Gettysburg today,150th anniversary...

ord.sgt.26NC

ord.sgt.26NC

Gott mit uns!
Joined
Mar 23, 2005
Location
Goldsboro
Today ,150 years ago,was the first day of the 3 day battle of Gettysburg. On this day,the 26th North Carolina and her sister regiments in Pettigrew's brigade went up against the weasterners of the Iron Brigade which consisted of troops from Wisconsin,Michigan,and Illinoise.The 26th was the largest regiment in the Army of Northern Virginia with over 800 men and officers.When the men of both brigades hit one another,the 26NC took the fight to the 24th Michigan who was directly to their front.By the time the union army was pushed off the field,14 men who had picked up the colors had been shot down with the Colonel being killed outright,carrying it while urging his men forward .The Lt.Colonel who then picked it up was shot through the mouth.588 men were killed, wounded,or missing with all 91 men of Co.F,which was the color company,gone. The numbers for the 24th Michigan were terrible also with high numbers,esp in their color companies. On the second day,the regiment rested annd tended to dead and the wounded.
The third day saw the assault of the Pickett,Pettigrew,Trimble charge.Again the boys from North Carolina were called upon to help out in this charge even tho their numbers had greatly been reduced. This charge is concidered the high point for the Confederacy.The remainder of the men in the 26th N.C.,which number somewhere around 230,struck out across that field.The colors were planted the farthest of any other Confederate reg. on the federal line with the 2 color bearers being captured.Two of their decendants are in the field as reenactors with us. In this charge,the regiment lost another 120 men. A week later,Pettigrew would be dead,shot by Union Calv. while using his now division,to screen the confederate rear crossing from maryland back into Virginia. The 26th would send men back home to pull in more volunteers to bolster back up the numbers.By spring of 64,she had gained back to nearly full strength.
I've been a reenactor with the 26th N.C. since 1993 and unfortunatly couldn't be with the boys this past weekend .This is the first Gettysburg I have missed since starting.The best one for me was the 1998 reenactment which fielded 26,000 men from all over the nation and world.We did the Pickett,Pettigrew,Trimble charge on a one to one scale. I missed being with my comrades and fretted over their well being with the hot and humid weather that southern Pennsy can have.If they had enough water.If they had enough wood.If their muskets performed well.Hell,how was the traffic comin home? I just needed to vent a little.Frustrated that I didn't go.
 
ord.sgt.26NC said:
If they had enough water.If they had enough wood.If their muskets performed well.Hell,how was the traffic comin home? I just needed to vent a little.Frustrated that I didn't go.
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And as my wife would say, "and if a bullfrog had wings, he wouldn't bump his butt when he jumps." Reainacting it is great - I think it's wonderful that people pay attention to history and try to give it the respect it deserves. It's when people wonder "if only we had won this battle, or had this provision, or this had turned out differently, we would be so much better off" that I have issue with it. It is what it is. History is written from the perspective of the victor. I'm sure there were lots of colonial people during the Revolutionary War that hated the idea of a "democratic America" You don't hear about those people in history books.
 
ManglerYJ said:
And as my wife would say, "and if a bullfrog had wings, he wouldn't bump his butt when he jumps."]
what does quoting your wife have anything to do with my statement? I mentioned nothing of changing history or the sequences there from.All I did was give a brief history of the unit during that battle and how I hated not being with my brothers at the reenactment.
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Sorry - I read your post wrong. I was thinking you were talking about if the original combatants had enough wood or water the outcome would have been different. I've had that discussion with various Civil War historians before. There were several turning points in the war that had things changed even slightly, the outcome may have been different. Again, I apologize for reading into your post something that wasn't there.
 
it's all good man.I figured that was probably what had happened. The only part of that period that I would change is the fact war was waged at all.
 
ManglerYJ said:
And as my wife would say, "and if a bullfrog had wings, he wouldn't bump his butt when he jumps." Reainacting it is great - I think it's wonderful that people pay attention to history and try to give it the respect it deserves. It's when people wonder "if only we had won this battle, or had this provision, or this had turned out differently, we would be so much better off" that I have issue with it. It is what it is. History is written from the perspective of the victor. I'm sure there were lots of colonial people during the Revolutionary War that hated the idea of a "democratic America" You don't hear about those people in history books.
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you're a dipshit and if you were a real southern man you'd punch yourself in the face.
 
Blaze said:
I haven't been up there in years, really want to take my boys up there sometime soon. Growing up in PA we used to go there in my grandfather's RV, really is an amazing place.
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The new museum is awesome! The Cylcorama is worth the added cost too! I can't imagine how busy it is this week up there. I can't wai till my son is old enough to enjoy it. My sister lives close, so it's easy to plan a trip around.
 
McCracken said:
you're a dipshit and if you were a real southern man you'd punch yourself in the face.
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As noted, I'm wondering if this is serious or joking, but if you are serious, why would a real Southern man punch himself for saying that he hates when people (from the North or the South) try to "re-evaluate" certain aspects of a war, battle, argument, etc. to see if one thing or another would have altered the outcome? What I'm saying is that you can mentally fornicate with an idea to the nth degree and still not change the outcome after the event has already occurred. Unless someone has a time-machine that they haven't told anyone about - and then all bets are off.

And no, I'm not a real Southern man. I was born and raised in the suburbs of Detroit, but was a bit of a Civil War buff in high school. I was actually right impressed with the amount of Southern victories given the conditions they were fighting in, the lack of a consistent rail transit system, unfamiliar terrain and lack of manufacturing facilities for munitions compared to the North.
 
I hate Neal Young. I also admire anyone who takes the time, money and dedication to participate in historical re-inactments of all kinds. I saw one at Fort Macon when I was a kid, it was awesome.
 
Jimmy(ord.sgt.26NC) is one of the nicest guys I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and like he said he was just stating his concern for his fellow reenactors and their wellbeing and heartbreak of not being there.

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My BIL was there for it. He's the guy that plays the bugle. He said it was a great time!

auto-corrected against my will!
 
buellconvert said:
Jimmy(ord.sgt.26NC) is one of the nicest guys I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and like he said he was just stating his concern for his fellow reenactors and their wellbeing and heartbreak of not being there.

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man,I hope ya'll been doin allright!
 
Yeah, just hangin in there! Hope you are doing well, every time I go by a dig site somewhere I always look for ya

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