Email
Print
Eclectic bunch straddle time barrier to re-enact Civil War clash
Photo by James Nix
Civil War re-enactors battle at Bost Grist Mill Saturday afternoon.
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: June 16, 2009
CONCORD - Gen. Robert E. Lee stood under a tree, in the shade, away from the scorching sun. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled at some passers-by.
He was confident in his mission: To fight back the army of aggressors that had invaded his native southern soil.
And he said as much.
"We are going to drive the invaders out," he told some sightseers. "It's time for the federal government to leave us alone!"
Lee and his foe, units from the Union Army, clashed at Bost Grist Mill near Midland on Saturday in a fierce battle.
On a rolling hillside near the historic mill, the Blue and the Gray fought in sweltering heat while a large crowd of onlookers watched on the sidelines.
Lee, otherwise known as Andy Shores, 59, of Ramseur, walked the sidelines, cheering his forces on and explaining tactics to the audience.
On the field, a Confederate cavalry troop burst out of the woods, sabres drawn and gleaming in the sun, and crashed headlong into troops of Union horse soldiers.
Behind an earthen fort, Col. Curt Cole, 51, of Snow Hill, shouted orders to his troops — "Keep your head down! Load your weapons! Here they come, boys. Ready, fire!"
The Yanks let loose a volley of musket fire at the advancing Rebels, who stopped dead in their tracks.
Some fell, the others fell back to load their muskets and return fire.
Camping by the fire
Re-enactors straddle the time barrier, moving back and forth between the modern era and 140 years in the past.
Everything about the camps are as authentic as it can get: The soldiers sleep in canvas tents and cook over open flame. They wear uniforms made entirely out of wool, right down to their underwear.
They carry long-rifle muskets, with real bayonets on the end. And they follow old battlefield tactics just as Lee and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant did to move their armies across the eastern United States.
Yet, they are an eclectic bunch: Doctors, lawyers, accountants, machinists, business owners, even high school students come together from all over the country, armed with their muskets and shared love of living history.
"We got in it for the history," said Oscar Lopez, 50, of Kernersville. "We went to some re-enactments and just loved them. So we started participating."
He and his wife, Inaze Vaughn Lopez, are with the 28th North Carolina regiment, from Yadkin County. As part of joining the the group, the Lopezes traced their genealogy back to the 1860s.
Inaze said she had a great-great aunt, Francis Tucker, who lived in Danbury, in Stokes County, when Gen. George Stoneman, a Union cavalry commander, rode through the small town as part of his famous raid through North Carolina and Virginia.
"She was only 4 years old at the time and she threw rocks at the soldier's feet," Inaze said.
Most re-enactors have ancestors that fought in the real conflict, but others join just to be a part of it.
Will Delaney, 66, of got into re-enactment about 14 years ago when a friend of his brought him along one weekend.
He is a musician with the 28th and plays the bagpipes and the field drum. He said he didn't know anything about the Civil War when he joined.
"I just wanted to play my drum," he said.
Chris Evans, 16, of Tarboro stood in a circle with his fellow soldiers in camp. He was a 'fresh fish' and fighting in his first battle.
During an impromptu ceremony before forming up, his fellow soldiers made his rip open a packet of gun powder and pour it in his hand, spit in his hand and make a paste and rub it all over his face, as a sign that he was a rookie.
A coach at Evans' school recruited him into the regiment.
"I went to the Cotton Festival and saw that the coach was a first sergeant and a couple of months later, he dragged me out [to a re-enactment]," Evans said.
Evans' regiment, the 1st/11th North Carolina, wore Union blue during this battle. Most re-enactors will play both sides if there aren't enough soldiers on one side or another.
"We'll die like good Yankees today," Evans joked.
Out on the battlefield, the two sides traded volleys, but it wasn't bullets that brought down the troops, but the heat. Stragglers, sweating in their wool uniforms, left the field and headed to the woods on the sidelines, where volunteers from nearby rescue squads gave them ice and water to cool off.
After a couple of charges, the battle ended with a Confederate charge on the earthen Union fort. The Yanks fled; the Rebels took the fort.
A bugler sounded "Taps" and the battle was over.
Email
Print
ADVERTISEMENT
Click a region for news specific to that area.
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
Advertisement
