| On Friday morning many of Reilly Battery's members
departed their homes for the long drive to Salem, Virginia - specifically, Roanoke
County's Green Hill Park. |
| John Glaze
and I left from Springfield, VA promptly
at the agreed upon 0700 hour. We traveled to Calverton, VA to get some of the horses that
would participate in the reenactment. Three hours latter we had horses loaded and were
winging our way south. The day was beautiful and the Shenandoah Valley was alive with
spring colors. Within four hours we pulled into Green Hill Park, the exact time that 1Lt Stewart, Mimi and Jason had arrived. Capt. Houser, from the
2nd Virginia Cavalry, escorted us to our camp site along a stream, almost totally hidden
from 20th Century-isms. We than began to set up. |
Later that evening, Jim Nelson, his wife, and Emmanuel May
brought the commissary which we enjoyed all weekend long!
. |
| First mistake, we had left the picketing equipment with Sgt. Mike Rhyne who we knew would arrive
late. John Stewart, John Glaze, Jason Stewart, Mimi, Ed Rhew and I set up our tents and then sat back
to wait. As dusk arrived we still were missing the guns. In addition, the sky around us
had begun a light show of it's own. Around 2100, John Stewart and I walked back out to the
gate then breathed a sigh of relief when we met Mike Rhyne and Chris Moose. We got everyone settled in
before the rain began. Alas, many of us slept rather fitfully, missing John Glaze's
campfire stories and wondering if the rain would stop. |
 Saturday,
dawned bright and sunny, several other members had arrived during the night so we had both
guns and enough men to man them. After a Jim, Kathy and Emmanuel breakfast we began to
work. Gunners worked on crew drills after helping saddle the horses. We conducted a
joint mounted drill late in the morning with the 2nd Virginia. If Barney thought I smiled at Colfax, he
should have been at Salem. Three teams of horses maneuvered on a huge polo field almost
flawlessly. Wheeling, turning, doing left and right abouts, each individual team worked so
well as a battery that the cavalry stopped to watch us! 1Lt. Stewart and I both were a bit
excited to say the least. The men and horses were great. |
Picket line
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Commissary
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Preparing blank rounds
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Preparing to ride
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Resting at the camp site
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|
 We returned to
camp to find that Sgt Rhyne and Cpl Brandt
had put the gun crews through their paces. They were ready to go. The commissary provided
another great meal and we were off to fight the Battle of Kelly's Ford. We lined up and
moved out. We crossed a ford on a creek and went into line. What a sight, moving 3 guns by
horse across the polo field to our deployment area. The 20th Century disappeared when we
moved into the woods, still in line, to wait the beginning of the battle. Truth is, the
battle was hokey... and this is being kind. We looked great as we moved out onto the field
and into our firing positions. We had stayed in a line and by doing a "Left
Flank March" moved toward the enemy. We unlimbered and the 2nd Virginia and our old
team (Ed Rhew and Chris Moose) stayed behind the guns while the young team moved off to
the side with their riders (Bill Long and
John Glaze). We fired by battery, by piece and individually until the Yanks got lucky and
shot Major Pelham. The battle ended when his body was evacuated from the battlefield. Just
a note: the horse drawn guns were equal to the non-horsedrawn guns in number - 3 horse
drawn guns and 3 ornaments. |
| After a dinner of steak and peach cobbler, 1Lt Stewart,
Mimi, and Jason Stewart went the dance. One of our horse teams and a gun packed up and
departed that evening. Joyce Stanley
and our daughter, Lindsey, arrived that
evening as did Billy Horne. A highlight
of the evening was swapping lies with the 2nd Virginia and sipping something stronger than
water. |
 Sunday was
also sunny and clear when we awoke. The commissary served us our last meal and packed up.
We reassigned men to the gun and saddled the horses. Much of the morning was consumed by
packing up and getting ready to leave after the battle ended. We planned the battle
sequence of events to include fighting a delaying action at the ford. |
 Our gun, along with the 2nd Virginia's gun, opened fire on the advancing
Confederates (yes, we wore blue the second day) to open the battle. Our fire was so
intense we halted their advance long enough for the supply wagons, infantry and cavalry to
escape safely - no doubt they all whispered a prayer of thanks to St. Barbara as they
crossed the creek. We crossed the ford and redeployed to contest its crossing. Many of the
men were distracted by what appeared to be a convention of red birds or robin red breast
in the trees to our front. The distraction turned to laughter when we realized it was the
confederate artillery in their Sunday best!? We were pushed back to a third position where
the 2nd Virginia's gun was captured. We narrowly escaped. We rolled into our last position
where we had trouble with a "hung round." The battle was soon over and although
it was again hokey, we had performed well. We crossed the ford for one last time and
pulled the gun out to the parking lot. We unhooked and unsaddled horses, loaded the gun
and horses, and pulled out of the parking lot promptly at 1500.
|
We returned to
camp to find that Sgt Rhyne and Cpl Brandt
had put the gun crews through their paces. They were ready to go. The commissary provided
another great meal and we were off to fight the Battle of Kelly's Ford. We lined up and
moved out. We crossed a ford on a creek and went into line. What a sight, moving 3 guns by
horse across the polo field to our deployment area. The 20th Century disappeared when we
moved into the woods, still in line, to wait the beginning of the battle. Truth is, the
battle was hokey... and this is being kind. We looked great as we moved out onto the field
and into our firing positions. We had stayed in a line and by doing a "Left
Flank March" moved toward the enemy. We unlimbered and the 2nd Virginia and our old
team (Ed Rhew and Chris Moose) stayed behind the guns while the young team moved off to
the side with their riders (Bill Long and
John Glaze). We fired by battery, by piece and individually until the Yanks got lucky and
shot Major Pelham. The battle ended when his body was evacuated from the battlefield. Just
a note: the horse drawn guns were equal to the non-horsedrawn guns in number - 3 horse
drawn guns and 3 ornaments.
Sunday was
also sunny and clear when we awoke. The commissary served us our last meal and packed up.
We reassigned men to the gun and saddled the horses. Much of the morning was consumed by
packing up and getting ready to leave after the battle ended. We planned the battle
sequence of events to include fighting a delaying action at the ford.
Our gun, along with the 2nd Virginia's gun, opened fire on the advancing
Confederates (yes, we wore blue the second day) to open the battle. Our fire was so
intense we halted their advance long enough for the supply wagons, infantry and cavalry to
escape safely - no doubt they all whispered a prayer of thanks to St. Barbara as they
crossed the creek. We crossed the ford and redeployed to contest its crossing. Many of the
men were distracted by what appeared to be a convention of red birds or robin red breast
in the trees to our front. The distraction turned to laughter when we realized it was the
confederate artillery in their Sunday best!? We were pushed back to a third position where
the 2nd Virginia's gun was captured. We narrowly escaped. We rolled into our last position
where we had trouble with a "hung round." The battle was soon over and although
it was again hokey, we had performed well. We crossed the ford for one last time and
pulled the gun out to the parking lot. We unhooked and unsaddled horses, loaded the gun
and horses, and pulled out of the parking lot promptly at 1500.
