Eastern Tour AAR

[Pitspitr]

     Some of you may have been wondering why it took me so long to post my after action report and the results following the Department of Missouri  Muster. Well the reason was that the morning after the Muster was over Cathy, our daughter Dawn and I left for an inspection tour of the Department of the Atlantic. This was in conjunction with our attendance of my striker and son Jacob's graduation from Basic Training for the Nebraska National Guard at Fort Jackson South Carolina. This trip took us to 15 states: (Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa.) and covered 3800 miles. By the numbers the things we saw were:

1 Ocean; the Atlantic
2 Up stretched arms (Touchdown Jesus at the University of Notre Dame)
3 Dead President's houses: The Hermitage, Monticello, Mount Vernon. (4 if you count the White House though we didn't go into it.)
4 Civil War Battlefields: Wilderness, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg.
5 Motels; Most were good one wasn't
6 Monuments: The Washington Monument, The Lincoln Monument, The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Monument, and the Jefferson Monument the Korean War and WWII monuments
All in...
7 DAYS

We left Gettysburg Pennsylvania Saturday afternoon and were at Dawn's house by 02:00 Monday morning. If you are wondering how and why the return trip was so quick it was because we had a 23 year old homebody with us who hadn't seen his girlfriend in 10 weeks.  He kept saying things like, "Do we really need to stop to eat? I have some Tick Tacks I'd share if you're hungry." Or, "Do we really need to stop to pee? I have some bottles and we could empty them later." Or, "Do we really need to stop for gas? I could get out and push." After I'd gone as I could Sunday he took over and drove the rest of the way home.

Before I end my report, I MUST thank General US Scout for the tour of the Gettysburg battle site. It was very informative and enjoyable.

[cpt dan blodgett]

Your battlefield tour sounds like my last vacation to the DC area about 5 years ago.  Added Hay Market (VMI cadets fought there) and Antietam Brady Station and Harpers Ferry to your list

Middle of August I have a class at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg MD.  Will take in Gettysburg once again.  Have pretty well covered from the Town around to the west to Little Round Top.  This year I need to walk the ground at Culps Hill.  General US Scout if you are in the area, a guide would not hurt

Also plan on getting Dirty Billy to make me a 1872 Inf Officers Shako

Did you find the Korean Memorial to be very Haunting?  I also always stop at the Wall when I am on the mall.  Seriously bums me out but I go anyway and seek out the names of the 5 I know whose names are inscribed.

[Pitspitr]

Did you find the Korean Memorial to be very Haunting?  I also always stop at the Wall when I am on the mall.  Seriously bums me out but I go anyway and seek out the names of the 5 I know whose names are inscribed.

My son and I were the only ones of our family that visited the Korean Memorial. Since he had just graduated Basic Training he was busy describing for me the formation and the jobs of each man in the formation. I was fascinated by this and therefore didn't find it as haunting as did my wife when she saw the photos. As for as the wall; we ran out of time before we got to it. I'm young enough that while I know people who served in the conflict, I don't know any who died.

[cpt dan blodgett]

During my trip to Antietam, there was an explaination on how Union Reinforcements came from Harpers Ferry something like 19 miles away in so many hours.  As I stood there reading it I figured well they really were not humping that hard or fast.  Then I drove down to Harpers Ferry, with all the cross compartments they must have travelled as many vertical miles up and down as they had horizontally.
Given the terrain they made really good time.

[Pitspitr]

Having just completed the DoM Muster in the July heat, when I stood at the Virginia monument and at the Union line on Little Roundtop and looked at the ground all I could think of was by the time the Confederates reached the Union lines in the July heat they'd have been so spent how would they have been able to fight

[cpt dan blodgett]

There is a lot said about Sickels screwing up and moving forward to the Wheatfield, Peach Orchard Devils den area.  What he did in addition to scaring the hell out of Meade and causing the deployment of some additional troops to back him up was to really bleed energy out of the confederate attack and essentially did a classic trade space for time while developing the stituation to where Meade could commit the resourses to stop the attack.

Had the Confederates been able to strike the main line in full force with fresh troops rather than fighting all that way the outcome may have been very different.

The whole civil war involved pretty heavy fighting under terrible conditions.  Outcomes of the war, causes all aside I find myself in awe of the efforts and actions of the soldiers on both sides.

[Tascosa Joe]

I always use the word eerie instead of haunting for the Korean War memorial.  My middle son said the first time he saw it, it was at night and he said it was plane old scary.  He spent a tour in Bosnia.    I always go by the Wall and look up a couple of HS classmates. 

[Pitspitr]

....I find myself in awe of the efforts and actions of the soldiers on both sides.

+1

My middle son said the first time he saw it, it was at night and he said it was plane old scary. 

I understand that it looks like "ghosts" in the snow.

[1961MJS]

...  The whole civil war involved pretty heavy fighting under terrible conditions.  Outcomes of the war, causes all aside I find myself in awe of the efforts and actions of the soldiers on both sides.

Hi

I haven't been reenacting for YEARS, but one of the times I did make it out in the 1980's was with a Leavenworth KS Union outfit.  They ATE nearly period correct.  For lunch we had SOS.  The recipe was roughly 3-5 gallons of water, 2-3 pounds of fresh hamburger, boil until cooked, and thicken with flour until it was just thinner than plaster.  A little pepper helped it a lot.

If you get really bored and in too good of a mood, look up the recipe for Salt Beef, bleahhhh.   

Later

Mike
Moore Oklahoma

[US Scout]

Middle of August I have a class at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg MD.  Will take in Gettysburg once again.  Have pretty well covered from the Town around to the west to Little Round Top.  This year I need to walk the ground at Culps Hill.  General US Scout if you are in the area, a guide would not hurt

No promises, but if you give me a date I'll see what I can do.  Aug 18-19 I'll be moving my son back into college in Charlottesville so that weekend is out. 

US Scout
Brig Gen, GAF

[cpt dan blodgett]

Will be at EMI Monday thru thursday pretty much all day.  Evenings would not have enough time.  The Friday of that week I go down to Bayse VA to see an Old Army Buddy.  Who would of thought that 30 some years later I would be good friends with the Brigade XO I served under as a Captain.  Some how over the years we even got closer in age.  No where near the difference between 60 and 70 than there was between 30 and 40 or 40 and 50.

Maybe another trip things will work out.

[US Scout]

Will be at EMI Monday thru thursday pretty much all day.  Evenings would not have enough time.  The Friday of that week I go down to Bayse VA to see an Old Army Buddy.  Who would of thought that 30 some years later I would be good friends with the Brigade XO I served under as a Captain.  Some how over the years we even got closer in age.  No where near the difference between 60 and 70 than there was between 30 and 40 or 40 and 50.

Maybe another trip things will work out.

I'll put the guilt trip on my son for being inconvenient!  When you said mid-August I was afraid that might not work.  Perhaps another time.

I'll be spending a week in Bayse in mid-September.  Small world.

[cpt dan blodgett]

was able to take in the cold kill for some battlefield. getting new museum in the movie and cyclorama.
was able to find where the 6th infantry took part in the battle at Wheatfield.
Made reservations at waynesboro days inn $81 a night for the 150th anniversary. Closer is$250 if not sold out.
In town is sold out.
Considering taking part in the reenactment