Shiloh 150

Man!
-First off, it felt great to work my ass off for 6 straight days... and be well compensated
We sold over 2K tees. I'll try to post some pics (ours is not the one on the website... that logo was gay).

-The weather was mostly excellent (perfect, hot, rain, storms, back to perfect), and the people were top notch.

-REVELATION: It was probably the only place in America where 50K folks were together in America last week, without any fighting or theft. Mass harmony, community and fellowship were the highest I've seen in years.
Of course it's ironic, that they were simulating one of the deadliest battles on American soil.
So those of you who watch too much news and think we are at the end of days, take heart, humanity and America is NOT yet forsaken

The people were it, for me. Everybody was cool. I worked my t-shirt tent for 3 days at the registration point. The only States unrepresented that I'm sure I didn't see on a lisenceplate or personally speak with were, Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Nevada, and Connecticut. Everybody was friendly.

All smack was in good nature:
-There was a guy wearing this shirt .
And I was like OMG! tell me you you didn't drive (5k+ miles) to here from Alaska?
Dude says, "no I'm from Maine... I just like to mess with Texas." LMAO

-There were some Guys from England there (to my front, I had already greeted them and told them what colors and sizes that I had left). I turned to my right to collect some money from an older (pushing 70) guy, he spoke in Colorado dialect, but you could hear the aged British speech from his youth... I pegged him as a grandad or uncle. The guy says, "You better watch those guys... I think they're England"
"Well, if they start any trouble I will just declare independence on them", I replied

At that point of the campaign, I was outnumbered and alone. There were no reinforcements and my mission was to sell shirts. So I needed to serve all 20-25 people waiting about the same... I really would have liked to have heard if they knew of PottingtonPark and their story, but time didn't allow it.
I sold over 700 shirts on Thursday, and did everything else, stocking folding sorting stashing cash... I'm a cig junkie and only smoked twice in 10 hours... there was that much work to be done. If I had a free moment on Thursday, I either needed to drink some water or do some work... no smoking, short bs.
In contrast to Wednesday, when my brother and I together sold ~ 300 shirts. And we could speak a few moments with everyone.
I have sore muscles that haven't said a word in 15 years or more. Who knew digging in your pocket 100x, and folding shirts could be so strenuous?

-A lady from SF told me that in all of her travels she's never seen such courtesy and was going to stop trashing rednecks with her friends.

As far as the actual reenactment, I saw 10-15 minutes of it at close range. Shortly after I arrived at the battlefield, the US army had cleared the CSA left... where most of the spectators were, and the observers left by the hundreds. So I needed to, get back on the road to selling more shirts.

About the reenactment. It was cool. It was my first, and they did well. The groups practice 19th century military drills and follow the lead of their commanders, and some actually act a little bit. Wounded people will try to crawl away or assist their brothers, commanders are calling orders. In addition to the 5K guys going at on the field, there was a lady pleading for the south to hold their line, and a big fat bearded guy yelling "Give 'em hell, Pennsylvania!"

It was neat. Heluva week

Sounds like a fun busy week. Look forward to seeing some pictures.

Shiloh Strategy 101: For the CSA, it was to attack the Union army while it was divided and push them away from Pittsburg Landing into the killing grounds around Owl and Snake Creeks.

Here's one of the better spectator vids from early Day1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_CXOzuGjM8&context=C4d78ee9ADvjVQa1PpcFPns5QvEm1XGcL3M2rEzoN8H9eHjk44AKg=

Shiloh1: This is a good example of how Saturday morning went for the Army of Mississippi (CSA), they caught the US soldiers (Army of Tennessee) completely by surprise. The first CSA troops to meet the US Army caught them in their camps, having been on a prolonged forced march, many stopped to drink the coffee and eat the breakfast, that remained after the Union retreat.

The middle of the battlefield became a mess. The Union center retreated to a wooded, sunken road (area was later called the Hornet'sNest at Shiloh). The CSA army chased them into the woods and for a while and they were firing on each other at pointblank range and stabbing each other with bayonets. A field artillery commander, Daniel Ruggles, on his own initiative assembled every un-engaged battery (that could be there in under 90 minutes) to assemble on Corinth Road. The number isn't exact as some units arrived late and others were redeployed by their attached generals, but ~60-90 "cannons" fired at least once into the Hornet's Nest. That was the first time massed artillery was used in the America's. The action was very successful, but it slowed the CSA advance by 2-3 hours.
Johnston (Albert Sydney., not Joseph) was dead. He sent his personal surgical staff to care for the battle wounded (mostly US soldiers).
Of course, he was riding a horse and had the longass boots on... he bled to death into his boot, in front of governor Isham Harris (D/TN), who like most modern democrat leaders don't know shit about the real world. And had never heard of independent thought or action, first aid or tourniquet.

Shiloh is a great "what if?" battle.

What if Isham Harris wasn't a lazy, ham fisted, idiot, *** for brains lemming robot, sucking on the taxpayer effort, and A.S. Johnston had lived?
What if the Union had been pushed away from Pittsburg Landing?
What if Grant and Sherman were killed or captured

Doesn't matter. The US had a draft and factories and raw materials. We could outproduce the South 10:1 even during HolyWeek.
The populist human sentiment is the only thing that could have saved the Rebellion.
People then are much like people now, with the exception of "parole". If Grant or Sherman or any major general had been captured, they would have been made to swear not to attack the CSA again and sent home... "paroled".
Human life probably meant more then than now, but a man's word had exponentially greater value in 19th century America.

In 1862, America wouldn't have supported the war if the western armies were captured or killed in hostile territory. Politicians then are much like now, weak stupid pussies that could never earn a living away from politics. Fortunately Grant did win, and America survived another 150 years as a nation indivisible.

Back to the real world

http://wreg.com/2012/03/29/11112/
This is the only video that I have found with me in it (for ~ 3 total seconds in the shade) "After a quick stop at the t-shirt stand..." LMAO!
The lady in the first seconds of the clip was awesome, very nice. I sold a bunch of shirts by myself, but she signed in ~ 3K people by herself. She's wearing one of our shirts, BTW. She's a cancer survivor (brain tumors), and was good as gold... she drove ~700 miles just to help. She and another lady from Memphis supervised the registration for 3 straight days around the clock. Those people bust their ass to make a good show.

I've met some great people before, but never in the massed qty that was there this weekend.