Mail the Editor with Submissions for the Regular or if you have a good picture you'd like to see on this site.

The Regular The Official Newsletter of Sykes Regulars November Regular

Field Commander’s Report

The Antietam weekend went well, although I felt the rust of inactivity. Having to miss two reenactments this Summer had made me slow and had clogged my old brain. My rust was evident but the polished machine, known as the Regulars, performed well again. It’s good to be a Regular.
Some of us went to Cedar Creek this year, and I especially had a good time as an British Observer. My tent was situated on a knoll about 150 feet above the Hillsman House where the majority of the fighting happened both days. When the Southern lads advanced, the Union Jack kept me from harms way. I had the best seat in the house. While I was enjoying a leisurely weekend, some of the lads under the care of Sgt. Mastapeter were guarding the ladies in the mansion at Belle Grove, and safe they were.
Next on our schedule is the Remembrance Day Parade. I have asked the corporals to call each member of their squad and urge them to attend this event. We need everyone who can attend to show up and march with us.
One last comment; there was an error in last month’s Regular. The correct wording to the one sentence in the Commander’s Report should have been, “The Commander’s report was eaten by her cat.”

Yos, DMR

Sykes’ Regulars Schedule for November-December, 2000

Date: November 18, 2000
Place: Gettysburg, PA
Event: Remembrance Day Parade
Info: This is our annual parade in remembrance of the slain at the Battlefield of Gettysburg. We will march in the parade and ensue in the usual festivities. If you need reservations at Days Inn call 7173343373. The parade will form on the grounds of the Gettysburg Public School, on Lefevre Street (same place as last year), at 1200 hours.
Uniform: Dress Blues, polished brass, clean weapon, darkened leathers, and your pride as a Regular.
Directions: U.S. 15 to Alt. U.S. 15 to Gettysburg. The parade will form at 1200 hours on the school grounds off of Lefever Street, which joins Baltimore Street. ****

Date: December. Nothing on the schedule as of yet.

Please vote for your Board of Directors, and plan to attend our annual meeting in January, 2001.

Bugle Call

Roster
For those of you who received the roster in the mail, excuse any wrong information or abscence of info. I'll be sending out an updated roster with the correct info next month.

The Editor

For more pics of the Winter Quarters click here.
Report from the Field
Winter Quarters Report
Rome wasn’t built in a day but we’re doing great!
The last weekend in October found an earnest fatigue detail at the Sykes Regulars Winter Quarters, ready for duty. We arrived Saturday morning and started in on the hut we had already began and slowly but surely the logs walls rose skyward. There is some good honest timbering involved here which entails taking down trees, cutting them to length and then notching them to fit. The two men on steam powered axes (chainsaws), Bruce (Sabertooth) Spahr and yours truly the Editor wielded their sawdust makers with great skill and mighty effort. Mr. Spahr’s skill was impressive. His work ethic is first rate and construction knowledge is worthy of merit. What other hidden talents does this man possess? Also on chainsaws were Jason M and Fred G. who also cut with much aggression. As much as we would like to cut everything with axes the way they did, we just don’t have the time.
Once the trees were downed and cut to size, they had to be moved. This was accomplished by the combined effort of the lads and their back muscles and at times, Larry McGrane and his awesome tractor. The logs were taken to the existing structured, laid in place and the notches cut lincoln log fashion.
We had determined that we would cease production at a certain point during the day and proceed to Keedysville where a solemn procession was in progress for Seaman Patrick Howard Roy, lately of the USS Coles who was killed in the terrorist bombing. We did this because it was the right thing to do.
Once the crew arrived back at the site, construction proceeded.
Once we had the logs to a certain height , it came time where we had to cut in the entrance and the fireplace opening. We debated the construct of the fireplace and came to reasonable solution. We decided that we would use stone as a mantle and exterior shelf where the back of the chimney could be stacked. Larry found us a fine stone that fit perfectly and with the help of his mighty tractor we were able to manhandle it into position. After a few evolutions and revolutions the stone sits in perfect position to act as a flew and mantle piece. We were all very excited at our success. We found an excellent hearth stone and we lodged some flat rock to act as side walls. Once this opening was complete we cut the logs for the entrance and continued to log upward. By this time it was growing dark and we decided to suspend operations till the next day. We were tired from our efforts but it was a good kind of tired. The kind one gets from accomplishment.
We adjourned to the McGrane homestead where Julie, Marsha and Peggy had been also hard at work preparing a feast for the hungry lumberjacks. We gorged ourselves on a scrumptious turkey dinner and had a fine social evening amongst family and friends. We talked of hut design and business of the company till it grew late and we all went our separate ways to rest for the next days labors.
The next morning the fatigue detail reassembled with some additional workers. Tank and Eric S were waiting and raring to go and Steve H ambled up later in the morning. We were certainly glad to see them.
Having a good sized number of workers we split the crew and started laying the foundation logs for the Captains cabin. The other hut progressed a few more courses and then we started working on the ridge posts and the ridge which will eventually hold our canvas roof. All of this of course took time and effort. By the end of the day we had accomplished much.
The most satisfying aspect other than accomplishing a good bit over the weekend, was the fact that we worked well as a team. Everyone pitched in and took on a task and worked together well. We worked liked Regulars. It was exciting to see a structure being built with the sweat of our brow and the strength of our hands. We had a lot of fun too as we always do. That’s why we’d like to have anyone that hasn’t come out as of yet, to come out and give it a try. It will take some time to complete so there will be plenty of opportunity. Keep an eye on the Regular for scheduled work weekends.
When this camp is finished we will have something we all can be proud of and someplace we can call home. It will be a great headquarters camp. There will be one hut for officers, one for sergeants and one for corporals. The rest are privates quarters. There might be a small musicians quarters. If an empty bunk shows up in the corporals hut it will certainly be filled. We will work out a fair arrangement for the weekend. We will also have an area for dog tents and A frames so everyone will have a spot. If anyone has a concern about these ground rules please let the board or your officers know. Other than that we will move forward in building our luxury winter accommodations. We are hoping to eventually build a company mess with grills and a bake oven for bread.
Thanks goes out to all who showed this past weekend. You know who you are. Great work. We’d also like to thank Julie McGrane, Peggy Rivera, and Marsha Starkey for fixing and incredible meal. And the McGranes for extending their hospitality to all the Regulars.
The camp is progressing and we need to thank the McGranes for this great opportunity. Always keep in mind that we are Regulars and we can do anything we set our minds to so come on out and roll up your sleeves. You’ll be glad you did.

Written by the Editor

A Regular Travel Log And Review
Columbia Falls, Maine
In the month of October the state of Maine was host to a traveling Regular. The trees were in peak color, the air was clear and the sun shone bright on the rugged coastline of state that bred many a Civil War soldier. This lovely state is now home to one of our own who transplanted himself to the land of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.
For those of you who don’t know Glenn Texter, he is now a navy chief who joined the 2nd US way back in 1986. He was in when Steve Hanson had black hair. (I saw pictures) He’s always remained a Regular even though he was far away and his love of Civil War history is still fervent. He keeps in touch and once a year or so you’ll find yourself fortunate enough to partake in some of his confections he’ll bring down for an event. He keeps up with the antics of the lads by reading the Regular and he represents us well in the patriotic state of Maine. There were American flags everywhere.
Glenn moved up to Maine a while back and made plans to retire there from the navy. He set about to find a place he could operate as a bed & breakfast and succeeded in that admirably. He now resides in a beautiful home that was built in 1795. He is restoring it to its former grandeur and it will formerly open as a b&b next year. He lives in the small town of Columbia Falls that used to be a lumber town back in the day.
Glenn’s B&B will be called the ‘Yankee Soldier.’ Each room will have dedication to one or more heroes of the Union with a plethora of Civil War Memorabilia and artwork. When it is finished it will be a fine establishment. We wish Glenn all the luck in the world.
We arrived for a short stay where Glenn was kind enough to tour us around the coast. We started at Acadia National Park where the views were breathtaking. We could see Bar Harbor from the top of Cadillac Mountain and far down the coast. It was spectacular. We took some great photographs.
The next day we went to Canada to take in the scenery around the Quoddy East Light House. We had to wait till the tide went out to cross a natural bridge to get to the island where the light house sat. It was an incredible place. We came back to the states and took a look at Quoddy East’s twin Quoddy West.
The rest of our trip was filled with the fantastic scenery of Maine. On the last day of our stay we dined on as many Maine lobsters as we could fit.
All in all it was a great trip. The road is a little long but it certainly was worth it. If anyone is interested in a great get away, I recommend giving Glenn a call and going up for a visit. He’d be glad to see you.

Written by the Yankee Travel Agent

For more pics from the shoot click here.

Report from the Set
Maryland Commercial Filming
Antietam


A handful of Regulars participated in the filming of a public service announcement for the state of Maryland. It was a commercial for tourism and in as much it was not as historically accurate as one might hope but of course we did our best to put in our two historical cents and of course the director has the last word. So close your eyes if you see dumb things.
The first day we found ourselves up at 5:00 in the morning to get to the Middlekauf farm by six. It was dark. And cold. We tried to recognize each other in the dim morning light. The forms that emerged from the darkness were the usual suspects. The lads that love to see themselves on film. Jason McConnell., Fred Grogan, the Editor, Clark (Hollywood)Oliver, Pete Brooks/Admiral Porter and the clan McGrane– Larry, Logan, Galeon, and Owen. Logan and Galeon were on special assignment for the drum corp. Logan was to prove himself a star later in the production.
We had coffee and waited for the bus to come and get us. It was to take us to the Burnside bridge. We couldn’t wait to get to rifle inspection where we could wait while the rangers went over every rifle with a fine tooth comb. They spent at least five minutes per rifle. Then we got our little paper dot to decorate the trigger guard. It was great.
The sad thing is that they were justified in their search. Suffice it to say, some of the folks that showed up knew nothing about how to keep their weapons in serviceable condition. It was sad.
After we got done with rifle inspection we were marched out to a field next to the Burnside Bridge . We formed a battle line and those with little white dots were given back their cartridges that were collected earlier in the day. That only took about a lot of time. Surprisingly we fired some crisp volleys and then we went to charge bayonet and charged the camera guy. He was really scared. Then Surprise, Surprise we hurried to…...wait and wait and wait.
So, we did what good Regulars do. We took naps. We then did a marching column towards the camera with Logan and Galeon leading the van. Bayonets at right shoulder shift looked very impressive. Then we took more naps.
Then some prop guy came over and interrupted my nap to ask if he could use my camera as a prop. A silly scene where a woman keeps running out of film after the lads charge over the bridge. They kept it till the next day and gave me some film for my trouble. So even if you don’t see me you will see my camera. Also the flagbearer running over the bridge is wearing my sack coat.
Later in the day we all got to charge over the bridge yelling and screaming at the top of our lungs. Over and over again. It was fun the first five times, after that it got a little old. They smoked and choked us pretty good. We did get some good photographs out of it. You can see those on our website.
After a long day on the scene we all went our separate ways and gathered again at the Middlekauf farm the next morning at 6:00 AM. It was definitely great coat weather.
The scenes for this day were all shot on the farm. It was Confederate day today. The rebs were aligned and this time it was their turn to charge the camera. We took some champion naps that morning. We have a wonderful photograph of us all doing just that. It was indeed wonderful getting paid for sleeping. Logan had been playing some tunes with one of the officers who played the fife and they sounded excellent. So excellent in fact that the director asked them to record some of their tunes for the soundtrack for the commercial. Well done Logan you musical manchild.
As the morning wore on we amused ourselves with many a comedic impression. We ate snacks then lunch and finally it was our turn once again to get in front of the camera. This time a Yankee battle line charged the camera and we did this with explosive charges going off all around. We did this three or four times and finally they used our suggestion to let a few of the lads fall when they were blown up. On the last take the flag bearer, namely me, bravely started off and was summarily blown up as if I stepped on a land mine. The charge went off right in my face. I was however none the worse for wear except that I had a lot of dirt in my eyes. There is photographic proof as no one saw it happen. This photo is in the third row from the bottom on the right side in the MD Commercial Shoot gallery. With that scene in the can the cameras moved off to the top of the hill to get some sunset shots of artillery going off. This was a beautiful site. Logan also got some more camera time as he was the new ‘Hollywood ‘for the day.
We marched off back to the base camp and waited for our cash prize. They also provided us with a fine departing meal.
All in all in was a good shoot. Nobody got hurt and we had a great time. It is good that Regulars will be on screen recorded for posterity. The next week we will be in Fredericksburg filming a documentary for the Nat. Park Service and later a PBS Program.
For those of you who live in the surrounding states of Maryland., look for a tourist commercial for the state and you just might see some Regulars on screen. Till then will see you in the movies.

Written by the Editor on the set.