Connie Esh, Murfreesboro Post, September 23, 2015
The first step toward firing a Civil War rifle is biting open one of the cartridges that you carry in a pouch on your belt as, from left, infantrymen Michael Warfield, Andrew Spicer and Craig Barry demonstrate. JOHN BUTWELL/The Murfreesboro Post
The cannons roared once again at Stones River National Battlefield this weekend, but this time, nobody died.
The first time, as the New Year dawned in 1863, there were 13,269 Federal casualties and 10,268 Confederate ones. That’s why this weekend in 2015 was a “living history” demonstration and not a Civil War battle re-enactment, explained National Park Service volunteer Bob Turpin.
“We don’t have re-enactments,” the 78-year-old Smyrna resident declared. “This is hallowed ground – no more fighting. We may have cavalry and infantry from both sides, but they don’t fight.”
Another reason, however, that the event was living history rather than a battle re-enactment was that only one side was present. Unlike the historic Civil War clash between North and South that began with Murfreesboro in Rebel hands and left it under Union control, this weekend’s event, titled “Tennessee Confederates at Stones River,” only featured Johnny Rebs.
Lots of ‘gray areas’
There were plenty of “gray areas” at the military demonstrations, and not much blue to be seen except in the jeans worn by event spectators – although actual Confederates did not wear any one uniform consistently, the reenactors told the audience gathered in the early September sunshine.
In fact, they often wore Federal blue that they scavenged from Union casualties since the Northern blockade limited international trade with the South, explained Tommy Helton of Linville – a small village between Columbia and Pulaski – from astride his horse during the cavalry demonstration.
“Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest said his best quartermaster was the Federal army,” Helton quipped to the fascinated crowd, which included many Wilson Elementary students doing history projects, accompanied by their parents and siblings.
National Park Service volunteer re-enactors make that cannon roar in an artillery demonstration Saturday at Stones River National Battlefield. MIKE ARNDT/Special to The Murfreesboro Post
‘Linsey-woolsey’ uniforms
Most of the re-enactors wore a motley mix of linsey-woolsey jackets and pants, however, just like their historic predecessors did. “The neat thing about being a National Parks volunteer is, the park will provide the uniform,” explained Richard Miller, a Stones River volunteer since 1980 whose “day job” is driving newly manufactured cars off the Nissan assembly line in Smyrna.
Of course, many longtime volunteers such as Miller and Hunter Brooks, who started reenacting at Stones River in 1985, have their own uniforms by now – “we just like the fit better,” Miller quips.
Brooks, a commercial roofing estimator from Mt. Juliet, first attended a re-enactment at the national battlefield with his grandparents and instantly got hooked. At a younger age than is permitted now, he signed up as a volunteer – “I was 14 years old,” he recalls.
Obtaining an authentic uniform and other gear can be a little costly, admits Miller, but “no more than being a gamer,” he points out. “For the same money, you can get an Xbox.”
The cannons they fire, now, they’re a different story. The cannon that the artillery crew fired this weekend is an authentically reproduced 12-pounder owned by the National Park Service, but “you can go online and buy one for yourself for $20,000 – that’s just for the barrel,” Miller notes. “The carriage and wheels cost another $10,000.”
‘We enjoy history’
Covering their ears and squinting their eyes in anticipation of the cannon’s roar are Riley Arndt, 5, and his dad Mike Arndt, a trumpet professor at MTSU. JOHN BUTWELL/The Murfreesboro Post
That’s the kind of thing that volunteer re-enactors like Miller, Brooks and more recent volunteer Archie Stanton, a Murfreesboro bounty hunter, know – along with the fact that the US Army “only had five 12-pounders when Fort Sumter started,” and all sorts of other Civil War trivia that testify to their interest in history.
But at least one volunteer was not wearing linsey-woolsey. Instead she was wearing a yellow cotton dress and brown apron over a “hoop skirt,” appropriate attire for the period among Southern women.
The resident of rural northern Rutherford, Lynn Wilson, is a retired teacher from Daniel McKee Alternative School who lives near the Civil War skirmish site at Cripple Creek. Wilson, who plans to create a website about the skirmish, first got into re-enacting by sewing period clothing.
One thing led to another, as it will. “Normally, when I reenact, I’m Ann Hosner,” Wilson said, describing Hosner as a real Chicago merchant’s wife who came to Stones River after the battle with several train-carloads of supplies to render aid to the Federal troops.
Plays a real woman
“I’m not playing her today, because this is Confederate,” Wilson continued, going on to explain that Hosner “decided it wasn’t good enough to raise funds and get donations – she wanted to make sure they got to the soldiers.”
So Hosner and her friend Carrie Tinkham came to Murfreesboro and began nursing the wounded, boiling down apples into applesauce, making eggnog and more to nourish them. “They were very gutsy, and they finally were made to leave after 13 weeks,” Wilson related.
But that didn’t stop Hosner and Tinkham, who returned with more aid but were captured by Confederates on their way to the Battle of Chickamauga, Wilson said. So they lost their supplies but “the worst part is, they were kept by the Confederates, so our boys were shooting at her,” Wilson noted, chuckling at the irony that turned out for the best, since the two Yankee do-gooders eventually were released.
Autumn McMurry, almost 9, of Murfreesboro gets the chance to clean the cannon as re-enactor Jerry Lutes, also of Murfreesboro, gives her instructions. “You’re doing our work for us,” the crew quipped to Autumn. JOHN BUTWELL The Murfreesboro Post
History – like the fascinating fragment of it that Wilson has unearthed and portrays – is simply what it’s all about. Volunteer re-enactor Michael Warfield of Murfreesboro says it’s even personal for him – “I had three ancestors who fought here, in Claiborne’s 2nd Arkansas.”
It’s what brought dozens of fifth graders from Wilson Elementary to the event, including Autumn Belle Ashton,10, who brought her dad Curtis Ashton, her mom Robin, sisters and a friend to Saturday’s demonstrations.
‘Really, really cool’
“I think it’s really, really cool,” she said. “I’m trying to write an essay about what I learned, and trying to find things that were different between the Union and the Confederacy.”
Good angle, Autumn – but kind of tough because “we’ve pretty much only learned about the Confederacy, but we have some books at home,” she added.
“She’s been watching the Civil War stuff on PBS and said, ‘We’ve got to go,'” her dad noted, so the whole family went.
“She’s getting extra credit for being here,” explained Michelle Basham about her daughter Graycie, 10, another Wilson fifth grader who also brought her dad Chris and kid sister Zoey, 7, along for the fun and education.
“He’s studying the Civil War at school, so I definitely wanted to take him to this,” mom Michele McMurry said about her son Dalen, 10, yet another Wilson fifth grader who brought his mom and younger sister Autumn,almost 9, to the “living history” weekend. Both got the chance to clean the cannon with a swab on a pole after one of its firings.
Infantry giving a demonstration during the “living history” weekend at Stones River National Battlefield are, from left, Jerry Lutes, Michael Warfield, Andrew Spicer, Craig Barry, Joe Weber, and Doug Dickerson. All but one of the six are from Murfreesboro – Spicer, an MTSU senior majoring in history, is from Mt. Juliet. JOHN BUTWELL/The Murfreesboro Post
A new Junior Ranger
Volunteer Bob Turpin even swore in Wilson fifth grader Kyra Scruggs, 10, as a Junior Ranger Saturday while Kyra was visiting the battlefield for extra credit in her history class taught by Valerie Estes. Kyra’s mom,Tabitha Sunday, explained that Kyra’s dad was born in Gettysburg, Pa., and every time she goes to visit his family, they drive through Maryland past Antietam, renowned as the bloodiest battle in the Civil War.
Showing off her yellow cotton dress and brown apron over a “hoop skirt” appropriate for the period among Southern women is re-enactor and northern Rutherford rural resident Lynn Wilson, a retired teacher from Daniel McKee Alternative School. JOHN BUTWELL/The Murfreesboro Post
But Stones River was no picnic as far as casualties went, Turpin reminds visitors. It isn’t the most famous battle, he admits – “we say Stones River is the best-kept secret,” he notes – but he adds, “When you talk about costly battles in the top 10 costliest, this was No. 8. On a percentage basis, this was the worst day for the Federals. They lost 31 percent.”
Still, the victory was worth the sacrifice of life for the Union in political and strategic terms, Turpin says, demonstrating the awareness of Stones River history that most volunteers at the national battlefield seem to have.
Reasons to fight
“Meanwhile, Tennessee Confederates fought fiercely in the belief that they each were protecting their “home and hearth” from Northern invasion, Park Ranger Jim Lewis told the crowd.
Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in September (1862) to take effect Jan. 1, when the battle took place,” Turpin explains. “They needed a victory for morale. That’s why they fought.”
You can see that you wouldn’t want to be an enemy soldier looking down the barrel of this authentically reproduced 12-pounder fired by Confederate re-enactors including, from left, Richard Miller, Hunter Brooks, and Doug Dickerson, all of Murfreesboro. JOHN BUTWELL/The Murfreesboro Post
And that’s why they never will again, he adds. Just like Gettysburg, Stones River Battlefield – with its rows of white crosses in the national cemetery just across the Old Nashville Highway from the Visitors Center, and its “living history” demonstrations – is “hallowed ground.”
Writer Connie Esh can be contacted at [email protected].