Sunday, October 10, 2004

Perryville Battlefield

  THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN

Of the many reasons that the South is a wonderful place to live, the Civil War Reenactments has got to have a place close to the top. Now I know that the rest of the world think that those of us who live south of the Mason Dixon marry our cousins then settle down to raise our little Frank and Jesse's. Then we build our fortunes growing marijuana, brewing moonshine and raising thoroughbred horses. Sometimes we go crazy and become land developers and chop up great grand pappy's farm and sell it out as five acre tracks. When we want to relax, we hop into our trucks and go to the horse track for some gambling. We smoke a lot of cigarettes. We eat a lot of fried foods.  We go to church. We vote Republican.

Well, some of that is true.............But the stereotype I like the best is the one where we don't concede that we lost the Civil War. Every county that had a battle fought during the war reenact that battle every year. The Rebels usually win. It is a huge thriving business, this Civil War stuff.

And great fun. Where else can you sit on the side lines and watch men fight each other with swords on horseback? Or see a canon shoot out a huge smoke O ring? Or see and hear living history? Reach out and touch personal things that belonged to someone long ago forgotten? Or are they?

The Battle of Perryville, which was reenacted today, was fought in 1862. History recorded that over 60,000 Union and Confederate soldiers met in the Perryville area both seeking water at the Chaplin River. The bloodiest battle fought in the South ensued upon their meeting. Over 7500 casualties resulted. The ground was saturated with blood. The most mind boggling fact about all this is that 300 homes around this area were used as hospitals to treat the injured and dying.

Today the weather was spectacular. I wonder if the day was as beautiful in 1862?

   

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh Mary, This is spooky, I just did an entry about my nephews B%B down the road from Perryville. That house was used as a hospital......spooky!   Anne   I did get tickled about the Kentucky southern stereotypes.

Anonymous said...

I can deal with the Rebels winning every single one of the re-enactments...just so long as the North won the real thing.  :)

Anonymous said...

Mry, I LOVE t hose pictures you took! I so want to be able to see a reenactment for myself.  Thank  you for sharing.

Monica, who is commenting from work and can't be held liable for the jibberish I may have written or any misspellings.
http://journals.aol.com/sonensmilinmon/SmilinMonsAdventures/

Anonymous said...

The South IS truly wonderful,and you capture the essence of the South here so well. The pictures give an added touch!

I love!

E

Anonymous said...

Such a great story teller!  Thank you!  JAE

Anonymous said...

Great picture, with the Civil War guys in the foreground and the camper in the background!  When I went to the Perryville battleground, I didn't get to see a reenactment...on the day I went, it was overcast and drizzling, and I remember thinking, "Is this what it looked like back then?"...

Anonymous said...

Re-enactments can be fun.  I live within a stone's throw of about 6 different battlefield with Shiloh the most significant.  But, but, but you mean, we didn't win the war?

Anonymous said...

You know just how to have a goodtime. Everytime I come here you are doing something so much fun. I would love to see something like this. I need to get out more. Love the photos. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

The photos are interesting. It's amazing how they do the reenactments of the battles. The north doesn't. Maybe because it wasn't fought here. Very interesting.
Angela

Anonymous said...

O H I Just knew that though I could not be there YOU Would share it with me. SO I would feel as if I was tehre. Great pics. Lori

Anonymous said...

I usually love what you write, Mary, but I just don't get this at all. Up here, they do Revolutionary War re-enactments, and these are similarly mystifying to me. Grown men (and a few women) playing dress-up.

Anonymous said...

I realized that the comment I made below could seem to be critical--not how it was meant. More as a recognition of my own regional prejudices. Sorry.

Anonymous said...

(I love that baby sidebar photo! Too friggin cute.)

You know, I hope Mother Nature unleashed her fury that day. I hate war. I just can't wrap my brain around all of the senseless deaths and violence. Any day where a man raises a weapon against another should feel like the kind of day where one is cold bone deep.

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm. I live in the South and I've never seen one of these.  I live right near where one of the battles was fought (Kennesaw Mountain) so I'll have to check it out.  Pamela

Anonymous said...

Yes they do love the South Shall Rise Again phrase.  They have the re-enactments here also   john

Anonymous said...

We saw a Northern version of a Civil War reenactment, about twenty years ago in Zion, Illinois.  No, there were no actual Civil War battles fought there...but it was interesting.  I love history, especially American history.  But, now that I think about it, and read some of these other comments, I guess there is something a little ghoulish about reenacting war...  Lisa  :-]

Anonymous said...

thanks for sharing this ........ especially love the bottom photo. :):) judi

Anonymous said...

Perhaps those stereotypes you speak of are indicative of a deeper truth....that the war between the north and south was about more than just slavery. I don't say that dogmatically because I really don't know....there was a lot about the war that was tragic and certainly there were many noble men on both sides who fought and died for what they believed in. The real shame would be if we as a nation learned nothing from this tragedy....but I tend to think that we have learned a great deal. Some truths are worth fighting for and even dying for. Our history certainly testifies to that! May God help us to stand for what is right. Thanks for the reminder.

Anonymous said...

Really cool idea for photographs!  I bet they'd look really cool in black and white.

Anonymous said...

Wow, great pictures. Stuff like this and renaissance faires where you dress up if you're a diehard always perplexed me as to what breed of person you were to get into it. But, hey, I'm glad there are those willing because I think it's great fun to watch. :-) ---Robbie

Anonymous said...

I think you Southerners do that "...and this is how we won the war " thing just to bemuse us Northerners.  When we toured the home of Jefferson Davis ('Beau Rivage'?  'Beau Bridges'?  'Beau-Something') the rather stern-faced docent, dressed in costume and glaring ominously, regaled us with the accomplishments of what appeared to be, given the displays and her reverential discourse, the most successful administration in American history.  We got the distinct impression that when we left, she ran around the manse opening windows and lighting candles to eliminate the lingering scent of Yankee infidels...

I love re-enactments of all sorts ~ battlefields, renaissance fairs, historical moments of any kind...Star Trek conventions ~ what can I say?  I'm a dweeb, & a sucker for grown-ups in costume.   :)