Wet Weekend

Went over to St. Louis this past weekend. There was a Civil War reenactment at Ft. Bellefontaine. It was a very interesting weekend.

I was planning on leaving after I got off of work on Friday. Late Thursday night I got an e-mail from a guy wanting a ride. I replied and told him that I needed his address, directions to his place, and his phone number by noon on Friday. He supplied his address, nothing else, so much for reading comprehension in the government schools. Good thing for him that Mrs. Spiff pulled directions off the net so I could find his place. I sent him an e-mail and told him I would be at his place at 1600. Got there and he wasn't home, all that trouble for naught. (More reading comprehension problems in the government schools?) I left a note and pushed on.

Picked up Sgt. Cox in Topeka at around 1800. Smooth trip from there to the event site. Got in between rain showers and set up tents. Laid down a thick layer of straw to sleep on and got our uniforms on. Rained all night but I stayed dry.

It was raining so much on Saturday morning that revelry was cancelled and we just got out of our tents when the rain let up. To everyone's great wonder Sgt. Cox got a fire going. This was really amazing since the camp was one big mud puddle. Got breakfast and then visited with the other guys for awhile. Nobody knew anything about the schedule. Suddenly word came down from battalion HQ to get suited up and ready to move out. We had the "honor" of moving out as pickets to find the enemy. We found him and a sharp fight ensued. The rest of the battalion came up and we were pulled back to refit. Almost got cut off and captured here. We were then sent to the right flank to guard a battery from "a couple of dismounted cavalry". Didn't take us long to realize that command was suffering from delusions. We were facing three times out number and they had Henry rifles. Made for a short fight and in the end we were all captured by mounted cav that circled around behind us. What a disaster. A whole company gone and four guns captured. General Beck captured as well, however he declared that "we won". Ok, sure. Later the color sergeant explained to me that the sheets of water coming from the sky was blowing off the trees. I concluded that anyone on battalion or brigade staff had to be suffering from RDD (reality deficit disorder). Rained half the night on Saturday night.

Sunday dawned clear and muddy. To my shock I had stayed dry again the night before. Attended to the incidentals and got called to form up for battle after Sgt. Cox and I had already packed most all of our gear in the car. Marched about a mile to battle and fought in a wonderful fight. Only thing that marred it was the lack of Yankees. Later we found out that the hardcore yanks had pulled out on Saturday night. Weird. Hopped in the car following the battle and took off for home. Dropped Sgt. Cox off in Topeka and made it safely back.

Spent part of today drying out gear... Man I love this hobby.