged. The advertising being done, we headed off to the event site. As we pulled up to the sites and we got out of the vehicle, Antina and I received whistles of appreciation from the gentlemen of Company E as they helped us unpack the few belongings be brought. Well we got our items stowed under Company E's fly Antina showed us how to fall in a ladylike fashion as the chair folded up underneath her. Luckily she was not hurt. I must admit she did so with grace that is unparalleled and I'm not being sarcastic. We spent most of the day enjoying the company of the unit in those camped nearby.  

We took some of the time available to us to see the site itself as it produced gunpowder during our American Civil War.

   

Although we had plenty of free time, Mike and David were required to do drill both at the company skirmish and battalion level. But they didn't mind as it went quickly and it helped all to focus on the safety and maneuver factor.

 

 Antina and Mike noted that they had a really good time and that reenactors are the same the world over-same attitude different accent. We all enjoyed hearing news stories and I think the storytellers enjoyed having new listeners. We enjoyed hearing stories of rabbits and squirrels and deer, oh my! Aside from the stories, several of the reenactors asked how their reenacting compared to that in the US, for which I would have to say that they do a FINE job. Mike and Antina also got to enjoy one of my favorite games, pin the accent on the state, which always comes after the clarifying question "are you from the states". I must say that they have a fine ear for they usually guess my Illinois accent as being from Ohio which in my opinion is close enough. Since Antina had recently returned from Kentucky, they had her pegged for Kentucky which means she must've brought some of the accent back with her. For the battle, and the drill, Antina and I were busy taking photographs. If while looking through some of the pictures you see either a spectator or one of us in the way you can rest assured that shortly before or after that picture was taken you would have heard said "mind the camera". At this point I must provide the Saturday battle after action report. The 69th in the 19th went through the camps in skirmish order while the sharpshooters did an end around to come up on the Confederate camps. At this point the sharpshooters cell opened fire and the firefight quickly erupted. At this point the sharpshooters split off and pressed back to the center to support the advancing infantry. Inadvertently some spectators wandered onto the battlefield but Captain Parkin shoot them back to the safety zones. The sharpshooters advanced and then they dealt with flanking maneuver and eventually managed to capture an artillery piece. With haste, the sharpshooters turned the artillery piece into the Confederate flank (and towards the crowd) at which time Mike made moves as if to load the gun. This maneuver surprised not only the Confederates but there was also a large gasp from the crowd as they sensed they may be in danger. It wasn't too long after that that the need was to abandon the gun and chase the Rebs from the field. When all was said and done the day ended in a Union victory. 

 

As all shows for the ACWS end, we still had a final drill to perform for the crowd. As the entire ACWS formed ranks facing the crowd they fired first by company, then by file, and finally by society. This won them much applause from the crowd. After the field was cleared it was time for everyone to turn in any unused rounds. Mike was surprised to find that he was one of the few who had used all of his rounds. I personally took that to mean that he enjoyed himself immensely on the field We spent some more time around camp enjoying everyone's company. The boys cleaned guns so that they wouldn't have to worry about it later in the evening or the next morning. Once we decided it was time to go we loaded ourselves up and the stealth skunk broke us out of the locked gate (Mike had the magic opening power for the lock). We decided that we would stop by Enfield manufacturing on the way back to the hotel. Enfield was just up the canal from the Gunpowder Mills. It now exists as a small community of apartment buildings and the like. There is a very small museum to Enfield manufacturing still on-site but it is open to visitors on more of an arranged basis then with regular hours. Walking around still in our Civil War garb, we got lots of questions and therefore promoted the event for Sunday as much as we could. Well there's not much left of the manufacturing plant itself, we still enjoyed seeing the sights of what it would've looked like when it was producing Enfield rifles to ship overseas for our American Civil War. To me this was the ultimate time trip.  

Definitely time to get back to the hotel and get out of this corset! Besides it's time for a good dinner at most likely to Kentucky fried chicken and there is the promise of ice cream since it will be early enough they won't be able to turn me away. Having enjoyed dinner in the comfort of mundane clothes, we remembered that we have yet to see the monument at High Barnett. Since it is a mere 4 miles from our location and there is still light, we hopped back in the truck to make another pass. Our diligence met with success. Unfortunately the battlefield itself is long gone having been built up into houses and roads, but the monument still stands in testament to the battle that once was held here.  

We take as many pictures as we could given the lateness of the hour and it's getting dark quickly. Now it was definitely time to reward ourselves with that ice cream. During the ice cream Antina and I were comparing notes and we noted the need to download our pictures off the cameras to allow for as many pictures as we could take on the morrow. During the downloads, all four of us enjoyed looking through the pictures that we had taken in the video that had been shot. As the hour approached 11 p.m. we all decided it was time to turn in so that we would be refreshed for another day of reenacting our American Civil War in England. For all pictures and videos I encourage you to visit our website at www.danianddave.com/acws/gunpowder.htm.

With Sunday morning we've repeated what had become over a short time the tradition of the breakfast bap. Once again we ate breakfast prior to donning or Civil War clothing. Today's clothing choice for Antina was her summer sheer blue and red plaid and for me what I've referred to as my Gettysburg dress which is a cream and red plaid.

Once again as we were settled on site Antina and I took to taking photographs and video while the gentleman enjoyed more drill. After drill Company E decided to ham it up for the cameras and get some good advertising shots taken while they had the opportunity so with that we headed off to other portions of the site for a more natural setting. As Captain Parkin decided on some scenes to set the question was asked "who volunteers to be dead, Lloyd?" I must admit that Lloyd plays dead very well. Once the photographs were taken the boys headed back to camp while Antina and I wandered the rest of the site and buildings. At one point both of us wondered if and when the boys would realize they lost their photographers.

Upon returning to camp Mike and David set to attempt to convince the members of Company E to attempt Gettysburg in 2013 with promises of crash space and much exploration of the USA. As the time approached noon, Mike headed out to hunt Antina down for the second time with David trailing behind to attempt to find me. The boys found us both at the portion of the site which produced rockets up until 1996. The gentleman manning this portion of the museum had worked here until it was closed and now he volunteers. Therefore we were getting a very personalized tour of this part of the facility. Just prior to entering this part of the museum, the gentleman had approached us as we were attempting to figure out what was in the canal. He expertly advised us that they were the canal barges that had previously been sunk at other portions of the site and had been brought here and sunk for preservation until they could be restored properly.

From Gunpowder Mills Site

Since our men had found us they informed us that they were headed back to camp and they had a short time to get a bite to eat before they were going to need to do bayonet drill. As we wandered back to camp after having looked through one other building, we found the boys ready to do bayonet drill. But before they had too much of an opportunity to get geared up for that, some of the officers had decided to do sword drill. This put David and Mike in the opportunity to teach. It's not often you see privates teaching officers sword drill. Quite a few times you could hear someone from the class ask "can you show that one move again?" As they valiantly gave up their time to teach sword, they were excused from bayonet drill in order for them to get something to eat before having to form up for battle.

We therefore retired to the small café on site which had great pasties (we had managed to enjoy the same café yesterday as well). As the boys went off to battle Antina and I set ourselves up for more picture taking of the action. I was grateful to Antina for taking my camera as will as hers so that we could maximize our view of the battlefield while I shot video.

And now comes time for the after action report: today's battle scenario varied slightly from the previous day. This time the sharpshooters moved through the union camp, but it was only part of them. Corporal Davidson, Captain Parkin, and private Parkin performed the end round. Those that had filtered through camp opened fire on the Confederates. The sharpshooters united and headed for the Canon when one group broke off for the flight. David had decided early in the battle to take a back wound but he changed it to a leg wound while he waited for the Confederates to either capture or kill him. Neither happened and the rest of the company dragged him back where he made a miraculous recovery. Mike noted that while the rest of the company seemed to double quick forward he seemed to be stuck in waddle speed. The sharpshooters headed back to the middle of the battlefield and started to take that Canon when they decided to charge forward. At which point they needed to fall back, and then were required to charge forward again when most of them died. As you view the battlefield from the sidelines all you saw were spots of green dead reminding us of Monty Python's famous line "take out your dead." I will admit at this point that I was asking who was dead upon the field at which time Neil's magic spotting service came into use and Sergeant Hoddle informed me the green that I was asking about was in fact my husband. I was pretty embarrassed but amazed at Neil's talent as he spotted the remainder of the dead for me based upon their leggings of all things. I took the opportunity to take some close-ups as I could of the dead litter in the field. But wait, not all of the sharpshooters were dead and the remainder took that Canon after all. With all of this, the union won the second day.  

The battle ended with all dead rising, all troops forming again in front of the crowd and performing the fire by company, the fire by file, and the fire by society. Mike, once again used all of his powder.

With the battle done we wandered back to camp and started collecting our things to head out. Clothing having been sorted and us being dressed more comfortably for the ride home, we said our goodbyes and headed off. 

For all pictures and videos I encourage you to visit our website at http://members.aol.com/cimberann/vance/gunpowder.htm.  

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