HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

I can't wait to start decorating tomorrow!

Gettysburg Remembrance Day Parade November 21st

If you are near Gettysburg PA this Saturday, Nov 21st you should go to the Remembrance Day Parade for the Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address!
If you have never been there it is something to see. The first time we went, I thought it would be just a regular parade floats ect!!! LOL Well was I wrong! We went the year before we joined a reenactment group so we had no idea what it would be like. Let me say we were under dressed!! Everyone was in their reenactment clothes. We felt so out of place! haha. All the parade consists of is 100's and 100's of reenactors. It is something to see. It is an awsome way to spend a fall day! If you go, go early so you can get a parking place and have time to visit all the stores!! I can't wait!
Sponsored by the Union Veterans of the Civil War
Saturday, November 21, 2009

Time: 1:00pm

Parade Event
An annual event held in conjunction with the Gettysburg Address anniversary. A parade of Civil War living history groups begins at 1:00pm.

The parade will form at 12:00 PM on Lefever Street and move at 1:00 PM sharp. The route of the parade will be as follows; Exiting Lefever Street onto East Confederate Ave. and turning west onto East Middle Street. Upon striking Baltimore Street the parade will turn south and then veer south west onto Steinwehr Ave where it will terminate at the National Park.

Thrift Store Find

I found this at the thrift store for $3.00. I was going to redue it and maybe sell it, but my granddaughter who is 4 1/2 saw it and started playing with it right away. She always plays with my tinware, old books and stuff, so she fills it up and carries it around! So I quess it's a keeper! Now it sits in my living room so she can use it and one day I will fix it up

Yard Sale Find!

I found this last weekend at a yard sale for $4.00! I was thinking about sprucing it up, until I brought it home like the old, beat up look to it!

A few Civil War Movies

Gettysburg
Cold Mountain
Andersonville
Andersonville Trials
Ride with the Devil
Glory
Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All
Civil War (4 movie dvd)
Gettysburg (140th 3 Days of Destiny)

Reenacting part 1

I don't know if I can describe what it is like to be a civil war reenactor. I think it is one of those things that you have to experience! Our group Coopers Battery B is light artillery and we have 2 cannons. We do alot of living history, which may be for a day or a weekend for a church, girlscouts, whoever may ask us. And then we do 2 big ones Gettysburg and Cedarcreek in Virginia. Events start in April and end in Novemeber with the parade in Gettyburg for the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.

When we first arrive for an event we have to get all the tents set up the small A frames and the two big ones (cook tent and Captain's) We have a huge trailer that is packed full with everything. Luckily, we all pull together and everyone helps set it all up. People have no idea what is really involved in pretending you live in the 1800's! lol My hubby and I start the week before making our list and getting everything around. Our personal pick up truck is packed full back seat and bed. Cots, bedding, wooden table, chairs, candle lanterns, candles, uniform, dress, hoop, shoes, fake hair, and accesories, civilian clothes, baskets, food, coolers, batteries everything you can think of that will help you to portray a time when it was suppose to be simpler! Keep in mind everything that you take has to be to that period. Spectators come through the camps so everything in your tent or sitting around the camp has to be authentic or replicated to that time.

There is nothing else like it!

Something I found at the thrift store I am going to repurpose.

Housing in Camp

Union Army Camp in Virginia
Camps were packed with tents housing 5 or 6 men. This is a Federal, or Union, encampment at Cumberland Landing, Virginia.


Log Cabins at Confederate Winter Camp in Virginia
Log cabins were used in winter months to provide insulation from the cold. This picture shows Confederate winter quarters at Centreville, Virginia.


Union Army Officer's Winter Log Cabin
The Union army also used log cabins in winter months. Chimneys would be built for a fire to keep warm. The picture shows an officers' winter quarters at the Army of the Potomac headquarters.

Source: Library of Congress

Family life during the Civil War

The Union army recruited about 2,500,000 men, while the Confederate army had about 1,250,000 men. This was a significant part of the population during the Civil War. Many families were left with only mothers and daughters to run the household and earn money to feed and clothe the family. This picture shows a family in front of the house in which General Charles S. Winder died. Cedar Mountain, Virginia.