Back from 1863

Got back yesterday from the first Civil War reenactment of the weekend, at Knight's Ferry.  KF is a very small town 11 miles east of the mighty metropolis of Oakdale.  (Basically on the way to Yosemite.)  Originally there was a man named Mr. Knight who operated a ferry across the river at this point; it was the only way to cross the river for many miles in either direction.  Shortly after the Civil War, the US Army Corps of Engineers built a bridge to replace the ferry.  It's still the longest covered bridge west of the Mississippi, and still managed by the Army Corps of Engineers.  It's a gorgeous place for a reenactment.

It was great to see a lot of old friends and the weather was fantastic.  I also got to sing some sea chanties with the Confederate Marine Corps; they let me be the chanty man.   I was raised on sea chanties but in my reenacting club I portray an infantry soldier, and it would have been unlikely that a "land lubber" would have known chanties at all, and even if I had, chanties were rarely sung on land, and even if they were, a sea dog would never have shared chanties with land lubbers.  (This is why chanties were sung for hundreds of years, but never written down until the late 19th century.)  But marines would have known chanties because they served on ships.  My reenacting club, the ACWA, has no US Marine Corps, but the Confederates do.  In addition to giving me a chance to sing chanties, turns out they're also a wonderful group of people and know how to party way better than any Yankee unit I've seen.  (They also let me fire the cannon, which is one of the coolest things I've ever done in my entire life.)  Special shout-out to Anita, Amanda, and their Captain Dave.

My mom and sister made it out for a day, which was great because they're both old reenactors but haven't been to any events lately.  All the other reenactors were glad to see them again, and they had a good time, so hopefully I'll be able to get them both to another event soon.

All in all, a wonderful way to start the reenacting season.  If you're in the Bay Area, I encourage you to check out one of our upcoming events:

• 4/4: Alcatraz (it was a Civil War fort before it was a federal prison)
• 4/18: San Ramon
• 5/30-6/1: Roaring Camp in Felton (Memorial Day weekend - this is a big one!)

I didn't take any pictures this time because I've got too much of a backlog from older events.  Here are some photos from Knight's Ferry 2007:

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