American Civil War reenacting in England?

It's Saturday! Today's plan has us heading to the Royal Gunpowder Mills for the American Civil War reenactment. The American Civil War Society or ACWS and in particular Company E of the First United States Sharpshooters were happy to host our guests. Since the uniforms and dresses draw so much attention we decided that we do have breakfast first then go back to the hotel to change before heading to the event. Breakfast was an easy decision, as we opted for the typical breakfast a bap.

Stomachs full it was now time to squeeze in to corsets and waistcoats. Okay so the guys are going to have as much trouble getting into their uniform with a full stomach as what ladies do getting into corsets, but that's another story completely. Antina and I had both brought a date dress for each day of the event and so what we were to wear for the day was based upon the proposed weather report. Since Sunday called for rain and Saturday was supposed to be relatively clear, we opted for our better dresses or Saturday. Which meant that Antina wore her new beautiful pink and cream plaid silk dress. This was the first I had seen of this dress and it was spectacular. I opted for by Vivian which is cream and green floral print. Not to leave the guys out, they opted for their Berdan green uniforms. Once we were mostly dressed, we gathered in David and my room for finishing touches such as hair and jewelry. It is Antina and I primped with the final touches, Mike and David packed the vehicle with the things we needed for the day.

As we exited the hotel, the staff asked if we had a wedding and we explained the event to them. As we attempted to climb into the vehicle, we had visitors from another country (not England or USA) ask us if they could take a picture with us to which we obliged. The advertising being done, we headed off to the event site.

As we pulled up to the sites and we got out of the vehicle, Antina and I received whistles of appreciation from the gentlemen of Company E as they helped us unpack the few belongings be brought. Well we got our items stowed under Company E's fly Antina showed us how to fall in a ladylike fashion as the chair folded up underneath her. Luckily she was not hurt. I must admit she did so with grace that is unparalleled and I'm not being sarcastic.

We spent most of the day enjoying the company of the unit in those camped nearby.



We took some of the time available to us to see the site itself as it produced gunpowder during our American Civil War.



Although we had plenty of free time, Mike and David were required to do drill both at the company skirmish and battalion level. But they didn't mind as it went quickly and it helped all to focus on the safety and maneuver factor.



Antina and Mike noted that they had a really good time and that reenactors are the same the world over-same attitude different accent. We all enjoyed hearing news stories and I think the storytellers enjoyed having new listeners. We enjoyed hearing stories of rabbits and squirrels and deer, oh my! Aside from the stories, several of the reenactors asked how their reenacting compared to that in the US, for which I would have to say that they do a FINE job. Mike and Antina also got to enjoy one of my favorite games, pin the accent on the state, which always comes after the clarifying question "are you from the states". I must say that they have a fine ear for they usually guess my Illinois accent as being from Ohio which in my opinion is close enough. Since Antina had recently returned from Kentucky, they had her pegged for Kentucky which means she must've brought some of the accent back with her.

For the battle, and the drill, Antina and I were busy taking photographs. If while looking through some of the pictures you see either a spectator or one of us in the way you can rest assured that shortly before or after that picture was taken you would have heard said "mind the camera".

At this point I must provide the Saturday battle after action report. The 69th in the 19th went through the camps in skirmish order while the sharpshooters did an end around to come up on the Confederate camps. At this point the sharpshooters cell opened fire and the firefight quickly erupted. At this point the sharpshooters split off and pressed back to the center to support the advancing infantry. Inadvertently some spectators wandered onto the battlefield but Captain Parkin shoot them back to the safety zones. The sharpshooters advanced and then they dealt with flanking maneuver and eventually managed to capture an artillery piece. With haste, the sharpshooters turned the artillery piece into the Confederate flank (and towards the crowd) at which time Mike made moves as if to load the gun. This maneuver surprised not only the Confederates but there was also a large gasp from the crowd as they sensed they may be in danger. It wasn't too long after that that the need was to abandon the gun and chase the Rebs from the field. When all was said and done the day ended in a Union victory.



As all shows for the ACWS end, we still had a final drill to perform for the crowd. As the entire ACWS formed ranks facing the crowd they fired first by company, then by file, and finally by society. This won them much applause from the crowd. After the field was cleared it was time for everyone to turn in any unused rounds. Mike was surprised to find that he was one of the few who had used all of his rounds. I personally took that to mean that he enjoyed himself immensely on the field

We spent some more time around camp enjoying everyone's company. The boys cleaned guns so that they wouldn't have to worry about it later in the evening or the next morning. Once we decided it was time to go we loaded ourselves up and the stealth skunk broke us out of the locked gate (Mike had the magic opening power for the lock). We decided that we would stop by Enfield manufacturing on the way back to the hotel.

Enfield was just up the canal from the Gunpowder Mills. It now exists as a small community of apartment buildings and the like. There is a very small museum to Enfield manufacturing still on-site but it is open to visitors on more of an arranged basis then with regular hours. Walking around still in our Civil War garb, we got lots of questions and therefore promoted the event for Sunday as much as we could. Well there's not much left of the manufacturing plant itself, we still enjoyed seeing the sights of what it would've looked like when it was producing Enfield rifles to ship overseas for our American Civil War. To me this was the ultimate time trip.



Definitely time to get back to the hotel and get out of this corset! Besides it's time for a good dinner at most likely to Kentucky fried chicken and there is the promise of ice cream since it will be early enough they won't be able to turn me away.

Having enjoyed dinner in the comfort of mundane clothes, we remembered that we have yet to see the monument at High Barnett. Since it is a mere 4 miles from our location and there is still light, we hopped back in the truck to make another pass. Our diligence met with success. Unfortunately the battlefield itself is long gone having been built up into houses and roads, but the monument still stands in testament to the battle that once was held here.



We take as many pictures as we could given the lateness of the hour and it's getting dark quickly. Now it was definitely time to reward ourselves with that ice cream. During the ice cream Antina and I were comparing notes and we noted the need to download our pictures off the cameras to allow for as many pictures as we could take on the morrow. During the downloads, all four of us enjoyed looking through the pictures that we had taken in the video that had been shot. As the hour approached 11 p.m. we all decided it was time to turn in so that we would be refreshed for another day of reenacting our American Civil War in England.

For all pictures and videos I encourage you to visit our website at http://members.aol.com/cimberann/vance/gunpowder.htm.