Reliving a day in history

Beth Reynolds, 34, is the publicity chairperson for the Stonewall Jackson Area Council Valley District of Boy Scouts of America. She and her family saw a group of Civil War re-enactors during a Veterans’ Day parade in the fall in Staunton, which sparked their journey into the past. This is her story.

May 16
Today we are participating in a re-enactment of the Civil War Battle at New Market that originally occurred May 15, 1864. The sun is shining and we are members of the West Augusta Guard 5th Virginia Infantry Company L from Staunton.

I portray a Southern, 30-something, unmarried schoolteacher. My kids, Clint[on], 13, and Matthew, 9, portray Southern children and Tracey, my husband, portrays a private in the Confederate army. Luckily, members in our group know what was worn back then and a woman in our unit makes clothes and is readily knowledgeable.

This is our first re-enactment and we’re all looking forward to reliving history: learning and living how the men lived, fought and died that rainy day 145 years ago.

First order of duty
The men rolled rounds that are used when they simulate shooting their rifles. Rounds are paper with gunpowder rolled inside of it. Carl Brandt, Bobby Anderson, Justin Broyles, Tracey, Clint and Chris Buchanan worked on their rounds and cleaned their weapons. Waverly Adcock portrayed a person in the medical profession, in the past and present. He prepared for the minor injuries that would surface during the day’s events.

The men wore 100 percent wool pants, suspenders, gray wool coats and cotton shirts. The day was very hot and humid and the wool clothing just made it that much steamier. The men had to keep water in their systems to keep hydrated.

Women, in that day, took care of the cooking and watched over the camps while the men got ready to fight. We women wore camp dresses that could be something as simple as a cotton long sleeve shirt and a shoe-length cotton or linen skirt; or a one piece cotton, shoe-length dress with long sleeves.
Children assisted with the camp chores such as gathering and cutting firewood, and fetching water. Clint helped out with keeping the fire going. 
Around 1 [o’clock] or so, the men lined up to get into formation with other companies. The time had arrived to go back in time.

The captain of the unit did a group inspection of the men’s rifles, cap boxes, cartridge boxes and canteens. The inspections were all safety inspections, to make sure the men’s guns were cleaned and that they had plenty of caps and rounds. They also checked to make sure they each had a canteen full of water. The men headed onto the field near the Bushong farm.

Heading into war
The battle started at 2 o’clock in the afternoon with the Union army beginning with an assault of artillery, or cannons.

The battle started behind the barn of the Bushong house and our unit was up on the ridge near the tree line. Some of the Union soldiers hid in the apple orchard. The Confederates ran down after the Union soldiers to flush them out, kill or capture them. The opposing sides fought in hand-to-hand combat.
It was a true battle reenacted.

Shortly after the battle began, clouds started to come in over the ridge. An impending thunderstorm, which turned out to be short in duration, made its way toward this quiet little field where men were battling to stay alive and hold their ground.

It brings to mind how the original battle was fought during a storm.

We saw a lot of women dressed in men’s uniforms. There was a woman in the cavalry, on a horse, who fought another cavalry member. Women stood up for their beliefs without letting the men know that they were women and there were a good bit of them that went to fight by their husbands’ sides. Some participated as undercover spies, such as Belle Boyd. Boyd was a Southern debutante who aided General Stonewall Jackson in taking a Union army at Front Royal in 1862 by passing on information that the Union forces there were depleted.

Seeing the men fall, portraying the many men that died in the actual battle, made me want to cry. I could feel the dread.

But in visiting the museum and looking at the gravestones and uniforms, I feel that they died fighting for what they believed in.

As the battle continued, more the clouds came in as sounds of the guns and cannons roared over the battlefield. The men marched in formation during the battle, rendering volleys into the Union lines.

The smell of gunpowder was everywhere.

Union soldiers were pushed back over the hill north of the farm from where they originated. The Confederates were victorious.

When the battle was over, the men went back to camp to relax, clean their weapons and rehydrate.

Narrowing the view

About two hours after the battle, we got word of a really bad storm heading our way. After dinner everyone got their tents stabilized so that the wind wouldn’t tear them down. It rained for most of the night.

Then it was storytime.

In the real Battle of New Market, it rained as well. We learned that back then the soldiers would sleep in tents, if provided, or they slept out in the open on the ground.

I could really feel the energy of the men that lived this experience 145 years ago and it was almost like I relived it too. I could feel the spirits of the men and their suffering from the cold, soaking rain and how exhausted they must have been. In the cold night, I could just feel the sense of grieving the men must have gone through in their own ways for friends and family members lost during the battle.

As a real-life mother myself, I would have been devastated had my own sons had to go into battle, especially not knowing whether they would ever come home.

While we recouped from the day’s events, we got to meet some of the Virginia Military Institute cadets that had marched up from Lexington to New Market earlier in the week to participate. They seemed to really be enjoying themselves and some of them said that they loved to participate in re-enactments.

May 17
Sunday morning we found camp muddy and everything soaked. There was cold, steady wind blowing.

I walked over to another camp that had their fire going already to warm up for a minute. Returning to our camp, a couple of the men started our fire. Once it was going, we started to warm up and then, coffee was the first order of the day.  We were afraid that with all the rain, the event might be canceled.  However, a message was sent from Confederate headquarters that the morning parade would be at 9:30. 

Breakfast was a huge 15 pounds of bacon, cooked up over the fire for bacon-and-cheese sandwiches.  A woman named Carolyn made ambrosia salad that was delicious, followed by oatmeal cookies and for some, Pop-Tarts. After filling our gullets, we proceeded to clean up around camp. 

The men marched off to participate in the morning parade at 9:15, which is a time for the soldiers in a battalion to come together as one, pay respects to the battalion commander and Longstreet’s Corps staff, as well as hear any announcements that need to be made. 

The rest of the morning was spent trying to clean up our tents, finding dry clothes to wear and trying to keep warm.  The men were confined to camp at 12:15 and first call for formation was at 12:30.

A future in the past
As a former Ballew, it has come to my attention that there were members of the original regiment with the same last name and I have decided to research into it and find out if indeed, they were family members. I guess it’s because I have always been interested in history, especially the Civil War.
Something I found a little unsettling about being on the field at New Market ... It felt as if I recognized the place, even though I’d never been there before. It gives me a weird feeling ... and makes me wonder.

Skirts on the field

Laura Brandt, another member of our company, told Reynolds about her view of the battle:

“This weekend my role was daughter of the regiment for Longstreet’s Corps.  This is a medical position that involves providing ice, water and medical care while out on the field.  My uniform mimics that of the soldiers in my unit but with some small changes.  I wear gray wool pants, a gray wool skirt, a jacket and a cotton shirt.

Once the men had formed up we headed out to the snake rail fence by the Hall of Valor Museum. Again, there was a cannonade from the artillery. After a short while, a few companies were sent out to meet Union skirmishers. Having successfully pushed the skirmishers back, the Confederate troops marched onto the field and marched across the field.

About two-thirds of the way across the field we marched on the double quick to the second snake rail fence. After exchanging several volleys, we crossed the fence and pushed past the Bushong farm, through the apple orchard and into the last field.

Thankfully, throughout the whole battle there were only two medical incidents, which could be taken care of with band-aids and ointment.

Volley after volley and step after step, we pushed the Union forces back.  Then, the VMI cadets, who in the original battle in 1864 were not even supposed to be in the fight, rushed the Union artillery and gave the rest of the troops the motivation to push the Union troops all the way back to the Shenandoah River, or in the case of this weekend, to the event parking lot.

The rest of the day was spent packing up and heading home.  Even though the rain created a miserable environment for a period of time and the cold made you shiver down to the bone, it was a great weekend with memorable moments and adventures.”