Wounded

[yerbyray]

List,

I have searched on here and was unable to find anything in prior threads, or at least the titles did not seem applicable, on being wounded.

Last weekend at an event I sort of noticed a trend that I had not really caught before. We are either alive or dead.

I did watch in between loading and firing, a wounded pard on the field. He is the only one I have witnessed in three events.

I know I am not the best read WBTS student but from what I have seen the wounded seemed to outnumber the dead by 4+:1 ratio.

I think it would be neat to see a green grassy field alive with wiggly blue and gray "heaps" begging for water and trying to save themselves.

If I do get "wounded" should I just lay there or do I try and get off the field? No brainer in real combat is to get out of harms way, but I know it varies with simulation. I have made "bloody" bandages to carry so spectators with good vision will get what I am doing.

Maybe I am barking up the wrong tree on this, its hard enough to get folks to take a hit anyways. I know we have some medical re-enactors at events maybe this would be a way for them to get some "air time" so to speak.

What do ya'll think on being wounded?

Im not trying to start chatter but I do want to know what would be appropriate.

Thanks


Yerby Ray, Private
Co B 22nd NCT / 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry, USA

[tompritchett]

If I do get "wounded" should I just lay there or do I try and get off the field?

Depends upon where you were wounded. There are numerous reports of wounded streaming back from the battlefield. Personally, I would rather take a hit as a walking/limping wounded as, 1) there were typically more wounded than killed in any battle and 2) laying in the hot sun is a good way to develop a heat injury. At my last reenactment, I took a wound (shoulder) and was immediately captured. As the battle progressed I actually got up and limped further back to find cover from "friendly" fire.

In regards to searching for more threads on the topic try searching on the topic of taking hits. It has been discussed several times in the past.

[reb4lee]

As to the wounded I have seen about 6-7 wounded at almost every event.. In certain event's I have seen Hospital scenarios set up with wounded coming in adn being treated. (Confederate) We have medical corpsmen come out help them off the field or give them Ice.

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Someone ought to write an article about this. Y'know, a how-to for reenactors.

Or maybe it's already posted in the AC Forum's "research articles" folder, and published in one magazine, and blatently plagarized word-for-word by another magazine. And it's in the CRRC2.

No, reenactors typically do not do a very good job of portraying casualties of battle.

[yerbyray]

Kevin,

Thanks for the research and writing, I was unable to open the PDF link of the AC but I will try it when I get home.

It is a shame you had your work stolen, too bad we don't tar and feather still.

I look forward to reading your piece.

Thanks

[7thNJcoA]

our unit has a hospital and we take wounded men off the field and bring them to the hospital, where we put on a demonstration. most times we take 7 or 8 to the hospital as wounded and they do their thing, and some 5-6 more limp off the field. i have done so many times with an old pair of trousers covered them in fake blood and used my musket to help me off the field, and either to the hospital or into enemy hands as a POW. we have a lot of fun doing these diffrent scenerios.

[NoahBriggs]

Considering you were wounded in OIF, I am not sure why you classify portraying wounded as "fun".

[Kevin O'Beirne]

used my musket to help me off the field

This has got to be the most hackneyed reenactor-as-wounded portrayal there is. During the Pickett's Charge aftermath scenes in the film "Gettysburg" there's a shot that has at least three or four guys all limping along using a gun for a crutch.

Wounded men were hit in every conceivable place--head, side, torso, fingertip, toe, back, buttocks, knee, etc. I recently read in Peter Cozzen's book, "Thie Terrible Sound: The Battle of Chickamauga" of a soldier hit in the head so that the bone next to his eye was utterly shattered and the eyeball pushed out of the socket and dangled by the optic nerve. He wrote of how he walked a ways with it like that, and then sat down to try to shove the eyeball back into the hole, while trying to piece together the shattered bones that would hold the eye in place without it falling out again. Now, certainly reenactors cannot portray that type of ghastly scene, but it goes to show that all kinds of wounds that reenactors rarely think to portray happened, and it's often surprising how mobile and ambulatory men were when they received terrible wounds--most of which did not require limping along with the gun as a crutch or walking stick.

At Payne's Farm 2005 we attempted to portray the variety of wounds received, and the many and varied reactions to them, using very detailed "fate cards". Among other things portrayed that one doesn't see very often in reenacting, we had lots of men simulating either "being hit with a spent ball"--knocked down or momentarily stunned--and others portraying that they were reacting to near misses (i.e., bullet hitting their gear, or perforating the clothing). The colonel of the Fifth New York Veteran Volunteers described being hit by several spent balls and near misses at the battle of Globe Tavern in August 1864 near Petersburg:

“I had a small piece of my little finger taken off & was slightly wounded in my left leg in two places. I had my India rubber blanket folded across my shoulder & tied to my left side—a ball struck it, turning me completely around & piercing the blanket in 8 places. I have four holes in my coat—one from a fragment of shell & two holes in my pantaloons. My sword was badly bent spraining my wrist but not knocking it out of my hand. Two horses were shot under me.”

A member of the 20th New York wrote of being hit by a "spent ball" at the batlte of Antietam:

“Just as I threw myself down, a bullet struck the thick overcoat which I carried rolled over my chest…. The bullet, which had enough force to knock me over, penetrated the overcoat and struck me on the arm. It felt as though I had received a hefty blow from a club, and the arm was very sore for several days.”

At Payne's Farm 2005, from my position a number of paces behind the center of the battalion's line, the line indeed looked as Lt. John Mead Gould described his regiment, the 10th Maine Infantry, in battle at Cedar Mountain, Virginia in August 1862:

“The behavior of those who were hit appeared most singular, and as there were so many of them, it looked as if we had a crowd of howling dervishes dancing and kicking around in our ranks. The bullet often knocks over the man it hits, and rarely fails by its force alone to disturb his equilibrium. Then the shock, whether painful or not, causes a sudden jump or shudder. Now as every man, with hardly an exception, was either killed wounded or hit in his clothes, hit by spent balls and stones, or jostled his wounded comrades, it follows we had a wonderful exhibition. Some wheeled round and round, others threw up their arms and fell over backward, others went plunging backward trying to regain their balance; a few fell to the front, but the force of the bullet generally prevented this, except where it struck low down and apparently knocked the soldier’s feet from under him. Many dropped their musket and seized the wounded part with both hands, and a very few fell dead.” (emphasis added for this post)

That's what the Federal line at Payne's Farm 2005 looked like from my vantage point. It was like I was seeing Gould's description--probably the best single quote I've ever read describing how men react to being shot--brought vividly to life right in front of my eyes, except with smoke, a lot of yelling and screaming, crashing and tearing musketry, and confusion. I'd scripted the whole thing and, compared to the accounts I've read, it looked and sounded so real, that even I had several "moments" during that battle reenactment.

Reenactors CAN do better at this, and one certainly doesn't have to be a so-called "hardcore" to do it. And forget limping along with that gun as a crutch.

[Memphis]

Is Payne's Farm an annual event?

[Stonewall_Greyfox]

Is Payne's Farm an annual event?

Sadly, Payne's Farm is not an annual event...The single-best reenactment I have ever attended!

Paul