Bentonville Newspaper Coverage

[Quickstep]

The Sunday March 21 issue of the News & Observer ran a feature story on the Bentonville event:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/03/21/399680/history-take-145.html?storylink=misearch

Their reporter was in the camps Saturday interviewing participants and stopped by the 3rd US Regular Infantry camp. The third picture on the right shows Pvt. Luke Denton of the 3rd US drilling some students from the University of Mary Washington who joined us for the event: http://media2.newsobserver.com/smedia/2010/03/20/21/CIVILWAR-0321.ART_GDK17BD2B.1+CIVILWAR07-0322-CLL.embedded.prod_affiliate.156.jpg

They didn't identify the two units in the other pictures on the right--who are those guys? Anyone recognize your unit? (In the print edition, they ran a much larger picture of the Union troops, and the shot of the Boy Scouts was smaller).

There is also a link on the page to a photo gallery that is supposed to contain 106 pictures of the event, but for some reason, I can't get it to work from my browser.

[yerbyray]

Here is the link that I have to the photo gallery

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/03/20/399879/first-look-battle-of-bentonville.html

[sbl]

Neat! 105 photos.... thanks.

[Longbranch 1]

Just a reenactor note here;
That lanky young man ,camera side in the 3rd photo, was at the 100th "reenactment" at Gettysburg in 1963. And did more than hold his own these many years later.

Regards,
Kevin Ellis
26th NC

[mmescher]

I enjoyed many of the photographs. Thanks for the post!

One element that was disturbing for the future of the hobby is a look at the ages of many of the participants. I expect a lot of us geezers (I'm 60 myself) are hanging on for the 150th events but, after that, who is going to be left standing?

We need to recruit the next batch of young reenactors now!!

Michael Mescher

[5strings]

Really nice images, I had a great time!

[billwatson2]

There were some outstanding photos in there. Saw some familiar faces, too. And it looks like the boys moved some dirt....

[flattop32355]

There were some outstanding photos in there. Saw some familiar faces, too. And it looks like the boys moved some dirt....

In this case, sand, until you got down about 1 1/2 to 2 feet and hit the clay underneath.

Being a company 2nd Sgt. for the weekend, I shared responsibility for a platoon that had seven fresh fish out of sixteen men, and only a few of the others had any experience digging in that sandy soil.

It was interesting this time to be more of a supervisor of the work than one "in the trenches" doing most of the digging. They had to be reminded to throw the dirt up and not out, so it would pile instead of scatter, and that the trench needed to be more than six inches wide for them to fit down in it.

It was good work: With a few shared shovels, along with hands, cups, boilers and plates, we could throw up a barrier four feet high (two feet dug down and two feet piled up).

If the Rebs hadn't showed up a half hour early, we'd have done an even better job. :)

[Steve Blancard]

...The third picture on the right shows Pvt. Luke Denton of the 3rd US drilling some students from the University of Mary Washington who joined us for the event...

The 3rd US has graciously steered some of those University of Mary Washington students our way as well. We had 3 in our ranks this weekend, they are a welcome and refreshing young addition. We had a great time and enjoyed being camped in the woods.

[crazyyankee]

I enjoyed many of the photographs. Thanks for the post!

One element that was disturbing for the future of the hobby is a look at the ages of many of the participants. I expect a lot of us geezers (I'm 60 myself) are hanging on for the 150th events but, after that, who is going to be left standing?

We need to recruit the next batch of young reenactors now!!

Michael Mescher



Don't worry, with the 150th Anniv. coming up you will start to see more young recruits. This is the cycle that happens. I've noticed this over the years, that recruiting starts picking up every 5 years with the next round of anniversary events. But that is just my experiences over the last 18 years..

[Pete]

Pictures 21 - 26 were members of the Michigan Boys under Anders

[RWelker]

I enjoyed many of the photographs. Thanks for the post!

One element that was disturbing for the future of the hobby is a look at the ages of many of the participants. I expect a lot of us geezers (I'm 60 myself) are hanging on for the 150th events but, after that, who is going to be left standing?

We need to recruit the next batch of young reenactors now!!

Michael Mescher

Well, that's what the Reenactors Club is here for! I suspect that this conversation has been going on for a long time, but that the hobby is not really dying- I know a number of young reenactors and frankly, I think most people just start reenacting at older ages.
On the other hand, there are (contrary to what seems to be popular belief, although I can't for the life of me figure out where it came from) many college-age kids who would love to reenact but don't know how to get started. That's why I formed the UMW Club, and I suspect you'll see a lot more of us over the years.


The 3rd US has graciously steered some of those University of Mary Washington students our way as well. We had 3 in our ranks this weekend, they are a welcome and refreshing young addition. We had a great time and enjoyed being camped in the woods.

Thanks again for having our guys (and I include Private Gibbons in that)! They were thrilled to be there with you all and I've heard nothing but great things from them.