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Pacific Northwest Cavalry Reenacting

Welcome! This is mainly a "local" forum for American Civil War cavalry reenactors in the Pacific Northwest. It will have dates of events and trainings as well as any items of interest.

Pacific Northwest Cavalry Reenacting
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Willamette Mission AAR's

AAR - by Capt. Ahearn



The campsite was fine, the weather was excellent, the company was great. I admit that I enjoyed myself at this year's event much more than I have in the last few years, aside from the above I was able to bring my grandson (age 9) and to show him a bit about a campaign camp. I did miss many of our mounted men who opted for other pursuits this time - I wish they would have attended as it would have been one to remember.



Battles were OK for the first and second day but the last day was excellent, with cavalry doing the jobs they were supposed to do. I mainly sat with the training horses while Lt. Marshall of the 14th Virginia dealt with the enemy with our consolidated force of mounted so I can say that from an overall standpoint it looked good and the dismounted men did a fine job of skirmishing correctly. I also just had to get in with the mix on Sunday morning.



Mounting the guard was done on Saturday at 1 PM (along with music and cavalry demo). The guard had a disturbance to attend to in the infantry camps as they moved to relieve the posted guards. Thanks to all who helped make the guard look and behave in a military fashion.



Since public battles are not the reason I am involved in the hobby I will report other events that had just as much interest for me. The class on Horses for Non-Horsemen was a success. Ken Morris did an outstanding job. The only thing that was lacking was a projecting voice or a microphone so all could hear. My horse Chief, worked out textbook perfect as Ken tried to show why a horse would not step on Pvt. Saville who was "dead" on the ground. Ken brought his horse, Jeff, attached to a wagon to explain the workings of the harness. We tried to show all the emotions of horses and how to recognize body language.



Many NEW recruits joined the ranks this event, we didn't have enough rifles to go around but we fielded 32 counting mounted and dismounted alike. Many more possible recruits got information and I have high hopes they will join and enjoy the group and the learning.



The ladies of Westmoreland County also got involved in a military style "spoon platoon" drill and inspection. They brought along a little light artillery as well. It was fun to inspect spoons and hear the excuses and types of weapons. There were even double barreled spoons, spoons with holes in the middle, spoons that had obvously seen better days and of course just issued spoons. Some of the ladies were very knowledgeable about their weapons and others had no idea what they were used for.



Our new company wet plate will be gracing our website as soon as I get the print available to scan. I saw the plate and it looks like a good one. The civilian plate also looks like it will be one to put on the site. Professor Davis says he intends to make a calendar this fall for the following year so make sure you all order one, it will probably have our likenesses on it.



Please put your after action reports here for the rest of the company to see and let us know what you experienced.



Captain Ahearn

Willamette Mission/"Shiloh" AAR

Near Pittsburg Landing
Tuesday, April 8, 1862

Dear Friend Martin,

I was sorry to hear that you had been sent to hospital and thought I would write a few lines to help you while away the time, although I fear that my news may not lift your spirits. I am also enclosing a stamp so you may write back. I suppose you have heard of the big battle. The sound of the artillery would be hard to miss even from where you are. Pvt. Pease and I were detailed as provost guards to Battn headquarters; of course we also ended up acting more or less as orderlies and couriers; you know how fond infantry officers are of using cavalry for that sort of ornamental duty.

Well on the 6th the Confederate army caught us flat footed so to speak, got to within a mile of us on the Corinth road without anyone knowing the better. If there had not been a reconnaissance party out we would have had less notice than we did. Still, the Rebels charged forward, covering that mile in minutes, and our boys had not even the chance to pull on their coats;—it was grab weapons and cartridge-boxes and skedaddle out of there. Many had no canteens or haversacks to their great regret as the day wore on. I didn’t even have time to get the horses to the Colonel and his bugler. They were yelling (and bugling) to the men to form and fire, it was a running battle. Our front line (such as it was) was overrun and our camp captured.

As the Rebels tried to flank us we made a stand a dense thicket of oaks—we pulled up fence rails, branches, &c. to defend ourselves as best we could. I was running here and there delivering messages, trying to bring in reinforcements, but there were none to be had. It was absolutely the hottest place you ever heard of. It was strange, I found myself listening to the different sounds made by the projectiles being directed at us. Seven hours we fought there before the tattered remnants of our men withdrew towards the river. I saw our colonel go down. That was hard for me—in my positi