Battle of Atlanta AAR

            I arrived on site around five on Friday afternoon.  Captain Wayne and Austin Towery were already set up.  I quickly set up my tent just before the rain began.  The McConathy’s and the Harrison’s and Daniel Fisher arrived shortly afterwards.  They were able to set their tents in the rain.  This is not the best situation to be involved with but a necessary one.  The rain seemed to slack off after the tents were up and usable.

            The evening was fairly lackluster and quiet until Master Sergeant Mac hooked up with some infantry boys across the way from us.  I didn’t know that “What do You do With Drunken Sailor” had that many verses.  Their singing went on until around 1:30.  Mac seemed to be in very good singing voice and in very good spirits (or an overabundance of spirits).

            I want to thank John and Daniel for scavenging the fire wood on Friday evening.  Firewood can be an issue when you have an overabundance of Federal Infantry units in the vicinity.  Captain Wayne requested more firewood through the proper channels.  The wood was to be delivered to the Artillery camp.  When the bucket bob cat came in the vicinity of the infantry he was swarmed.  Daniel ran to let them know that the wood had been requisitioned by the commanding artillery officer.  We received about five sticks of wood from that load.  The bob cat driver took Daniel to the woodshed.  He wanted Daniel’s strong back to help him load more wood for the artillery section and to scare off any infantrymen that might try to get our wood.  It worked.

            The guns were place on Saturday morning.  We were pleased to have members of Marshal’s battery to help us man Virginia.  Tiny, Chester and Tex were a blessed asset to our detachment for the weekend.  I think we need to train our number five men to deliver the charges the way Chester did.  He was very military and did not appear the way some “powder monkeys” perform their duties.  We will continue to work on our drill in the future.  I am hoping that we will have many more crewmen at Olustee in February so that we can work on marching maneuvers and firing sequence drill on the guns.

            Saturday evening was cold.  The temperature dropped to 34 degrees.  I think that most slept well except maybe for Austin.  Austin forgot to bring his blankets.  He was able to borrow an extra sleeping bag from a good friend.  This will probably be a very well learned lesson for Austin.  About 9:00 o’clock Saturday evening I remembered that we did not tarp Virginia.  That is a lesson that your NCO will remember very well.  It is impossible to get members of the unit to get up from around a warm campfire, their beds (in my case), or retrieve them from the ball to go and tarp our pride and joys.  Please forgive me this infraction; I will strive to do better in the future.

            Sunday morning was quite cool and brisk.  I found out that my space age instant hot chocolate maker had to be at room temperature.  I could only find room temperature by setting the canister inside the fire ring.  It then performed properly and made a decent cup of hot chocolate.  I hope that I have not attained yet another nick name “Dan Jetson” because of my use of a way-not-period apparatus.  We were informed Sunday morning that the generals wanted us to move or gun placements to the opposite side of the battle field.  This information came to us around 10:30.  We had division artillery and Cherokee Artillery meetings scheduled at 11:00.  We were all very professional about the change and only griped for a short period of time.  We had our meetings, ate lunch and then proceeded to the field to move our gun. During the battle the Federal Generals and officers like to be seen by the spectators.   They ambled out in front of our gun positions.  There was one officer that refrained from going out in front of our position.  I think he knew that we may have been a little ticked off at having to move the guns on short notice and did not want to tempt us.  All in all we had a good weekend for reenacting.  The weather was near perfect.

            Please remember Brian Byrd.  He had an accident.  He had 50 or so stitches on his forehead and also had a chipped bone in his shoulder.  He had surgery to repair the shoulder damage.  Keep him in your prayers for a speedy recovery.  Also remember Stan Landers knee and the trouble it is giving him.  Autumn Towery had some surgery on her arm and will be recovering over the next several weeks.  Our Quartermaster Sergeant John Harrison is recovering from a broken rib.  Don’t make him laugh too hard or cause him to sneeze.

            I would like to pass on the compliments of our Captain Scott on how well the members looked at the Memorial service that was held.  He also complimented our crew on how sharp we looked in maneuvering during the Sunday battle.  I feel that we are one of the elite units in the Georgia Division.  Let’s continue to improve impressions and our drill and hopefully others will want to follow.

            I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the Christmas get together at the Scott’s home in Alabama on December the sixth, and wishing all a very blessed Christmas and Yule season.

Your obedient servant,

Dan