I can't believe we left for Fort Stevens a week ago already. It's been a really fast week. What a weekend! Both our clubs were there, Union and Confederate, and with friends in both camps, we were all really divided and did a lot of running back and forth. And it's kind of strange, because even though all this is make-believe, we're still playing for two very different teams.
CORPORAL CLARENCE KIRKLAND
Our original plan was for Paddy to fight on Saturday and Sunday with the Yankees, and with Alabama on Monday. But on Friday night, the Confederates found themselves short of leaders. Rufus decided to fight the whole weekend as Archie, leaving us without a 2nd Sergeant. Then Corporal Sammy hurt his leg, and with Danny moving into Rufus' position, that left the 15th with no Corporals! So guess who got breveted Corporal for the weekend?! Our own Clarence Kirkland, and though I'm her mom, I think she really deserved it with her total dedication to the unit.
The story of the mismatched stripes is that Clarence got one from a Corporal who lost his left arm, and the other from a Corporal who lost his right! Below, the Corporal's totally defarbed dog tent.
The happy Corporal, who had trouble raising his voice enough to bark out orders, and was henceforth dubbed, "Corporal Cookie."
THE USUAL MORNING PHOTOS
Bethany cracks me up - always some hilarious pose! And brother Garret is back - hurray!
Look! Hailey's actually taller than Garret.
Morning line-up, Saturday. "Okay guys. It's time."
"You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out..."
"And you turn yourself around..."
More morning line-up photos: Willard's back!
Miss Sarah, with cookies.
The Privates William Barry, Jr. and Sr.
Private Billings and friend.
Billings' mom - way too pretty for this army, don't you think?
Wilson and Johnny Reb! Dang, I'm going to miss them over the winter.
Good Morning, Porrets.
More dancing on Sunday.
Cute camp mascot, the Captain's dog Ember.
Frederick.
Captain Brock.
Private Robert Douglas. In camp. More about that later...
Doug O'Dell, (father to Oliver/Rory/Olivia and Chris/Scarlet.)
"Officer in camp!"
Happy 35th Anniversary, Mr. & Mrs. Rounds. We're delighted you're spending it with us!
Frederick and Chris spent much of the weekend playing Jacob's Ladder and Cat's Cradle.
The hand-slap game continues, even without Rufus. :-(
Breveted 2nd Sergeant Danny.
Look! I shrank Sam. I laughed for ten minutes after taking this one! (Monday morning sleep deprivation, no doubt...)
I made "essence of coffee" but forgot to try it.
Apropos of nothing, here are some carrots from our garden. Pretty colors!
Monday morning hair farb. I must have been really tired.
This one from Sunday's better. Karl complains that I don't post any pictures of myself.
Calvin's tired too.
Corporal Cookie conducts morning inspection.
Look how narrow the Alabama street is! We were crammed in there.
Okay, so enough of the morning pictures. On to the stories!
HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT: THE 15TH ALABAMA VS. THE 69TH NEW YORK
The big news is that we fought a hand-to hand combat with the 69th New York. In order to have any contact, you have to have Battalion permission and rehearse first. Sarah, who was on the field as our vivandiere, took pictures of the practice for me.
The Alabama line-up.
"We have met the enemy, and he is us."
The 15th Alabama.
Mikey and Danny - fierce fighters and a perfect match-up!
Watch your back, Danny!
Willard dispatches Archie. Farby smile, brother.
Alabama goes into action.
ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE
On Saturday afternoon, Mrs. Douglas came to me to report that her husband was AWOL, lounging around the VMI camp, where she was busy doing dishes and chasing around a herd of young boys. I reported this to Captain Brock, who sent a detachment out to bring him back. Private Douglas was discovered playing checkers with the children.
He tried to claim that he was under orders from Captain Brock, attempting to recoup his loss of the Company's pay.
By gambling with 6-year-olds.
Miss Hypatia looks on in delight.
The fellows rounded him up...
...and returned him to the Alabama camp.
Private Douglas tries to explain himself.
PRIVATE RORY'S EXECUTION
Playing both sides caught up with Union Private Rory (aka Oliver in Alabama.) Garret captured him and tossed him over his shoulder to be hauled off for execution.
Danny tied his feet.
Alabama can't let a weekend go by without a good execution!
The firing squad loads.
I pointed out to Captain Brock that he never orders an execution of his men. He snorted, "Not my own men, no." He grinned. "But this is a Yankee."
Dead Private Rory is too tragically adorable, don't you think?
The body was dumped in a ditch. Hannah takes pity, but the soldier doesn't seem to mind.
OTHER RANDOM HAPPENINGS
Clarence escorts Jessica (Willard) and Hannah.
Corporal Clarence takes a passing jab at the bayonet drill station.
Card-playing in camp, tsk, tsk, tsk.
On Sunday morning, Alabama captured two units of Yankees (but lost the battle.) Notice how their guns are tipped down, empty.
The annual Fort Stevens pirate parade!
Pirate Captain Stanovich, the Colonel of the Oregon Confederate army.
The Monitor.
Walking around, I spotted this cupboard. I think I'd like one of these!
This little bird, who was dubbed "Phil," hung around all weekend, completely unafraid.
MONDAY'S BATTLE
On Monday, Alabama fought the actual hand-to-hand with the 69th. The guys pulled it off splendidly! Here's Captain Kyle leading his troops into battle. I watched the battle from the stands. After the battle, the guys could spot me by my secession apron with the big white star on it. I saw Captain Kyle signal to me through the field glasses I bought at Gettysburg, which made me laugh.
Captain Brock leads the fellows in skipping merrily around the field. (Snort!)
The hand-to-hand. See the Captains with swords on the left, and Clarence has just been wounded by Rory in the middle. Just to the right of Clarence, Willard is about to kill Archie.
Riley stepped in and killed Rory, who died a splendid death in full view of the audience.
But, unable to resist the temptation to continue fighting, he revived and rejoined his unit.
Captain Brock, Calvin Kirkland and William Barry, Jr., all dead.
The huge Union flags looked really splendid in the stiff breeze.
On Monday night we had a wonderful after-party with the Porrets, Sgt Newton and Polly, Donny, Kyle, Archie/Rufus, Toby (the retiring Colonel of the Washington Confederate Army), and Kyle's parents. We sat up talking under a starry sky. The kids (including Donny and Kyle) went "Star Tripping." Hannah: "You look up at a star and spin around until you're super dizzy, and then someone you're with turns on a flashlight and you attempt to run toward the light and fall over. And that's why it's called 'star tripping.'"
I tried making an Apple Charlotte in the dutch oven. Apple Charlotte is a crust of buttered toast with apple pie filling. Lots of butter, sugar and cinnamon. What could go wrong?
I started it Sunday afternoon, intending to bring it to the dessert social we held with the 69th, but it wasn't even ready to cook until we were leaving camp. (No worries, I had a Mississippi cake and molasses pie that Hannah had baked to take over.) So I left it until Monday night, and then tried to cook it...for 3 hours, at which point the toast was burnt and the apples still raw. Finally, more than 27 hours after I began, it looked to be more or less done, so I put the pot lid on for just a few minutes to warm up the top. The lid is one of those that has little bumps inside to catch the condensation and drip it back into the pot. It did just that, leaving big black spots all over the Charlotte! Disgusting. Burnt toast, raw apples, no sugar or cinnamon in evidence - EPIC FAIL. And my friends were kind enough to tell me just how appalling it was. Sgt Newton just turned away saying, "No." Emily Porret compared it to dog, um, leavings. Yup. It was gross. This picture doesn't even do it justice.
But the weekend was a huge success. I spent a lot of time with my new friends over in New York and learned more about sewing. Hannah and I bought a lovely little book on making ribbon trims. Calvin and I had a nice lunch date in New York on Sunday. And we're back with the 69th in three weeks for another event!
A final shot of our view of the Columbia River from the event site. Gorgeous!
No comments:
Post a Comment