October 12, 2012
We interrupt our week-long visit to the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Perryville with this brief announcement: tonight is Big Blue Madness … in other words, the “practice” that marks the official start of basketball season at the University of Kentucky. Everyone here in Lexington is nearly as excited about this year’s team as we were about last season’s National Championship-winning team. Go Big Blue!!
Back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow …
October 11, 2012
After our wander around the various camps at Perryville, we (and lots of other people) gathered in a field to watch the 11:00 a.m. horse-drawn artillery demonstration.
This was our first glimpse of the lone horse-drawn artillery unit at this year’s reenactment.
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And here’s another look at the same horses and the cannon.
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Over the next couple of days, look for more artillery photos and information. We had quite a nice, long visit with the members of this horse-drawn-artillery unit, and we learned a lot!
October 10, 2012
During our morning at Perryville, and after the 2 0’clock battle reenactment, we strolled through the “living history” camp. Here, people were cooking, quilting, playing music, sewing, and just hanging out and chatting with each other and with visitors.
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We had a nice chat with this man (below), who had four huge oxen and a replica Virginia Road Wagon that he’d built himself, by hand, using historic methods and materials …
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October 9, 2012
On Saturday, we arrived at Perryville around 9 a.m.: well after the sunrise skirmish, but in plenty of time to hike across the battlefield and wander around the various camps. The afternoon skirmish wouldn’t start until 2 p.m., so everyone basically had a free morning. Spectators toured the battlefield and its associated museum. Reenactors relaxed and chatted with each other. Both groups explored the era-appropriate shops. And several of the “military” units performed a variety of drills.
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I realize that you haven’t seen any horse-drawn vehicles yet, but don’t worry. In the late morning, we watched a fascinating (and loud!) demonstration of horse-drawn artillery, and that’s when the real fun started!
October 8, 2012
Today is the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Perryville, which was the largest Civil War battle fought in Kentucky.
This past Saturday, A.J. and I spent all day at the Perryville reenactment. In the afternoon, we watched one of three skirmishes (there was also one at 7:00 a.m., which was a bit early for us, and a third on Sunday) as it stretched across the battlefield’s rolling hillsides. With virtually nothing built up on or near it, Perryville is one of the most pristine Civil War battlefields in the entire country.
In addition to watching the reenactment, we wandered through the “living history village” and the various camps and had a nice long chat with the members of the only horse-drawn artillery unit in attendance. Needless to say, we took a lot of photos. So I hope you won’t mind looking back to “1862” with us all this week.
As a preview of this week’s posts, here a couple of A.J.’s photos from Saturday:
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The Slower Road 