Gettysburg 150th, Day 4- Thursday, July 4, 2013

     It's Independence Day, and the day that the re-enactment opens to spectators and truly begins.  Most re-enactments run Friday through Sunday, but since the 4th of July makes this a four day weekend, there are four days for this event (to "re-enact" a battle that only took three days originally).

     A major Civil War re-enactment like this is a lot like Comic Con.  They both attract all sorts of nerds and weird personalities (Scott is including himself in that statement).  They both can be exhausting ordeals.  And we don't feel that we have to see every single day of it.  One day can be enough.  So our plan was to take in as much as we can today, take part in the battle this evening, and leave after that.

     There were two battles scheduled for today.  The first, at 11:00, seemed to be billed as a cavalry engagement, so we didn't think the 154th was going to be involved in it.  We thought the 10:00 formation was going to be a drill.  As Scott was waiting in formation, it became apparent that the infantry was going to be involved in the battle too.  The unit waited in three different locations, using what shade they could find.   Scott asked for permission to sing a song for the soldiers, and shared "The Friends I Leave Behind Me."   He had picked out several, but settled on this one because the poem was originally written by 2nd Lt. Philander W. Hubbard of Company K, 154th New York, the company whose name we have been using all weekend.

     Julie and the girls had already gone to sit in the grandstands that had been set up to view the battlefield.  Julie registered as a re-enactor thinking it would not only get her in and out of re-enacting parking, but it would also let her view the battle.  She expected to pay admission for Anna and Emma, but it turned out she had to pay admission for herself again too.   The grandstands made viewing the battle a much better experience than other re-enactments.  They sat right behind some of the Union artillery, but Emma was still able to fall asleep.  The sun was beating down brutally.  "Abraham Lincoln," played by James Getty, started swaying and had to be propped up while he was giving the Gettysburg Address.

     The battle represented the first part of the July 1st fighting.  The Union cavalry "discovered the enemy," the black hats of the Iron Brigade went in, and so forth.   Indeed, the rolling field looked something like the fields this fight took place in, with a fence line across it, and an actual 1880s barn as a backdrop.  When our company went in, there was no small amount of confusion as we maneuvered to different places.  We were able to fire off quite a few rounds, but when more confusion occurred in our withdrawl, Scott decided it was time to take a hit.  He laid in the sun, but had several people offer him ice.  "God bless you," he said to the first vivandiere.

     After returning to camp and getting more ice and Gatorade, Scott went to rendezvous with the girls.  We got lunch from the vendors there.  Now a decision had to be made.  We could wait around for the evening battle, which was more likely to show the retreat of the 11th Corps that the original 154th was in, or we could break camp and leave even earlier than expected.  We had planned on going to the sutlers, and there were several long rows of them set up selling their wares.  We started to, but Julie and Emma both started to look like the sun was getting to them.  Scott said, we could finish looking at the sutlers and then maybe we should go.  At that point, Julie didn't even look right and left anymore, and just walked up the middle of the rows of tents.  When we got back to the car, the thermometer said it was 94 degrees.

      We managed to get the car into the parking lot closest to camp and packed up the remaining pieces of Scott's stuff.  Scott said goodbye to Captain Hotchkiss and thanked him for putting this together.  We then went back to the hotel to sit in the air conditioning, cool off, take naps, and  order pizza.  It was about 3:00.  It was a little disappointing to leave the reenactment so early,  but the crowds and heat were so bad that we all think we made the right decision.