The Battle of Sacramento

Three Infantry Guys

Relative Comfort in the 4th KY Camp

Awkward Squad Line-Up

5th Battery - Ready to Fire

l to r:  Ed Essex, Tom Graber (Tom's Son), Eliot Handziak, Dennis Robertson, Wade Gish and Eric Essex

Firing the Salute

  I must say one thing first (BRAVO !! ) to Mr. Cleveland for one outstanding job.
Well, the trip down to port Gibson was a most enjoyable ride as our Captain, Mr. Lemons 'Demoted to private for this event" and our new fresh fish Mark Simpson as the navigator and I as the lonely rider ;) , It took us all of about 10 hours in all to reach Port Gibson.
          We arrived at the check-in point and it was a breeze, as then we changed and made ready for our immersion into the1860's after  throwing a few extra non needed items from our haversacks and packs and a quick weapons inspection we were loaded onto a bus and whisked away down a very winding road into the back woods of Mississippi we arrived at the original site where the 21st Iowa had landed .the river now had moved one and a half mile away over the 140 years since and the small town of Bruinsburg was no longer there it was now not more then a cotton field but as I laid there swapping at mosquitoes I could only wonder what was on the minds of the boy's from the 21st.
            DAY 2
   Woke up and had some Hard tack and parched corn with water waiting for the sound of the general to be called and break camp to move on out in a long march. Then to our surprise we got our rations in nice pine boxes of smoked pork belly and hard crackers and ten pounds of coffee per company. We were order to carry our rations after some brain picking we quartered the bellies and stuck them in our haversacks and four men made a litter to carry the box of crackers. as then we filled canteens and moved out it was a grand site to see us on the march until we hit the hill from hell 2 mile straight up I felt I was going to die as I wondered is this all going to be this tough, as we got to the top we halted for a quick break and then we were on the move to where we  stopped at the Windsor ruins where we were ordered to cook rations and rest
  At this point we lost one man to the heat it was startin' to get hot! the next trip was a little better flatter ground but all on hard top and hot oh so very hot. most everyone made it to the church. They decided at this point  to move us by transport @2 miles down the road to help us catch up on the time as we had fallen behind schedule. this became the best part of the march because we got the chance to go down the sunken road, the same path that the soldiers had taken in 1863. This was still pristine and mostly untouched by modern civilization. I had the pleasure of being on forward skirmish line, as we marched along we could just feel what it must have been like as the daylight began to fade to twilight. We made one more stop at the bottom of a ravine to fill our canteens, then back up to where we met in total darkness a resistance of CS pickets. A pretty good fire fight ensued, and then the mounted cannon was brought up. This routed the enemies pickets.

After all of this we made camp where we were (The Scahffer House). Most all of us where totally worn out and exhausted from the march and skirmish. I stripped my clothes off as they were completely soaked. I was not the only one to be bare naked that night! I laid down on my bedroll and was sound asleep in a matter of minutes. I was awakened about 6 hours later when someone shouted RAIN!!! all 114 of us grabbing our clothes and our gear made a desperate run for the house. You can only imagine the scramble of 114 men trying to pack into a small farmhouse. but we did, although it was a mite crowded. (I never knew that thunder could roll for so long. woke up the next morning at 7 and made ready to start all over again. John Cleveland saw that most of us were just about done in after day ones 10 mile forced march, and decided to shorten the route. We called it a day and broke camp with  an overwhelming feeling of how it must have been fro those men of 1863 who were in much better shape then we are and used to hard physical challenges. But I can bet that this was not an easy feat even for them.

Mrs. Hollingsworth who was the Granddaughter of the Scahffers (House were we stayed) read some actual letters from her grandfather and a Union Soldier from Mitchell Indiana that were written after the war and that they became great friends until the end of their days both dying within days of each other. This brought a tear to many of our eyes. This was a total immersion event that I will never forget and will be hard to match for the experience, the untouched state of the site and the camaraderie. We also raised over $6,000 for preservation.

I will add here that we did finish our 2 miles that day as Charlie, Mark and I stopped at Vicksburg battlefield park on the return trip home to see what we could see! (The KY memorial is very grand indeed!