CIVIL WAR REENACTMENT - NEW MARKET BATTLEFIELD

Civil War Reenactment - New Market Battlefield

Day 6 of the Civil War Tour. This was our last day of the tour. We would be heading to New Market to see a battle reenactment, and then we would be off to Ferrum. It was kind of weird waking up knowing that this would be our last day out on the road. I knew I would miss this. Anyways, we were actually going to be eating a real breakfast for the first time this week. No more of the continental breakfast toast and cereal, we were going to be eating at Cracker Barrel. Sounds like a pretty good fit for a Civil War Tour breakfast. I'm pretty sure everyone in the group was loving the fact that we weren't eating continental breakfast today. I had 3 pancakes, 2 eggs, and bacon, and of course I ate every bit of my meal, cherishing these last few meals before I was back eating at the cafeteria in Ferrum.

After breakfast was over we would not have too long of a drive before we got to the New Market battlefield. Driving on the interstate, I could see all of the tents that were set up from the people who were participating in the reenactment. We pulled into the field, parked, and as we got out of the van, I felt like I was stepping into a completely different time period. There were tons of people dressed up in Civil War period clothing. The guys in uniforms and the gals in the enormous dresses. There were people who had fires going and they were roasting food over the top of them and hanging pots full of soup of some sort. It was like I was actually in the 1860s. It was very cool to see. People from the reenactment had huge tents set up with clothing, guns, ammunition, and really everything you could think of, for sale. These shops were very "Time period correct". There were hundreds of belt buckles, hundreds of emblems to put on your uniforms, etc. It was just so crazy to me how real they could make these reenactments.

About 2 hours before the battle reenactment was supposed to begin, they had an artillery demonstration. The cannons shot off blank rounds that made most people jump up out of their chairs, they were incredibly loud and powerful blasts of smoke. Then there was a signal corps demonstration that was showing off how the armies would communicate with each other while being hundreds of yards away. The only downfall to all of this was the fact that there was a constant light rain that was just hanging over the battlefield. So it wasn't the best weather and it made the process of taking my camera in and out of my bag a pain to deal with. I had a weather proof cover, so at least my camera was protected. Some of us made our way to the car while we were waiting for the actual battle to start though, to get out of the rain the best we could.

Civil War Reenactor

At 2pm, the reenactment of the Second Battle of Winchester started. It was pretty wild. The cavalry who were all on top of horses would ride together towards the other army to attack while there were lines of soldiers marching across the fields. The reenactors would use the blank cartridges to fire, and even the large cannons that were on the field used blank cartridges to fire. They were overwhelming. It almost hurt your ears from the sounds of the blasts. The Confederate Army ended up pushing the Union Army back into the orchards and they were forced to surrender. Although, I'm still trying to figure out how the Union managed to lose this battle with about three times as many people as the Confederate Army had. Oh well. It was a really cool experience to see. As we were talking to one of the reenactors, he was telling us about how many of them travel from war reenactment to war reenactment. It's their life. In fact, he was saying how a lot of them were traveling to Gettysburg and that some of them would be staying there for a few weeks. It will be the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg this year, so it's going to be a big deal to them. These people are truly passionate about what they do.

Civil War Reenactment - New Market Battlefield

 So this marks the end of the Civil War Tour. Yeah, I could say that I am absolutely exhausted from the long week on the road moving from place to place. I could say that my brain is absolutely fried from all of the lectures I had to live through. I could also say my legs are currently cramping up from all the walking we did this week. But this is one of the best weeks of my life. Not many people get to experience something like this. I feel blessed to be able to see these historical places and events that shaped our country into what it is today. I will never forget this week. Hopefully one day I will be able to walk these hallowed places once more.

Civil War Reenactment - New Market Battlefield