* This is a non-food post! But it’s still cool, I swear!
I’ve been into Civil War stuff for a long time. It’s all stemmed from one class I took in college that I found terribly interesting, due in part to the professor’s enthusiasm to make it all interesting and also because I’ve always had a weirdly keen interest in history and military wars.
We had T with us this time around and made sure to stop at our favorite spot from last year, the Iron Pear Tree Inn. Jake’s youngest son loved this place last year and the same gentlemen were running the inn and happily engaged us in conversation and some good old fashioned learnin’.
The gentleman also remembered us from last year (whaaat) and said he had been looking at my blog just that morning and saw my photos from last year. I almost felt famous for like, two seconds.
He engaged in us a few games, told us about the fine art of embalming and the other services he offered to the soldiers.
Also: hello, peep show! Real French ladies… From France! heh heh.
We learned our lesson from last year and made sure to a) bring our own seating and b) camp out further down so we could actually see both sides of the battle. We watched the medics set us a tent right in front of us. Amusingly, it took them about four tries to get it set up. They did their duty and ran out into the battlefield to grab wounded soldiers and bring them back to the med tent.
You can see, they gathered up quite a few patients during the course of the battle. People played their parts quite realistically, with fake blood and bleeding and other wounds.
The Union started out on the battlefield covering most of the field until the Confederates starting gaining ground on them and putting them on the run a bit. Here are the Confederates all firing in a line together.
Here’s the Union troops getting ready to fire back.
The Union troops managed to surround the Confederates and put them on the run instead, turning the tide of the battle. We found out that the soldiers wearing red meant that they fought to the death, and would not be a prisoner and would not take prisoners.
After the battle, we heard Lincoln give his famous Gettysburg address to the crowd.
Here’s T next to one of the cannons that they fired off several times that day.
Here’s Jake and I. I look all smiling right in the photo, but I had actually got heat sickness and was feeling terrible. I had to call uncle a but earlier than I wanted to that day simply because it was SO HOT and we had been sitting in direct sunlight for quite awhile. Bad idea, man.
The Civil War Reenactment at Huntington Beach celebrated it’s 20th year of doing the reenactments! It’s a free event held every labor day weekend, sponsored by the city of Huntington Beach. If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend it! There’s lots to learn and it’s great fun walking through the Union and Confederate camps and seeing how they lived during that time period.
This looks like so much fun! Reminds me of my high school history teacher who would take us out to do reenactments. Hehe. So sorry you got heat sickness, though 🙁 Hope you felt better quickly!
Oh that’s fun! That seems like a fun way to learn about history. Luckily Jake’s kids also seem to enjoy it – living history seems so much more interesting! I felt better after I got a little bit to eat and got to hang out in our hotel room for a little bit with a blast of A/C so I was back on my feet again relatively fast!
This is so cool! I’ve never been to anything like this before. This might be something we’d check out next year! Great photos and descriptions, especially the “Real French Ladies”, heh heh.
Hey you are a celebrtiy
Sorry you weren’t feeling well. It must have been awful with the extreme heat that weekend too. Think of all the soldiers who were in full battle gear; they must have been burning up as well.
The reenactors are real troopers, man. I can’t imagine being in full on wool outfits tromping around in the heat like that. Kudos for them for putting on such a great reenactment! This is a really good one to go to since it’s free and really spacious and it’s not super super crowded. There’s one they do in Vista, too – I think that one is in March but I haven’t been to it. Maybe next year!
Those are awesome pictures! I like the “Real French Ladies” sign with the additional “From France” sign underneath…you know, just as a reminder. 🙂
I loved that, too! It amused me greatly 🙂
Thats pretty awesome, I went to a small reenactment like that in poway a couple years back, the cannons were loud.
Oh, I didn’t know they did reenactments in Poway! I have heard them do some up in Vista (around March) but haven’t been to that one. The cannons are very loud and so are the muskets, but it’s great to see them on display. The living history makes it more fun for the kids, too.