Thursday, September 20, 2007

Minooka, IL - 20 to 22 Oct 2006

This was us at our first event that we did together as family in period dress. This was taken near the 26th North Carolina Co. G camp at Dollinger Farms near Minooka, Illinois. Don't we all look great?! Bethany made all that you see us wearing except my uniform and her dress. And that rifle is an actual Civil War relic that one of the guys brought to the event that day.

This is a neat blog header that Bethany made up for her blog shortly after the event.

Tom and Joe dressed and ready for their first event that cold Saturday morning!

Jake looks pretty good in his outfit here. It is funny to see his clothes because all that remains a year later is his shirt and haversack! Uncle Fan is in the background, playing catch up to reinforce his buttons on his shell jacket.

Wow, look at how little Jimmy is here?! But he, too, was looking good for his first event, even if he wasn't too sure of what he was doing!


And here I am, doing what I did a lot this weekend...reinforce buttons on outfits. I'm trying to get Nathaniel's suspenders all ready to wear. There is a lot of force on those buttons as you go about the day.


And here is my sweet Eme. Actually, she got to dress up at Lockport in September. But she is wearing her first homemade dress. Doesn't she look great?!


Here we are lined up for drill. Nathaniel and I are next to Capt. Paul, the big tall guy next to the tree.


Here we are, still waiting to go out to drill. Jake is waiting for his first taste of the action.

This is a very nice pic of Jake here. I'm not sure if he really is excited to go out, or if would rather be back at camp messing around.


This is a real nice pic of the guys just lounging around prior to battle. It is easy for me to imagine what the boys must have looked like back in the day!


And here are some of the boys of Co. G, 26th NC. You'll note Bill standing there on the left, and next Darrel, Rich, Daniel and Layton

Here is little Joe during the battle on the sidelines. I guess when you are short, it is tough to enjoy the battle. I think he is contemplating his escape. Just after this, he decided to walk back to camp on his own after the battle was over. Well, there were several hundred spectators here, and everyone was streaming back down the hill. After 20 minutes or so, he was found in one of the other camps. Phew...what a scare for Mom & Dad at their first family event!

Here is Eme being a good big sister to Jimmy.


Won't be long, Tom, and you'll be able to get in on the action too!


Here is a good example of an artillery crew. Typically, there are 2-4 pieces a side at an event, especially one as large as Minooka.


Here is an nice pic of the brigade. You can see the public is close to the action at Minooka. In reality, there aren't as close as it looks here, but still, people get to see the actions, the smoke, the rumble of the cavalry riding by and the huge booms of the artillery. It hooked me at my first time out!


The signal tower...it looked pretty rickety to me, but it sure looked cool.


Jake running message from Captain Paul to the colonel on the field.


This is one of my favorite civil war pics. Jake is calmly walking in front of the dismounted cavalry skirmishers. Of course, I doubt during the real War Between the States, that this would have been a common sight! But nonetheless, I like the layout of this pic alot, with the smoke floating above the skirmishers.


Here is George, back at camp on Sunday, cleaning his rifle. Much of what I know of cleaning the rifle is what he taught me this weekend. George was one of our families favorite guys from the Co. G of the 26th. Thanks much, George, for all your kindness to our family!


Here is Bethany being a real trooper on a cold, wet October day in Northern Illinois. She had to hold little Jimmy here much of the day. She is working hard to make the most of it. Not too many wives would enjoy doing this, let alone put up with all the hassle. I admire your dedication to teaching the kids right on American history (and the public). And of course, I appreciate all your support of me to do this great hobby!


Here is another nice pic of Jake waiting to go out on the field. He is borrowing Lt. Matt's shell jacket here to stay warm. It was quite cold that day!


Here is a pic of Lt. Matt trying to blow some heat back into his hands that frosty morning prior to drill. I am just to his left, looking forward.

Here is Matt's wife, reading a story to one of our little ones (Joe it appears). She was a great help to Bethany that weekend with a bit of respite here and there with the kids so they weren't all hanging off Mom!

Little Eme...always having fun!

Little Jimmy likes to smile and have fun, too!

Again, here is Bethany holding that turkey Jim! He was still heavy back then, even though he was only 14 months old!

There is a goofy Jacob face!

Here Nathaniel and I are at the end of the event. This is a nice pic I think. Too bad Nathaniel didn't make it to any of the events that we went to in Illinois in 2007. This was only his second event. And he didn't get to fire the rifle because he was the color guard. That and the Yankees changed the plans during the battle so he didn't even get to defend the colors as was scripted. Dern Yankees!

The gallant soldiers!

Here I am with Joe, Nathaniel and Tom in front of General Price's flag, otherwise known as the Missouri Battle Flag. I didn't know you could buy it at this point. A few months later, I would buy my own. Joe (Joseph Guild Harty) and Nathaniel (Joseph) are both named after our ggGreat Grandfather, Joseph Guild Lewis who fought for Missouri and the Confederacy during the War Between the States. He was the 2nd Lieutenant of Cos. A & B of the 8th Missouri Cavalry Regiment. He and other veterans of the War are one of the chief reasons why we do re-enacting in the first place.

Here is one of my favorite pics of me...standing proudly in front of the unfurled Missouri Battle Flag!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

You only show the Confederates, so the Federals are not important or is it that the event staff are all members of the confeds? Shame that you think the southern army and attitude is better then the end of oppression of others with the help of good Illinois blood. Our forefathers would not be pleased with your display of disloyality towards the United States. BTW the UNION WON!

CSA Brent said...

The reason that you only see Confederates on this post is because as a family, we do a Confederate impression. So all our pics were taken mainly of myself, my wife and children. We honor our ancestors who fought in that great American conflict. Almost my entire family fought in support of the Confederacy, with the exception of the Cossairts who fought for Missouri of the Union, and even Iowa. Most all the grandfathers of these Civil War veterans in my family also fought in the Revolutionary War, so I am quite proud to be descended from such true American patriots.

I'm not sure where your assumption that I "think the southern army and attitude is better then the end of oppression of others with the help of good Illinois blood. Our forefathers would not be pleased with your display of disloyalty towards the United States."

If you read the content on not only this blog (which is just simply pics of us at each of the reenactments that we have attended) but my 8th Missouri Cavalry blog, and even my Harty Family History blog, you will clearly notice that your assumptions of me are false. These blog links are on the side of this blog...feel free to visit them and see for yourself.

At any rate, I love the greatest Nation on the earth, the United States of America. I am very thankful that, although terrible in almost all respects, the War Between the States made us into a Nation, where before, the common sentiment was that of sovereign states who may or may not work together for, not of a United States.

I would encourage you to actually further study some American history. A good book I'd recommend you read to get you started is a book entitled, "What They Fought For 1861-1865" by James McPherson. He has scientifically compiled data based entirely on actual letters of actual soldiers, from privates to generals, on both sides of the conflict. Another good one is April 1865 by Jay Winik. Both are well documented with facts.

At any rate, it will not be your common dribble that is passed off as historical education now in public schools.
Best of luck in your journey of discovery of history. I hope you get to attend Minooka...it is a great event.

PS...I'd encourage you that before you make baseless accusations on someone's blog that you do not know, that you would at least take a few minutes to study their blog to get a better sense of where they are truly coming from.

PSS...fact is, many Illionis Union Army veterans had little to no interest in ended the oppression of anyone, let alone the Negro of the day. If you read their comments of what they fought for (again, I recommend that book) you would be appalled at their racist comments with our 21st century view of the world. I could site quote after quote in defense of my statement. I am afraid that you simply have a deluded view of the great Illinois veteran. By the way, in my estimation, the veterans and leaders of Illinois, Ohio and even Indiana made the difference in winning the Civil War to preserve our great Nation. Just look at the key players on the Union side and you will recognize names like Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, and so on.

Anyway, best of luck to you in your pursuit of history!

Nathaniel said...

Who knew the Union won? Here I was thinking we lived in the CSA.

You showed a lot more patience with your response than I would have, Brent. Well said, but sadly generations of revisionist history has led to staggering amounts of ignorance and stupidity as can be seen in the comments by our brave, anonymous poster.

Gary said...

Too bad that anonymous seems stuck on political correctness. If anonymous is really interested then he/she should attend a reenactment and talk to the individual reenactors to get to know the real person. Most reenactors do both sides as needed or desired. We may tend to do one side more than the other. I have friends that almost 99% wear blue and some that wear almost 99% gray. I do about 60% Confederate and 40% Federal. I have photos in my collection of my Robert E Lee impression with my grey horse and I have Photos of me as a Federal General escorting my friend Fritz Klein who is the top Lincoln Impressionist in the country. But most of my photos are as a trooper. Reenactors come from all walks of life. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, retired military and even a Saturn Car dealer. Three of our group are LPN's. The main thing with us is the hobby of reliving history for our own fun as well as hopefully sparking an interest in our nation history particularly the greatest event in our history, the civil war. It is truly a shame that most of our schools today do not teach the facts of the civil war. Bet that anonymous would be surprised to learn that a few free blacks owned black slaves and that Lincoln's original plan was to round up all blacks and return them to Africa. Lincoln only issued the emancipation proclaimation for political reasons to prevent Europe from recognizing Confederate independence.

CSA Brent said...

Yep, I was a little confused too on that point...I'm glad that he posted that clarification that I was indeed a citizen of the USA!

Surely...who is more brave than a anonymous poster?! :)

Thanks Nathaniel!

PS...I think that individual was involved with the Minooka event staff after a further review of his post. Maybe he was miffed that I didn't have any pics of the fine Yankee reenactors that attend Minooka? It surely wasn't a personal attack on Union reenactors...

CSA Brent said...

Gary...yea, your comments are spot on. Yea, as you know, I've portrayed Union (although admittedly, I'd prefer Confederate all the time if I could). Us cavalry guys really can't do that if we want to be able to do a good reenactment at each event we attend.

As I said to my brother Nathaniel, are re-reading that fella's post, I think he was involved with the Union coordinaton of the Minooka, IL event, and was put out a bit that my family blog didn't have any Union pics in it.

Good comments, Gary!

Nathaniel said...

You might be right. He could be a Union reenactor, but that makes his post all the more baffling and disappointing. He should know better.

CSA Brent said...

Nathaniel...yea, if he was indeed a Union reenactor, as I might suspect, then his comments are really disappointing. I have not come across any Federal reenactors who are so limited in their historical vision, but I'm sure there are some out there. Just as one might expect there to be some Confederate reenactors who have deluded views of history.

Disappointing all the same...

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