Be Excellent To Each Other

Come to Nottingham!

Nottingham Hooters, yesterday.

Nottingham Hooters, last year.

Yes, there are some nice ladies there.

I hope your pards started a Hooters brawl to honky-tonk music, resulting in the inevitable Westerns trope of head being bust through wall to see Hooter's changing room.

I've been playing more Gettysburg on my PC. I fought Devil's Den where I held command of Brigadier General John Henry Hobart Ward's brigade of six regiments, a few parrot cannon and two sharpshooter companies. With this small force I had to hold off an attack four times greater in size. The only good news was my defensive position, a boulder strewn little rise with a woodland to its right and a creek to its left.

The battle lasted a little over an hour and was a real nail biter. The 124th New York truly 'died hard' that day. Other companies buckled under intense pressure, broke and ran only to reform down the hill and enter the fray again. But the 124th stood and took everything until only a third of its original size. As the Confederate attack pushed on my right through the woodlands as the parrot artillery played merry hell on the Confederate lead elements pushing back my sharpshooter skirmish screen, I began to discern the true nature of their attack. Increasingly frustrated by the shot whipping down through the wooded slopes from my regiments firing from behind fences, the front of their attack gradually narrowed and swung down to a direct assault on the bouldered little peak itself. Here an interesting little detail played into effect as the Confederates managed to actually scramble very slowly up the boulders, taking enfilading fire from a sharpshooter regiment, and gained the top, now firing down onto the 124th. Housed in roughly equal cover the 124th still held on, though all the artillerymen around them were cut down.

It was then that the broken 86th New York, stung by the sight of their brothers falling, rallied for one last weary charge up the hill to scramble through the boulders and push the confederates back down. Colours flying, they took another mauling but managed to prise the rebs from their positions and regain the summit. Though another two Confederate companies appeared ready to make another attempt - one I surely couldn't resist - at this point the game decided that I'd done enough in holding the rise and awarded me a minor victory.

Man, this is a hell of a game. Locked into your saddle you only have as much visual information as your real life counterpart had. Though you can opt for an easier 'Total War' experience. I held a little way between the two, allowing for a little freedom of movement up to 100 yards from my position, but locking the fog of war so that Confederate units still alarmingly appeared out of nowhere. For AI, it utterly trouces Total War, as it does for nailbiting tension. You feel utterly spent after a battle!

And multiplayer, especially 4 vs 4, is just the best. Really.

I need to fire up the demo of that again. I was very impressed by what I saw when I gave it a go.

Speaking of G'burg, have you read 'Gettysburg: the last invasion' by Allen C Guelzo? Really readable account of the battle.

Second Schleswig War news now!

I've missed out on the recent trend for Scandinavian TV, though am finally catching up with the 'Bridge' but will keep an eye out for '1864'.

Ok, it's about Denmark rather than the US, but reminds us that there were other things going on during my period ( see here)

The first trailer (in Danish) is out. Looks like the BBC have picked up the series and will be showing it at some point.



Yeah, I'm excited

Essential link for anyone planning a trip to DC: an interactive map of its key sights, including the bawdy houses!

http://civilwardc.org/maps/flex/

Was looking forward to doing a living history show this weekend (ie, manning a stand and talking to the public, rather than drill and shooting), but my enthusiasm has been dampened somewhat by the crap weather. Still, will go anyway and make the most of it. Probably will farb out and not sleep in the dog tent though - it's not a campaigner event after all (and I have new one-man hike tent to test).

Will be at the 'Grand Historical and Vintage Bazaar', Rufford Abbey, Notts. Event details: http://www.eventplan.co.uk/page260a.html

What was it like in the end?

We nearly called in on the way past, but similarly we're put off by the massive amounts of rain on Friday probably making the ground all muddy.

It was a fun event and there were only two showers. Ground was not as churned up as I feared it would be. A good variety of periods were represented, and as ever I enjoyed watching the Anglo-Saxon and other close combat groups fight it out in the arena (when I wasn't at my stand). The Roman re-enactors looked as brilliant as they always do.

Had a fair few public drop by and chat, which was great. We were right next to a TA recruiting stand, and my musket looked a bit puny compared to the 30cal machine gun they'd set up and their SA80. Had an interesting chat with some combat medics.

Sadly I felt really exhausted by the end of the day, and decided to go home as I didn't feel up to camping out and doing a second day.

In case anyone's near Croydon on Saturday, me and my pards are doing a living history display at the Old Coulsdon Village Fair, at Grange Park. No firing, alas, but there should one or two drill displays in the arena.

Why no firing?

For what I heard, the fair organisers were afraid it would disrupt some of the animal shows. I think the arena we paraded in would have been slightly too small too. Plus side, don't have to clean the musket.

But if we go back next year, they might let us. We were a big draw, and were kept busy all day. Maybe got one or two people interested in signing up, who knows?

I was glad I hadn't forgotten drill either, despite not being in line for over a year!

I'm finally able to make a re-enactment this year! I'm taking part in a multi-period at Spetchley Park in Worchestershire. Not sure how big the event is as I'm going as a guest of another ACW organisation, but should be fun. I'll be glad to be back in line and burning powder again.


Details: http://m5show.co.uk/

I'm doing living history stuff at the 'Stars and Stripes' weekend at the former RAF Burtonwood base near Warrington (and part of the Gulliver's theme park as far as I can tell ).

Come along if you're around and ask me about Loom ('the American Civil War, shurely'-Ed.)

When I farb out, I do it in style.

What's that gun, Kern?

Er... a 1940s machine gun? The row of cartridges in the magazine looked pretty nasty.

Some WW2 US re-enactors let us clamber onto their scout car. There was a larger machine gun at the front of the vehicle.

150th Bentonville was amazing! Full AAR to follow (someday) but suffice to say I had a great time, was pushed harder than I am used to, and am still recovering from it all.

9 mile march; camping in the open; digging trenches with my plate then manning them as the rebel lines kept on advancing; c. 3000 participants and a 2:1 Reb advantage;and all on the original ground. Loved it.

Iowa! 40 Rounds!

9 mile march?? I thought this was supposed to be fun!!?

We were promised a 7 mile trek, but it turned out to be 9.8 miles. Never trust a sergeant! We were following, roughly, the route taken by the 10th Iowa. Stepping off at 6 AM in the dark and seeing only the silhouettes of the regiment and the flags was magical.

Couple of videos for you:

Taken by a civilian whose house we didn't burn down, somewhere enroute:


My company were the fifth in the column, so quite near the back.

Arriving to the campsite (sinister Facebook link) at the end.

link

My company appear around 2:10 - I think I can see my hat

I've come across a whole load of photos here.

I didn't take any photos myself but did get a tintype done:

My right arm is still aching from the weekend!

Lonely?

The Mirror: "Cow rape row for BBC 4 drama 1864 as director defends beastiality scenes as 'historically accurate'"

Yeah, wouldn't like any farby bovine-love.

Coming at the end of May, apparently.

Still excited.

Saw the first two last night. It's very well done and beautifully shot: highly recommended. Even the framing device works, although I was a little sceptical about it at first.

BBC link

Were you at Waterloo, Kern? My mum was there being a vet, but she still had to dress up. 400 horses!

Sadly not: I've been hiking in Scotland instead.
I know a few people who went over for it: looking forward to seeing the pictures and hearing their tales.

What did your mum make of it ?

She spent much of the day hiding behind the tents reading her book She also told the Duke of Wellington to "give her a leg up, man" when she stole a horse* so she could ride down to the field when the vets were called but sadly the horse that she was being called to look at was already dead.

A person died too, and a few others were set on fire, which seems mightily crazy.

* "a fucking giraffe of a thing that had never had a day of schooling in its life", apparently. She was more impressed with the way it jumped a fence so they could take a shortcut - as was its owner, who told her when she gave it back that it hadn't been jumped before

Someone *actually* died for real, others were set on fire & a horse also died? Seriously?

With that number of participants, it's probable that accidents might happen. Question of whether they were accidents or the result of lax safety procedures within their groups.



Heh. Re-enacting's great for surreal moments like that.

So it's accurate then? Blimey.

Don't want to come across as all Disgruntled of Tunbridge Wells here , but on the face of it, I'd have to be concerned about animals getting killed over this. To my mind, people have the ability to weigh up their own personal risk assessments as long as they're made aware of the likely hazards beforehand and have the correct training and information etc. (I suppose thrill sports are of a similar vein, at least to my eyes), but it's not like horses etc. get a choice in the matter. Doubtless quite a few could also be distressed by battle scenes, explosions and stuff?

(I realise, of course, that horses routinely die in horse racing events, Grand National etc., but then I don't agree with that either).

I don't do cavalry but from what I'm aware of the horses have to be specially trained to tolerate the sound of gun fire and cannons etc, very much like police horses. I remember my platoon once being asked to form up at attention whilst a new horse was led up to us and examined us all over to start recognising things (unless that was an elaborate prank).

I've seen horses bolt and run before, and once had an argument mid-display with a sergeant about continuing to fire with animals approaching (well, I say 'argument' but it was more like me saying words to the effect of 'no I won't, please go and commit an anatomical impossibility' and didn't).

I would hope that a good horseman would take very good care of their animals and not involve them in something they couldn't tolerate as they would have to spend a lot to equip, train, and tranport them. The large cavalry battles I've seen in the US were very impressive.

Course, the whole point of being a cavalryman is to look pretty and prance about in front of female members of the public

Fair enough Kern.
I know absolutely nothing on this subject; was just a bit surprised by Grim...'s revelations.

The horse died of sunstroke - it was properly hot.

Apparently the person who died had a heart attack on their way to hospital after suffering burns from a leaking pyrotechnic flamethrowing thing.

The event has had good coverage on the news if you'd like to search for it, and apparently Mrs. Grim... snr had her photo in the Daily Mail (spit) on Saturday.

As for it not being fair on the animals, maybe so - but bear in mind that if they didn't want to do it, they wouldn't.

I've stayed out of the recent uproar amongst the colonials over the use of the Confederate battle flag*, other than to answer questions from colleagues and as a helpful way for identifing people to unfollow or defriend on sinister Facebook . But news that South Carolina has voted to remove it from the statehouse is the right decision and a step forward for that state's attempts to grapple with their past.

My view is quite simple: use in the historical context, say at a museum, a re-enactment, or even next to a war memoral is fine, otherwise I don't like seeing it.



*Vexillological errors are unforgiveable, frankly

I was with them right up until Dukes of Hazzard reruns got pulled.

That too. And the desecration of one of the coolest cars ever was even worse.

Don't care much for over-the-top reactions either.

It's interesting to note the differences between Germanys treatment of their old flag to that of the confederate states (and similar non-flag postwar issues), and the consequent effects this has seemed to have.

Aye. How the war is remembered, and how American and, especially, Southern identity is shaped by it, can be just as fascinating as the events themselves.

Germany is a good comparator, because after the war, (especially in the former West Germany - the GDR considered itself born without sin) a lot of effort and pressure was put to admit the crimes of the past.

In the former south, after the Reconstruction period ended in the 1870s, the old order more or less reasserted itself and remained in control until the civil rights movement.

If you are interested in such things, the CW Memory blog often has interesting posts on this topic. I really recommend the Horowitz book ('Confederates in the attic') that got me into this period too.

Grim..., I think it's time we met your Mum. Can she come to the BBQ please?

I'm pretty sure she turned up on Sunday morning last year.

Anyway, she can't come. Who'd look after the Grimlet?

Your Dad?

Relatedly, people are campaigning to remove statues of Cecil Rhodes here in Oxford. Yes, Rhodes was a nasty little shit. But so were most of the university's donors over the past 800 years. People aren't waving statues of him as an incitement or provocation, and the things are in the historical context. Unless you know where the statue is and who he is, you're likely to pass straight by it, and he's part of the town's history, for good or ill.

Heads up, y'all, but I may be having that US Civil War exhibition this year as part of Diffusion's 'Looking for America' photography festival here in Cardiff. I'm in talks and should know more by the time of the BeexBQ, hopefully.

Kern, if it goes ahead feel free to have some crash space and a great quantity of free beer if you'd like to attend the opening night at the start of October. I'll have a book for you too.

Man, there'll be a hell of a lot to do to prep it, and it'll cost me a fair whack in the end... but exhibition!

Oh, forgot to say, I'm kind of hooked on this:

http://civilwarpodcast.org/

I'm 30 episodes in and it is really rather good. Well worth listening to, each episode is half an hour long and it is both easy to follow and very entertaining. Bonus points for the husband-wife team who host it, as the man sounds just like the dude from Portlandia, and so now I imagine it's them two from the top hipster-mocking TV show.

Excellent stuff!

I'll check out that podcast too. Looking at the episode list, it seems they cover a lot of ground.

kern, just wanted to mention that dutch radio programme OVT (onvoltooid verleden tijd, simple past tense) made a show on the first negro battalion in the civil war..



you an listen to it here, it is of course in dutch, but the interview are in english so still thought you might like it

http://www.npogeschiedenis.nl/speler.RB ... 76316.html

Thanks, will check it out later. Always interested in stuff about the USCT althogh sadly I don't think I've ever met any re-enactors of them when I've been over alas (though I'm aware some do exist)

'Glory' is one of the best war films ever made. I've watched it several times and still get emotional over it.