Franklin Report

Soldiers of A Company, NW 15th Ark Vol Inf,
I wish to express my gratitude to those who made the long
trek to Spring Hill, TN for the recently concluded "National
Event". Your actions during the most difficult reenactment
we have ever participated in leaves me speechless. I must
apologize for my inability to accompany you on the
afternoon of Saturday and Sunday. For those who were
unable to attend this event had many elements that we have
not done before. Unfortunately, too many actions were
scheduled in too short a time. Also the senior level
commanders had not anticipated how hard all the activity
would be on the troops and were not proactive in providing
things such as water. COL Huckabee and LTC Sanders
were tireless in their attempts to take care of our battalion
and are to be commended for actions above and beyond the
call of duty. To them I also apologize for be unable to lead
my company throughout the event. I was honored to be
given command of the Left Wing on Friday and Saturday
morning during which we participated in two battles and a
very long road march with equipment. I brevetted Jim Morris
to Lieutenant while I commanded the wing. Friday afternoons
battle was pretty standard with both forces trying to
maneuver against each other. We gathered up our
equipment, which included bed-roles and backpacks, and
moved out for about a two mile march. The march was
concluded in the dark with many sore bodies. The Right
Wing established our "Grand Guard" and maintained it for
a while. The only action while they were emplaced involved
other Rebel forces. Early the next morning the Left Wing
took over the "Grand Guard" and after about 45 minutes we
encountered Union skirmishers. An intense fight began and
the remainder of the brigade was brought forward. We
pushed the enemy through a thick tree line and found the
remainder of his forces in prepared defenses. We attacked
several times an actually breached his defenses. After this
fight we took our mostly empty canteens to a water point
and watched the remainder of our brigade attack the same
Union works. We then moved back to the main event area
and after much discussion with senior leaders returned to
our camp to drop off our unneeded bed-roles and
backpacks. After a short break the battalion moved out to
do the battle of Franklin which was followed by a night fight
and medical scenario. All in all it was a tough two days.
Sunday morning was spent at the sutlers and preparing for
the climatic fight. Three things stand out to me about this
disappointing event. First; too many cell phones in use in our
camps and on the battlefield! Second; many women doing
male impressions. Some good some bad. It caught my
attention because of the number and because Pvt. Potts
does such a good "male" impression. Third; there were
way too many very young "soldiers" in the ranks of many
of the companies that I saw. From the perspective of the
ladies who accompanied us on this event, they were not
taken care of very well either. Firewood was had to find and
ice was almost nonexistent. Also there were only five
port-a-johns for the entire civilian camp on our part of the
site. Way too few for the number of civilian re enactors.
Finally, I want to add that this is the second disappointing
National Event" I have been to in two years. I can only
hope the organizers of next years "National Event" learn
from these last two and get it right! ALEX