Commander’s Notes

Happy New Year to the members of the 1st North Carolina Artillery. We added 11 new members to our ranks this year bringing our muster rolls up to 31. That’s something to be proud of. We have also added 3 horses bringing our total equine family to 17.

We had a great year in 1998 and I look forward to an even better year in 1999. We had our annual 26th North Carolina business meeting on the 16th of January 1999 and the current schedule is posted for you. The only events on this schedule that we will not do with the 26th are Salem in May and Blue Springs in October. Some of the events I have posted I want to discuss with you at Averasboro. Many of the local events such as the Malcom Blue Festival and Murrey’s Mill we will support as we can on a first come, first serve basis.

I have discussed the possibility of taking part in filming the movie "Lee and Grant" in the summer of 1999, but those details are still not firm. As a minimum we will try to have two training weekends in the year as we prepare to field the section in the fall, more details to follow. Col. Stepp also mentioned the possibility of another event being scheduled in the summer time frame, more to follow.

The biggest challenge facing the unit this year is to bring the second team and gun crew on line on a regular basis. We made a commitment to field two horse drawn teams the weekend of 15-17 October. A team will go to Tennessee for the Blue Springs event, where we hope to make 1500-1700 dollars, while a second team will support the 26th at the 135th Cedar Creek event. I will discuss this later in my column article.

In my opinion the second challenge will be to continue to have good attendance. We have been blessed with your commitment in the past, we need each of your commitments for us to continue our success in the future!

To help expedite the training of the second team we will bring all our "pulling horses" to most events this year. The exposure to both camp life and the battles will help ensure success when we actually begin to fight two guns. As we begin to train two gun crews it is my expectation that those crews will work closely with the team drivers to take care of our quadruped "friends!" I feel this integration of workload is an essential element of our continued success as a re-enacting unit! I also would like to get more of you up on the horses so you will feel more comfortable working around them.

The current calendar may change some, but we wanted to get it in your hands for your planning purposes. Averasboro will give us the opportunity to work both the teams and perhaps two guns. Salem is a payback to the 2nd Virginia and will be almost a local event for many of you. At Appomattox the 26th NCT will conduct either a 1 or 2 day march along General Lee’s original retreat route, and we will join them for the last 3 ½ miles. I expect much of our time at the Wilderness will be in static gun emplacements. The "Lee and Grant" movie is still a possibility, which may require a long weekend, but pays good. More to follow on that topic. We may do a living history at Bentonville the 2nd or 3rd weekend in July, will let you know when that firms up. The September event in Raleigh is a big deal, we may actually get to assist in the re-interment of a former member of the 26th NCT using our caisson. This event will also be the opening weekend for the Confederate Display in The North Carolina Museum of History. The weekend of 15-17 October will be our most ambitious ever as we attempt to field two horse drawn guns at two different events. We have put together a tentative list of who would go to which event. I'll get those out in the next newsletter after talking with a few of you. We will do Fort Branch again in November as well as the 5th Annual get together at Colfax. The year will conclude with the Saint Barbara’s event in Northern Virginia the 3rd or 4thof December and if you are interested a end of year bash to welcome in the year 2000 at Charlie Tarbox’s home in Gettysburg.

Lastly my intent is to develop and use recall rosters this year to pass information and to determine who will attend the individual events. Please keep us informed as to whether you will attend or not because it may influence what equipment we bring to each event.

See you around the campfire!

Capt. David L. Stanley, Cmdg.