The reenactment of the Battle of Cedar Creek was held over the weekend of October 19-20. Since I hadn’t fallen in with the Confederates at a larger event, I decided to do so this time. I have known Tony Morgan since the days of filming ‘Gods and Generals,’ and he was pleased to have us join up with his Louisiana PACS for Saturday’s battle. However, they were camped with the 2nd South Carolina, and I think that is who I finally ended up with. Everyone made Linda and me feel quite welcome and we had a great time with those folks.
Saturday morning we did a fair amount of drilling, and I was pleased to note that this group used Hardee’s manual, which was quite familiar. The rough ground was the biggest problem for everyone. The battlefield is evidently leased out for cattle grazing when there is no reenactment, and they can chew up the ground quite a bit. I nearly fell a couple of times, and the young lady who was my file mate did fall. No one got hurt thankfully.
Saturday’s weather was clear and cold in the morning but soon turned sunny and seasonably warm. Good conditions for the event. In the afternoon, we reenacted the battle of Cedar Creek, and it was interesting to see it from a different perspective. I thought the troops were handled well, and the scenario shook out as it was supposed to do. We knew we were in trouble when we saw Sheridan riding around waving his hat! After the battle, we thanked our hosts and headed back to the Ramada Inn in Strasburg for the night. (Yes, we were Ramada Rangers!)
On the next morning, we joined up with friends from the West Virginia Reenactors Association to fall in with the Union side for the Battle of 2nd Kernstown. Chuck has already related that portion of the event. Somehow I managed to be on the losing side both days!?Overall, we had a grand time and will probably do it again next year.
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