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Date Posted: 18:32:23 12/02/08 Tue
In reply to:
Captain Leon Harrison, Harlan County Battalion
's message, ""Leatherwood 2008 was great!"" on 18:23:27 12/02/08 Tue
>Leon Harrison
>West Carrollton, Ohio
>Monday, December 1, 2008
>
>To: The Editor
>
>Subject: 2008 Leatherwood Civil War battle reenactment
>
>
> “Leatherwood 2008 was great!”
>
>
>EKM Buckeye Bureau
>West Carrollton, Ohio
>Tuesday, December 2, 2008
>
> During our recent Thanksgiving holiday (between Nov.
>26-29), ten or more Islamaniac fanatics [aka mean
>macho Muslim men aged 18-28] murdered about 188
>innocent people (including six Americans) and wounded
>about 230 others (with bombs, gunfire and grenades),
>during a three-day terrorist attack in Mumbai, India.
>Five more of these murderous Muslim men may have
>escaped to get away and run and maybe have even more
>fun with bombs and guns.
>
> Leatherwood 2008 [Oct. 24-26] was great, despite the
>absence of our one-and-only General Robert E. Lee [aka
>David Chaltas], whom all of us regular reenactors and
>reenactresses missed and asked about. Only doctor’s
>orders had kept him from attending to talk and walk
>around to perform and pose for photos. We all hope to
>see Mr. Chaltas there next year. President Jefferson
>Davis and Varina were performing with a new President
>Lincoln and Mary Todd this year, Mrs. Lincoln looking
>a lot better than she did in those old pictures that
>were taken 146 years ago.
> Please pardon my delay in submitting this, my annual
>after-action dispatch (and yet another glorious East
>Kentucky Magazine story), regarding the action-packed
>adventures, numerous accomplisments, and exciting
>erotic passion-packed romantic exploits of the brave
>courageous valiant handsome heroic humble
>Sergeant/Lieutenant/Captain Leon Harrison. As usual,
>he was encouraged and inspired by General Cassius
>Marcellus Clay [aka Paul D. Taulbee], who is a
>likewise humble modest shy guy.
> I use the recent Obama election, GM problems and
>other current events as excuses not to do what I am
>supposed to do for you as your Buckeye Bureau Chief.
>Last week, my dear old Mama [who had to vote for
>Obama] and I were interrupted by Thanksgiving and
>Sister Janet Ann and her Carney Clan. Oh, even with
>the aid of the Dayton Daily News, USA TODAY and some
>coffee bums, I did not learn that much at Holly’s Home
>Cooking; those guys sat and gabbed and delayed me.
>Outside this EKM media center window, light snow
>falls. The Dayton Daily News printed a portion of one
>of my recent e-mails, instead of one of my columns or
>better letters to better editors, copies of which I
>have had to autograph for fans and Christmas-card
>recipients.
> Mike McConnell’s [Cincinnati] talk-radio show has
>been interrupted by President-elect Obama informing us
>about his latest cabinet appointments. Hillary
>Clinton, who is soon to be the Secretary of State,
>speaks, now followed by those of other Obama appointee
>nominees and Vice President-elect Joe Biden.
> Is the Civil War finally over and have we all finally
>paid enough reparations to pay for the past racist and
>slavery sins of our ancestors and our nation? I mean,
>I have been fighting for The Union [IUE Local 801],
>paying dues and shooting screws between 1968 and 2007;
>in addition to shooting at riffraff Rebels since 2000
>or so, like ya know.
> On the morning of Friday, October 24, Lt. Harrison
>had arrived at Cornettsville, Kentucky, in time to
>participate and perform during Education Day; and
>pitch in to help, work and volunteer here, carrying
>and setting up chairs and hammering in station-number
>stakes. He also had to roam around and take digital
>images for East Kentucky Magazine, again trying to get
>a variety instead of just men and friends having fun
>with guns, getting some photos of cute kids, pretty
>girls and women, and dogs and horses, of course.
> It rained a little but the young’uns could take it
>after being kicked off the school buses, reenactors
>getting to hide inside the cabins, the store, the
>shelter and the tents, of course, while they educated
>and demonstrated. The Lincoln vs. Davis debates
>started under a tent, soon to be moved to the front
>porch of the general store. General Clay made his
>Leatherwood history presentation at his station,
>located next to the paved walkway above the creek. He
>would later make his announcements and give his
>play-by-play battle commentary, with a microphone,
>from the front porch of the general store.
> Janet Cornett [aka Miss Lillian] led student groups
>as did Lt. Harrison and other reenactor sisters and
>brothers, John Peck and others regulating foot traffic
>on the swinging bridge, limiting the load to twenty
>people at a time. The blacksmiths were set up on the
>opposite side of Leatherwood Creek. Nancy and Amanda
>Ashworth were teaching school inside the school cabin.
>Wayne Watts [Sarge] was doing his one-man weapons
>demonstration in front of the aluminum bleachers that
>had been set up beteen the store and the cabins. With
>the help of student demonstrators and participants,
>Wayne was having fun shooting his loud black-powder
>guns, Lt. Harrison taking pictures and getting into
>his act. Upon the nearby green grassy field,
>Confederate gunners demonstrated artillery procedures
>and fired their cannon, the loud smoky blast eliciting
>applause and cheers here.
> David Todd set up his picture-portrait sutler tent,
>having already been to fifteen similar events. He and
>the blacksmiths finally solved Lt. Harrison’s
>pistol-belt-slippage problem with a custom-made iron
>hook that they attached to it with a hand-driven
>copper rivet. Boo hoo! No more VELCRO and glue! David
>takes great action pictures from battlefields and then
>shows them on laptop-computer slide shows, as he did
>during the Saturday-night dance, setting it up on the
>photography table with those of the professional
>portrait maker and taker.
> With apologies, I have neither the space, memory, nor
>time to give proper credit to, or remember, most of
>these participants and regular reenactors who deserve
>it. That may be why most professional journalist folks
>usually take notes, instead of pestering people with
>e-mails, later, for the facts that they lack.
> Julie and David Huelsman drove all the way from
>Reynoldsburg, Ohio, with their 14-year-old son,
>Private Taylor Huelsman, to participate and perform.
>Sgt. Harrison had one of his three Hawken-type
>short-barreled rifles ready for him with a full
>black-leather purse, uh…cartridge box with caps.
>Taylor soon started his friendship with another young
>recruit. Before the Saturday battle, Private Huelsman
>refused to initiate himself, by rubbing gunpowder on
>his face with his spit, because three Reynoldsburg
>[Tomato Festival] battles had made him a veteran.
>Starting next year, there will be no such festival;
>the reenactment will continue as a stand-alone event.
> First Sergeant Marion Miniard and Sgt. Harrison got a
>kick out of outfitting these few new young reenactor
>recruits at the Harlan County Battalion tent. David
>Huelsman was dressed and equiped to carry the
>bonnie-blue Harlan County Battalion flag during the
>Saturday battle. Marion Miniard is in charge of the
>flag bearers and always does a good job.
> This year, Donald Reynolds had been promoted to the
>rank of Colonel and Union field commander. He was
>assisted by Captain Jeff Stein. I must find or learn
>the name of that Confederate sutler from North
>Carolina, who left his wife and his tent to put on
>Jeff’s old faded blue sack jacket and act as our First
>Sergeant; he is also a Confederate major in command of
>a CSA reeanctor unit. These three experienced hardcore
>first-class veteran reenactors explained,
>demonstrated, instructed and drilled us, melding
>veterans with new recruits into an adequate Union
>infantry unit by the time that they marched and
>maneuvered us into battle. Boys and girls with short
>guns are no problem as long as they are safely spaced
>along a single line of battle, and not tightly packed
>into proper battle ranks of two, to fire over
>front-rank shoulders and near faces, eyes and ears.
> One big black steel Union cannon is a girl gun crewed
>by four or so veteran women. Colonel Reynolds reminded
>us that the artillery was our friend, but not to shoot
>our guns around them or those wooden powder-packed
>limber boxes…or to even look at them the wrong way.
>During the Saturday battle, after the artillery duel,
>one of these women and Lawrence Ashworth would join
>Sgt. Harrison on the left flank to fire their pistols
>with him. On Sunday, this girl gunner would join Sgt.
>Harrison on the right flank, where he would
>dramatically die in a blaze of glory, after leaving
>the line to empty his pistol [except for one misfire]
>into the air there before fatally flopping down to
>repose upon the green grass, warmed by the sunshine
>under that bright blue sky and those scattered clean
>white clouds above.
> The loss of Sgt. Harrison and the absence of the
>Huelsmans, who had to leave early and return to Ohio,
>caused the Union to lose. On Saturday night, the
>younger Private Huelsman had also been AWOL from the
>ball, causing some concern for his parents who had
>been meeting the shuttle buses and asking about him.
>For the second time that year, Captain Harrison got to
>dress up in his formal uniform with burgundy-colored
>sash; he also wore his black WOLVERINE work shoes.
> Early that Saturday morning, Sgt. Harrison’s old
>brogans had slipped on the wooden barracks stairs,
>causing him to land fast and flat on his back upon
>them; thereby knocking the wind out of him and causing
>Pvt. Huelsman much amusement without any apparent
>signs of concern, empathy or sympathy. Taylor could
>not stop laughing, not that he tried to. Captain
>Harrison felt the after effects and was reminded of
>this incident for at least a week, espeically during
>those two battles that followed it.
> Instead of romantic dancing at the Stuart Robinson
>campus, Taylor and his friends were at Leatherwood,
>hanging around the encampments and following the
>orders of their veteran elders who were training them
>for their entertainment. Before the Saturday battle,
>Pvt. Huelsman had been assigned the duty of being
>President Lincoln’s personal body guard; which he
>performed while following him and Mrs. Lincoln around,
>standing behind and beside them with his rifle, during
>the debates and inside the general store during the
>ladies’ tea.
> Here, I want to pause and give our reenactresses,
>sponsors and volunteers some credit and reconition for
>preparing the Stuart Robinson dormitory and the
>reenactor dance and dinner for the rest of us, they
>being among the best of us. It is easy for us
>professional walk-ons to talk…and to advise and type
>if not write. In addition to other people, Chairman
>Gary Begley gave an award to Captain Harrison at the
>Saturday night dance. Unlike me, Marion Miniard and
>Paul D. have probably run out of walls upon which to
>display any more plaques and awards. The four-man band
>was good, playing and singing those old songs that
>were performed and heard during the Civil War.
>
> This year, Captain Ron Robinson was a Union
>cavalryman. He did not get unhorsed as he had last
>year. During the Saturday cavalry engagement, while
>galloping his horse and retreating between the
>audience and the Union left flank, Ron’s hat blew off
>his head to fall upon the grass. Following fast behind
>him, one of Ron’s smiling considerate
>Confederate-enemy friends leaned down over his horse’s
>neck to deftly pick up this hat with the tip of his
>cavalry saber and triumphantly lift it into the air
>there. Everybody got a kick out of this.
> Dressed in his gallant gray Confederate-officer
>uniform, with golden trim, State Representative
>Brandon Smith showed up to participate and perform
>during the Sunday battle, and to shoot at Sgt.
>Harrison with his pistol. Brandon also posed for quite
>a few pictures and talked with a lot of people. Since
>Ohio is now as corrupt as Chicago, I told him that I
>could and should be able to vote for him at least
>twice. Unlike Brandon Smith, I am corrupt but nice and
>reasonably priced. After the battle, we had fun
>cleaning our guns back at the big tent. I have shot
>some of those Ben Caudill and Orphan Brigade
>Confederates at least a dozen times but they keep
>coming back year after year!
> During the Saturday and Sunday battles, Sgt. Harrison
>could sense that his Allen and Campbell ancestors were
>looking down at their old battlefield and booing him
>from above; while he once again shot at their former
>13th Kentucky Cavalry unit, the 5th Kentucky Infantry,
>and their current CSA descendants. No doubt, they
>booed even more, when Sgt. Harrison led the Harlan
>County Battalion to yet another glorious victory,
>during the Saturday battle, causing them all to
>retreat in defeat. Sunday was still a fun day, despite
>the Union losing after Sgt. Harrison got shot and was
>KIA that sunny afternoon.
> After the battles ended with resurrection, Colonel
>Ray Adkins CSA once again stood in between these two
>historic Confederate units and the audience and made
>one of his short traditional speeches. Silent ranks
>gray-clad Confederates were standing straight and
>lined up to the right of a line of blue-clad Union
>troops. Quiet members of the audience, who had been
>cheering, laughing and booing during the shooting,
>were intently listening to every heard word. Once
>again, Ray reminded us all that we reenactors were
>representing our ancestors, and to honor, respect and
>remember them, regardless of the cause or the side for
>wich they had fought and died for. We were doing
>likewise for our veterans and for our countrymen and
>women who are currently serving in Afghanistan and
>Iraq.
> Col. Adkins was followed by Colonel Reynolds and
>Captain Stein. Captain Stein gave his short typical
>traditional speech, from which I paraphrase and have
>heard a half-dozen times:
>
> “Yes, it’s fun! Why do we do it? We do it for you!
>Six-hundred and twenty-three thousand men died during
>the Civil War! And every one of them died fighting for
>what they believed in! There was no right side and
>there was no wrong side and everybody lost!
>Twenty-thousand men died in one day at Antietam! After
>the battle of Gettysburg, the Confederate wagon train
>full of wounded soldiers was seven miles long! Thank
>you all!”
>
> Speeches were followed by three rifle-volley salutes,
>fired straight up into the air there in front of the
>audience, to honor our ancestors, veterans and members
>of our military. Before dismissing the Harlan County
>Battalion for another year, Col. Reynolds, Capt.
>Stein, and our First Sergeant thanked us all. After
>being dismissed, the men shook hands and mixed and
>mingled with friends and families again, joined by
>those folks from the other side, friends saying their
>goodbyes until they met again. We reenactors get a lot
>of enjoyment while demonstrating and peforming for
>audiences. We also feel some pride when we see our
>young reenactors and reenactresses, who will be
>replacing us some day. We got them started and will
>try to educate and train them to carry on long after
>we are gone.
> I reenact with a period-authentic .58-caliber
>Springfield [reproduction] rifle and bayonet…if they
>won’t let me use my Remington pistol. After seven
>years of butt-tapping powder-tamping reenacting use,
>the wooden stock of my old pawn-shop Hawken-type rifle
>had been cracking and getting ready to split, thus
>making it unsafe for other people to borrow and use. I
>considered having my old gun refurbished and redone
>with a new wooden stock but decided against this
>expense because, after it was done, it would not have
>really been the same gun. Therefore, I donated my old
>rifle to the Leatherwood Reenactment Committee, to be
>displayed upon a wall or over a fireplace inside a
>cabin or somewhere within the general store. So,
>folks, this is where and from whom that old
>black-powder rifle came from.
>
> Snow falls heavy now, not yet sticking to the wet
>street or roofs outside. We are in a recession despite
>Christmas shopping, obviously still not buying enough
>cheap Chinese stuff. Despite the season, there are as
>yet no generous and proper Christmas-spirit responses
>[cash or checks] to Pvt. /Sgt. /Lt. /Capt. Harrison’s
>well-written professional EKM-research and
>reenactor-donation forms and form letters that could
>not be more heart-warming or much better. I hesitate
>to mention that The Duke’s and The Queen Mama’s GM
>penions may soon be ending with their discretionary
>spending. Oh well, lotteries give hopes to dopes,
>winnings used to buy these new Chinese computers and
>big-screen TVs that we need. Yes, I shall once again
>enclose those donation forms and better form letters
>within these Christmas-card envelopes, with
>autographed copies of letters that were printed by
>better editors.
> Speaking of thoughtful nifty thrifty [ONLY $21!]
>Christmas gifts, my two sisters and their spouses
>(with their dog, cats and kids) will get their annual
>East Kentucky Magazine subscriptions renewed (for
>2009) again. These considerate gifts keep on giving
>throughout the year! I may even autograph their
>magazines when I visit with them. From my stereo
>speakers, Sean Hannity chatters, not that it matters.
>At six o’clock, it is time for me to listen to and
>view the local news on my TV screen. In closing, I
>hope that I have not pecked out too many words and
>written too many pages for this issue...or for you. I
>shall use them to make more cartridge papers.
>
>
>EKMBBC Captain Leon Harrison, G.C.M.
>Harlan County Battalion
>
>EKM Buckeye Bureau
>West Carrollton, Ohio
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Why can't we have some fun and read this one in our hag and fag rags?