AAR: Down The Valley

[VaTrooper]

This seemed like the best place to post this so here you go:

The Saturday "tactical" was the highlight of my weekend. We were sent out in front of our infantry to locate the enemy which we located about a 1/4 mile later. Myself and another trooper were slightly in front of the rest of the men and had stopped to let the rest close up when we heard talking to our front. At the time our officer sent a rider back to let the infantry know the situation. While waiting on the infantry to come to our support our officer while trying to get a clearer idea of the enemy's strength and position alarmed the 2-3 man picket that they had in front of the main body. Within a few minutes activity could be seen in the woods to our front as the enemy started to advance toward us. Their advance was slow at first and we held our position firing at them from the road. It wasn't long though before they came on in force through our rifle and shotgun fire and pushed us back even though such a maneuver WOULD HAVE come at a high price for some of them. We fought a fighting retreat for a couple hundred yards before finally meeting up with the front of the infantry column. At this time we fell back to replenish our ammo and we tried to get into some more action, dismounted, on our right flank but the infantry had swung the battle in our favor and we missed out. The planned battle was a let down after the exciting morning. We again were in advance of the infantry and moved out on our right flank. We came upon the enemy position in a mounted skirmish line only to top the hill and find the enemy's unmanned guns to our flank and the vehicles used to move them not much further away. At that time we fell back and dismounted and ended up swapping shots with a small group of infantry that supported the cannons. We did end the day charging them only to have them tighten up forcing us to each side of them preventing slaughter with our sabers. Sunday's battle left such a bad taste in my mouth from the start that I'll only tell my story to that point. Again we led the infantry out onto the field and fell out in a skirmish line only to crest a hill and find 6-7 plain clothed civilians in the middle of the dang battlefield that had gained permission to stay there and take pictures. It was disgusting.

[TNCivilian]

I bet you wished you had a couple pieces of horse artillery ride right up to them and start unlimbering the guns!:p Bet they would've moved then, having permission or not.

Didn't they have any clue they were going to be right in the way?


I don't doubt it left a bad taste in your mouth, it would mine as well.

Unbelievable:shock:




Steve Wermuth

[toptimlrd]

Steve,

I wouldn't be so sure, they would probably think "Oooooh this is going to make a cool picture" just before their heads were removed from their shoulders by the blast. Many people today have a severe lack of common sense.

[Memphis]

At least no one was injured. A booger on the windshield is one thing, but a call for EMS is a lot worse.

[jurgitemvaletem]

The entire weekends experience left a bad taste in my mouth. I agree with Mr. Shifflett though, the high point in the weekend was without a doubt saturday mornings actions.

Saturday afternoons actions were a big let down. Sunday mornings actions ( the deciding factor for me attending the event) were canceled do to wining. Sunday afternoon, allbeit better than saturday afternoon was again severly dissapointing.

Oh well, all we can do now is look forward to september storm and pray that some lessons were learned.

[dclarry]

This seemed like the best place to post this so here you go:

The Saturday "tactical" was the highlight of my weekend. .... The planned battle was a let down after the exciting morning. We again were in advance of the infantry and moved out on our right flank. We came upon the enemy position in a mounted skirmish line only to top the hill and find the enemy's unmanned guns to our flank and the vehicles used to move them not much further away. At that time we fell back and dismounted and ended up swapping shots with a small group of infantry that supported the cannons. We did end the day charging them only to have them tighten up forcing us to each side of them preventing slaughter with our sabers. Sunday's battle left such a bad taste in my mouth from the start that I'll only tell my story to that point. ....It was disgusting.

Will,

First, it was nice to meet you this past weekend. Second, as I was one of the Federal cannoneers on the top of the hill watching Saturday's battle unfold, I can tell you I understand your disappointment. Even while the scenario was underway I knew that the Confederates were not going to enjoy this. After-action discussion only confirmed this. How anybody made it to the scripted scenario after what we artillerists heard was a physically exhausting, but exciting, tactical was a surprise in itself.

While waiting on the reverse sloop of the hill, we cannoneers were surprised to see your cavalrymen come over the crest and 'spot' us (of course, you knew we were already there from the scenario plan). We were surprised because we were explicitly told in the pre-action briefing that absolutely no one would come near us. I myself explicitly asked whether we should expect to take hits or be overrun. I was told by no means would anyone come close enough to shoot at us. The point of the scenario, we were briefed, was to show how the unexpected presence of the Federal battery on the ridge determined the course of the battle, forcing the Reb infantry away to fight in a different part of the field. We left the tow vehicles near the clump of trees a few hundred yards back because we were assured that no one would top the hill and/or pass our battery, period. Nobody but us would even know they were there, let alone see them.

After your infantry showed up, I saw your troop at the bottom of the hill, and thought "What is that cavalry unit getting out of this?". A few of my gun detachment echoed similar thoughts. Also, we could not figure out why anybody remained at the base of that hill as long as they did. Our lieutenant told us we were to engage the infantry as they massed at the hill's base as long as they presented a target, but that should only be for a very short time. Then we would support the main battle and provide counter-battery fire. That's not what happened, as you know. Your infantry hung out for what seemed like an eternity_at a range of about 600-700 yards from a Federal battery that was told to blast away without any fear of a Confederate assault. My gun alone fired 23 rounds, only slowing for fear of running out of ammunitions. Instead of "Why don't the enemy come?", it was "Why don't the enemy leave?" . There was some mis-communication somewhere. 23 rounds at rate of 1 round every 3 minutes is a one-hour bombardment. Even speeding up to 1 every 2 minutes is a 46 minute bombardment of an essentially static, massed target.

I can see why you were disappointed. There was little action for your troop that we could see. When you did finally charge us, we looked at each other with that "What the ...? That's not part of the script" look. In a real battle, that would be the smart move, going for the ridge. However, in a real battle nothing would have survived our artillery fire, man or horse, at the bottom of that hill to even try and take the ridge, getting past our supporting infantry. But in a real battle, nobody would have lingered under our guns. And, to be truthful, in a real battle your cavalry troop would have captured our guns in the first five minutes, when you first came upon us waiting for the scenario to begin.

[bill watson]

Whining? or Wining? Usually it's beer..... :-)

[VaTrooper]

Lawernce,
I didn't actually think that the gun you had posted on our side was angled enough to do any damage to us. It seemed to be more pointed to the corner of the crowd where our infnatry came from and our mounted gun was waiting. But I may be wrong. The charge at the end was more or less for the infantry bunch that were posted with you because they were waving us on for the last half an hour of battle but there was no point in doing any more than poping off a shot every now and then.

PS: I've been meaning to email you to get all your contact info for my records.

[dclarry]

Will,

You are probably right, probably no gun aimed at your group. Certainly I heard no order directing fire on you. My gun, on our far right only engaged the infantry and the horse drawn piece, as you say. I saw your troop, but my gun never attempted a shot at you. I just assumed the left piece (my left) would have, but that's a dangerous assumption on my part. I should not have stated that your group would not have survived the artillery fire, I could not really know that.

In fact, being on the far right, I was not all that aware of what the supporting infantry were up to until your charge. You could have overrun them and been upon me before I knew what was happening. Which, actually, is what happened. Several riders came right into the guns, to the consternation of our officer.

[VaTrooper]

The infantry that was supporting you recalled their skirmish line in good fashion and had formed up well enough that it would have been hard work to wipe em up with our swords. Pistols and carbines on the other hand would have worked quite well. Who else would like to share their .02 cents?

[plankmaker]

All I'm hearing is crickets. Beuhler, Beuhler.....?

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

[dclarry]

All I'm hearing is crickets. Beuhler, Beuhler.....?

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN


.. but a whimper.

This thread died alone and unmourned.

[Hondo]

After watching all the hype for this event, I am so surprised to hear that it maybe wasnt so great after all. What went wrong? Work prevented me from attending so I am very curious.
September Storm is right around the corner will it be the same?



Hondo

[Memphis]

Even Ty Cobb struck out once in a while.

[VaTrooper]

September Storm is a further drive for me. I'm not sure I'll go now.

[Memphis]

I can't recall a thread being upgraded from the Whine Cellar to the Military General Discussion forum before. That is quite an honor, but all glory is fleeting. ;)

[Dignann]

I attended this event and, overall, I had a very good time. I don't go to events to really get anything out the battles. For me, it's about seeing my friends and enjoying the atmosphere. After 26 years in this hobby, I've pretty much seen it all and the fights don't do much for me anymore. The Saturday battle lacked energy, but I think that was due to the preceeding march. It was a little rough, being very hot and water stops perhaps not frequent enough, nor some of them having water terribly accessible. Thus when the columns reached the field, pretty much everyone was beat and dead tired.

My assessment - a few bumps in the planning and execution? Yes, but still a decent event.

Eric

[bob 125th nysvi]

There seems to be some confusion here.

Was or was not the Cavalry supposed to be where they were? Sounds like we either have some confusion in the command ranks or some bad field navigation that put the Cavalry in the situation it was in.

Secondly, if historically the Cavalry didn't assault the battery why should they expect that to happen in the scripted battle? Or to be allowed to do it?

I think we could use some scenario details here from someone in command before we decide if the criticism is justified or not. Someone can always diss an event because they didn't have a good time or weren't allowed to do what they want to but we need to compare that with what they were SUPPOSED to be doing before we decide the event was 'bad'

So can somebody in authority tell us what was supposed to happen and the "not fun" battles?

[VaTrooper]

Bob,
We never attcked the cannons intentionally. Our mounted assult on the infantry did push into them a bit but thats about it. I would have thought that Chris Anders would have spoke up by now.....

[Sgt_Pepper]

I can't recall a thread being upgraded from the Whine Cellar to the Military General Discussion forum before. That is quite an honor, but all glory is fleeting. ;)

The Whine Cellar is for gripes without suggestions and other miscellaneous things. This thread is actually trying to go somewhere and I moved it to encourage that process.

[dclarry]

Bob,
We never attcked the cannons intentionally. Our mounted assult on the infantry did push into them a bit but thats about it. I would have thought that Chris Anders would have spoke up by now.....

I re-read my post of a few days ago and realize I should provide some correction. My son read it and said to me "Man, what a d#ck you are!".

I did not mean to be so critical of Will's troop assaulting the supporting infantry, with a few riders pushing past into the guns. It was exciting, actually, but unexpected. On the far right gun, I could not even see the supporting infantry most of the time. I should not have been so critical.

What I was trying to get across, albeit poorly, was that I thought the scenario was not playing out as I thought it was supposed to, and that I could see the cavalry were not going to get a lot of action. One of us cannoneers suggested that this would be a good time to have an umpire, to tell the Reb infantry it was time to move on, or expect an assault which will kill some gunners, etc.

I'm more of a 'Living History' type and don't really know how scripted battles typically play out. I had a good time at this event, but I do think there may be some lessons for next time.

[tompritchett]

It was a little rough, being very hot and water stops perhaps not frequent enough, nor some of them having water terribly accessible. Thus when the columns reached the field, pretty much everyone was beat and dead tired.

Pardon me, but wasn't the case for them back then sometimes also.

[texyank]

I thought the weather was terriffic.

The march was pleasant on Saturday morning but there was a bit of a SNAFU in the afternoon fight. I have been at this awhile and don't much care for battles, however, as our battallion crested the rise I was able to see the confed horse artillery retreating by prolong and I thought that was really cool since I had not seen that before (grew up doing artillery).

Little things got to me like corps badges and brass belt keepers on Fed infantry.

I fell in with some great comrades though and it was certainly a better use of my time than creating spreadsheets or answering email.

Overall, pretty good.

Jason Hamby

Independent and looking

[Rob Weaver]

Little things got to me like corps badges and brass belt keepers on Fed infantry.

IMNTOBCHO, if little things like belt keepers get to you, you're going to spend a lot of time in life being disappointed.

[Anders]

Gents,

Not 100% sure what occured on the right flank of the CS forces, I know that I was busy looking at the beat down infantry coming up the "valley turnpike" and turning into line.

I was heartbroken to see the condition the boys were in. We marched and fought hard for 6 hours, and I completely misjudged the ability of the boys to function in the heat we had.

Too ambitious, period, and no ones fault but mine. The troops had no energy to continue the fight, and folks were falling out by the 2-3's due to the heat, so I called the battle and got ice on the field as fast as I could.

Mistakes were made, lessons learned....tried to do too much in too short a time. No ones fault but mine.

Still getting in AAR's, so I have a complete picture.

A few bright spots -

$10,000 raised for CCBF

The willingness of the boys to push on and finish the hand, coulnt have asked for better.

The Woods fight


Moving forward, it would have been a better decision to just do the woods fight on Saturday and the public battle on Sunday.

Like I said, I made mistakes, and accept responsibility for such. For those who are asking September Storm is a stationary event centered around this focus- good solid scenarios and even rule enforcement.

Even us medium age dogs learn.

Pards,

[bill watson]

The desire to pack as much as possible into the few hours we get to practice the hobby is often our downfall. On the other hand, had the weather been cooler and had nothing been attempted after the march, folks might be grumbling they were bored.

Flexibility is a good thing.

I'm looking forward to falling in under Scot Buffington at September Storm with Company I. Goal: 44 rank and file. Recruitment now in full swing.

[bulletsponge]

Listening to the Federal band and fife & drum corps switch off during the march to the Saturday tactical was worth everything. That was pure pleasure. And as I got to march right behind them I received the full effect. A full-up fife & drum reveille didn't make stiff joints any more flexible in the early morning, but it was a nice change from my regular alarm clock. Here's to great field musicians!

[texyank]

IMNTOBCHO, if little things like belt keepers get to you, you're going to spend a lot of time in life being disappointed.


Yes I know but hey, I am an engineer by trade and can't escape the details no matter how hard I try.

ok, what does IMNTOBCHO mean?

Jason Hamby

[AbbyWalker]

" Again we led the infantry out onto the field and fell out in a skirmish line only to crest a hill and find 6-7 plain clothed civilians in the middle of the dang battlefield that had gained permission to stay there and take pictures. It was disgusting.


By "plain clothed civilians," you mean spectators, right? As a civilian reenactor, when I read "plain clothed" I think "cotton dresses and slat or corded bonnets." But you are talking about spectators allowed on the battlefield? During the battle? Wow.

As for the civilian refugees dressed in "1860s style plain clothes," they were smart enough to hide in a ravine during the battle , and were hoping to avoid contact with soldiers altogether, though they weren't successful. I guess the chickens gave them away. :-)

Regards,
Abby Walker
AGSAS

[bob 125th nysvi]

it isn't surprising that the troops weren't up to the physical demands given the (over) age and (lack of) physical shape most reenactors in.

Even those of us who are in fairly good shape are mere pikers compared to the physical abilities of the men who really fought the war.

In all maybe something was learned, that no matter how good our kit and our impression and our knowledge, the real guys would have run circles around us pounded our butts and laughed around the campfire about it that evening.

And then gotten up an done it again the following day why we lounged around camp nursing our ills.

Something to remember the next time each of us thinks he has gotten his impression close to what it was really like.

Still looking so forward to September Storm, don't water the drink, I'd like to see if I can do it.

[Anders]

I think he was talking about the 6-7 spectators that donted extra to CCBF to be allowed a more "personal" view of the action...

We kept them behind a barracade till the PSL/CVG had swept past, hamming it up for them, and then moved them forward (behind command and under control) so they could follow the action, out of the view of the rest of the spectators.

The Cavalry when it reformed was in clear view thereof, and I think this is what is referred to.

These folks we totally amazed and touched- hopefully they will become more active in preservation and even perhaps reenacting.

Don't know if I would do this again, but for once, at least these spectators "got it"

Pards,

[Stumpy Jack]

Abby,
It was cool seeing you guys give away the chickens to people, it added to the event. I thought that the event was good and on Sunday, we did the best we could with the numbers we had. One thing that I did experience was hitting the wall hard, and in my opinion that put me one step closer to what the real soldiers might have felt.

On to September Storm

[RJSamp]

Abby,
It was cool seeing you guys give away the chickens to people, it added to the event. I thought that the event was good and on Sunday, we did the best we could with the numbers we had. One thing that I did experience was hitting the wall hard, and in my opinion that put me one step closer to what the real soldiers might have felt.

On to September Storm

Hey Der Schtummppppf!

How'd the bugling go?

did you get to play a valver with Jari?

[Stumpy Jack]

The bugling went fine, got to do a lot of playing. No I didn't get to play with Jari but this weekend I will be at Pamplin Park where he invited me to play with the Federal City Brass Band. I'm really looking forward to it.

[VaTrooper]

By "plain clothed civilians," you mean spectators, right?

Right. Sorry for the confusion.

[dedogtent]

The bugling went fine, got to do a lot of playing. No I didn't get to play with Jari but this weekend I will be at Pamplin Park where he invited me to play with the Federal City Brass Band. I'm really looking forward to it.

The 2nd Delaware will be at Pamplin Park this weekend. See ya down there!

[Jari]

The 2nd Delaware will be at Pamplin Park this weekend. See ya down there!


See you all there

The Federal City Brass will be there all weekend. We had a great time playing for the boys at Down in The Valley. Nothing like playing national airs in the cool of the morning to get the blood going! Thanks to all who expressed their gratitude at the event and sent emails. We appreciate it.

We hope to get Jack Dixon into the ranks of the band and encourage other young brass players who wish to discover the joys of playing this music on period instruments to check out the band at Pamplin Park and other places on our schedule.

Jari

[RJSamp]

The bugling went fine, got to do a lot of playing. No I didn't get to play with Jari but this weekend I will be at Pamplin Park where he invited me to play with the Federal City Brass Band. I'm really looking forward to it.

Chris promised me he'd use you....glad to see that's so. Always good to have probugling officer's.

Have fun at Pamplin Park....and don't choke when Jari asks you to play the surprise 2nd Cornet Solo!

[dedogtent]

See you all there

The Federal City Brass will be there all weekend. We had a great time playing for the boys at Down in The Valley. Nothing like playing national airs in the cool of the morning to get the blood going! Thanks to all who expressed their gratitude at the event and sent emails. We appreciate it.

We hope to get Jack Dixon into the ranks of the band and encourage other young brass players who wish to discover the joys of playing this music on period instruments to check out the band at Pamplin Park and other places on our schedule.

Jari

Jari, always a pleasure to listen to the band. After a bumper to bumper trip on Friday from Wilmington, De. to Pamplin Park, I was wishing I had just stayed home. The weekend did get better after we set up camp and relaxed on Friday night. I found the weekend very enjoyable although it was very hot but cooled down at night for great sleeping. I have never been to Pamplin Park and I must say I found it fascinating.

The event was well set up and the staff was great. The Saturday free dinner was a real bonus. Thanks for the relaxing music as we sat by our campfires last night, it really added to our weekend. I shall see you at future events.

[Jerry Ross]

Hey William,
It was good to meet you and the others at Down the Valley. The fight in the woods was my favorite part ,followed by swimming in dead cow creek. It was good to see Sweeny ,Todd ,and meeting Honz and the Maryland fellas.Hope fully I will make the trip to Virginia again before next summer .Keep me informed of what your planning on doing in the future.

Jerry Ross
Critter Co
Tennessee

[Pvt Schnapps]

I posted my AAR at: http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?p=63169#post63169 because it does go on. Hope you all can make it to September Storm.