I was living in the past.......

Last week I went to Chancellorsville of Spotsylvania County, in Virginia. It was a warm day and I admit, I felt sorry for the poor girls and ladies in their hoop skirts and dresses, and the men in their long sleeve shirt, vests and thick pants, apparently what the locals always wear round there.


The day was seemingly uneventful, I spent some time conversing with the locals, perusing the shops and walking through town. By early afternoon I noticed that many of the town’s people were heading out to an area a little way from the town, I followed to see what was drawing them to the area. Of course, I was shocked as I wandered near the open field to hear a volley of artillery far off, on the other end of the field, and even more shocked when a returning volley was fired from unperceived cannon within a stones throw of where I stood! After I regained my senses, checked to make sure no one had seen my jump back in fright, I watched as a skirmish unfolded between these two groups; one wearing the grey homespun and the other in deep blue factory made clothing. After a brief tangle in seemed obvious, to me and the rest there, that the men in grey were hopelessly outnumbered, they must have noticed this as well and hastily fell back to a nearby, tree covered, hill as evening fell.
I later learned that later on, over the next few days, the men in gray had been reinforced and managed to outmaneuver and defeat their blue coated enemy.





Billie Creek Village, a historical town near us, features a yearly reenactment from the infamous civil war period; they choose a different battle to reenact each year.
Some friends and family decided to dress in period clothing as well this year, and walked around fitting in very well with even the most authentic reinactors. Most of the girls made their own dresses, which were quite lovely too, none of us guys dressed historically however, maybe next year, if we can find hoopskirts that are big enough of course. Interesting tidbit, ever wonder why pictures of battles often show soldiers missing their shoes? Well, the soldiers often paid town embalmers before the battles started, just in case they died. The embalmer would give the soldier a receipt in the form of a small metal plate with number on it for them to put in their shoes, after the battle the embalmer would search the battle field, removing soldier’s shoes, to find those that had hired him. This practice also may have led to the modern use of “dog tags”, which I thought was interesting.
Altogether it was a very enjoyable day and I think everyone had a great time, and hey, for the home schooled kids it was a great field trip and history lesson! :)