Plano, IL - 22 to 23 June, 2006

Here Nathaniel and I are in front of the stacks. This was our very first event that we did. We had a good time and got acquainted with the fellas of 26th NC Co. G. Nathaniel's pants hadn't come in by this point, but to the untrained eye, they look like the blue Union trousers. I pretty good fakey, eh?!

What a beautiful little creek in Plano, IL! The only thing that would have made this event better would have been the removal of all that nasty poison ivy. It was quite prevalent around the site.

Here Nathaniel and I are at the edge of the creek that ran by our campsite. It was the best site that I've camped in while reenacting. Not bad for a first event (except the battle wasn't much to write about). But we got to drill and I really enjoyed that. I also got to fill 'paperladies' and learn to fire, etc.

Discussions at the captain's tent. I think they were actually having an officer's meeting for the short battle and trying figure out how to put on a good show despite the fact that now Yankees bothered to show up for the weekend.

Here is the camp set up...a nice one for sure, with Cindy and Sgt. Tom on left, with me walking away on the right. I'm likely checking to see if I have time to sew on my buttons as several were popping off, despite my earlier efforts.

Capt. Paul is considering plans that he and the lone artillery officer are discussing. It would prove to be a very short battle.

"Ready - Aim - Fire!"

Sgt. Tom is barking the orders..."Put fire into 'em boys! Fire at will!" Nathaniel and I are in the front row, second and third from the left. You can see that while 'firing at will', I was the second fastest loader. They say that a good soldier could fire 3 rounds a minute. Of course, we are just using powder and caps, without using the ramrod at all for safety reasons.

Nathaniel (blue pants) and I (in the grey just in front of those boys) didn't survive our first engagement.

The Yanks surrendered under a withering, superior fire...actually it was just our guys galvanizing as Yankees...that is Lt. Matt accepting Lt. Gerry surrender. In fact, there were no Union forces at this event at all! Well, it was a first time event...

This is the gang in front of a period building (minus the steel handrails!). Myself and Nathaniel are the 3rd and 4th from the bottom right respectively.