Wanna Watch a Re-enactment? If You’re Near Tacoma, Here’s Your Chance

The Historic Fort Steilacoom 160th Anniversary Celebration is now officially etched in stone. The event will happen on May 9-10, 2009. Members of the public are welcome to come watch yankees shoot rebs.

The good guys at last year's event.

Private John Strand has set up an event on Facebook that does more justice to the outing than I can. If you’re interested, have a read.

Learning the Basic Drill Moves — on Video

For those folks who aren’t yet well versed in the fine art of Civil War drilling, Private Brad Jones found an online video training manual courtesy of the 122nd New York. The online manual goes through all the basic moves — click the pictures and it launches a cool little video. (Click either of the two pics at the top of this page as an example.)

The method behind this madness is now on video courtesy of the 122nd.

Most of this will be second nature to soldiers after a few months in the Company. But for newbies, this is a handy little resource. Props to the 122nd for a job well done.

How We March, Flash Style

This one’s for the “Boy I’m glad someone else did this, ’cause I never could” department. Someone smarter than me at the 10th Battalion put together a Flash presentation of march- and skirmish maneuvers. It’s sort of an x’s and o’s, from-the-sky look, a la a football playbook.

Unlike the typical football play, the 10th's Flash presentation moves at the click of a mouse.

Props to the 4th’s Brad Jones for bringing it to my attention.

So You Want to Re-Enact But Don’t Want to Drive to Tacoma . . . ?

Well, you’ve come to the right place.

Company C has the Puget Sound area covered for Civil War re-enactors, but not everyone wants to drive to Tacoma every month to drill. Thus, we’re looking to add new companies in and around Washington state — eastern- and southern Washington, the Portland area, etc. We have lots of interested individuals scattered about — it’s just a matter of bringing them together in separate companies.

What he said, even if you don't live in the Puget Sound area.

If you are interested in joining a company but don’t live within a comfortable drive of Fort Steilacoom (our drilling site) please contact Sergeant John Strand at (206) 784-4123.

Is Another American Civil War on the Way?

NOTE: The views expressed herein are the views of the author only and are not necessarily those of the 4th’s other members or management.

Abraham Lincoln gave his life to preserve it. Now a Russian professor is predicting the Union's end is near.

As Congress debates how many hundreds of billions to spend this month and Americans wonder how we’re ever going to pay for any of it, a Russian professor is predicting the end of the Union itself. Professor Igor Panarin is making the rounds claiming that the Union our forefathers fought to protect will split once and for all sometime in the next few years. According to an article in Bloomberg, Panarin predicts that the Union will fracture into six parts: the Pacific coast; the South; Texas; the Atlantic coast, central states and the northern states. Notably, Panarin’s predicted “South” bears no resemblance to the Confederacy. Jeff Davis can’t win one even 140 years later.

From Australia.to.

I doubt anyone in the 4th (save me) thinks this has anything more than asteroid-hitting-the-Earth’s chance of happening. But Panarin is not alone in his pessimism. Radio talk show host Glenn Beck has noted that there are signs of a pending war in America — government against the rest of us.

Right or wrong, Beck and Panarin’s observations add a contemporary twist to the hobby. Someday soon there may not be a need for re-enacting: if Panarin’s and Beck are right, we may be in for the real thing.