And today's posting is the conclusion the three-part remembrance to the Remembrance. There are just far too many photos and memories to do a one or two-part tribute.
Most of what is written beneath the pictures here come mostly from the original postings. As Rod Stewart sang, "Every picture tells a story."
The previous CWR best of ended with 2014, so we'll begin with this last part with 2015, the final year of the 150th commemoration of the Civil War:
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| 2015 Here is the annual group picture of members of the 21st Michigan. Unfortunately, it always seems a few of our membership do not get in the annual pictures. It's awful hard to try to round up 80 or so members at an event like Greenfield Village, but I do my best. Maybe one year we will have an all-encompassing 21st Michigan family photo. |
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| 2015 Our ladies love to sew, and they sew so much they can do it in unison! |
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| 2015 This is my wife, Patty. She also sews. And crochets. And knits. But one of her most favorites of all crafts is spinning on her spinning wheel. She believes she spun for a total of around 12 hours during this three-day event in 2015. That's a dizzying amount of time spinning, don't you think? |
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| 2015
Two of our lovely ladies.
Jackie, the one on the left, does a wonderful first-person and oftentimes portrays one of my sisters during our immersions at Charlton Park and Christmas at the Fort.
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| 2015 Elaine has studied up on the occupation of operating a telegraph, and now enjoys explaining the process to the many visitors she receives. |
Next up is my lovely wife and I. Yes, we are a patriotic couple aren't we? We're also grandparents. Want proof? Well...
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| 2015
...here we are posing for a mock tintype with our grandson, Benjamin, at his very first reenactment! Oh! In the future he will really enjoy spending time in the past with his nonna and papa!
By the way, since this photo was taken in 2015, two more grandchildren have joined our family.
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| 2015 Something occurred in 2015 that Greenfield Village had not done in previous years: they opened up the Eagle Tavern to an after-hours period-dress reenactors-only evening of tavern life. This was definitely a highlight for nearly everyone who attended. Yes, I had my camera there, but kept it concealed and used no flash as to not ruin anyone's time-travel experience. |
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| 2015
As this event is called Civil War Remembrance, in 2015 Greenfield Village remembered the 150th anniversary of the death of our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, by draping many of the buildings for mourning, as was done throughout the United States back in the spring of 1865. Here we have Meg showing her grief over Lincoln's death by dressing herself in mourning clothing and posing at the courthouse where he once practiced law.
Most women of the time would not have worn widows weeds for the death of the President, but this was an opportunity for Meg to teach a bit about who wore what, why, and how.
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| 2015 The men returning from the War stand in front of the 1858 Smiths Creek Depot |
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| 2015
“Let’s take a nice photo of you two, okay?” I asked innocently, “no goofy faces or anything.”
Heh heh - - you would think they would know me by now.
“We’ve been bamboozled into taking a nice picture!” exclaimed Larissa.
“Ha ha ha!! I just can't help but giggle knowing this picture was taken under false pretenses!” said Beckie.
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| 2015 I am very proud of our 21st Michigan ladies (and gents, though we have very few civilian gentlemen) and of how seriously they take their living history. |
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| 2015 Greenfield Village always holds a Grand Ball for Civil War Remembrance participants, so I would be remiss if I didn't include at least one photo taken there! |
It's hard to be a farmer - - -
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| 2015
“Poor little farm girl. She'll never find a man in those rags!”
"I wouldn't be caught dead outside without a pair of gloves on! She looks like a farm hand!"
"Can you believe her?! That bonnet is so 1860!!"
*sigh*
“I knew I should've married that rich banker when I had the chance! Well, at least I have all the vegetables a girl could want.” |
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| 2015 The soldiers prepare for the Memorial Day ceremony. |
Let's move to 2016:
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| 2016 Here are a few of the memberss of the 21st Michigan as we were in 2016. We had our image taken on the side porch of the birthplace of Henry Ford, which was built in 1861 - the same year we were portraying. |
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| 2016
Robert Beech is one of the top wet plate photographers around. Not only does he do our local events, but he also has done national events as well.
We are proud to have him in the 21st Michigan.
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| 2016 These fine folks are with the 102nd Colored Troops. They do such a great job in their presentations showing a part of history not as well known. |
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| 2016
The Christian Commission, run by Mrs. St. John, is always a welcome sight for the wounded soldiers who find themselves in the care of the ladies who care for them.
History come to life.
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| 2016
We always bring period games for the younger ones to play, including the ever-popular checkers, cards, and other such time-passers. However, on the farm, young boys would have spent more time with a tool in their hands, such as a shovel, an ax, a scythe, or a sickle rather than a frivolous toy.
Although we could not go onto the field of Firestone Farm, we did take a few photos of some of the boys posing with their tools in front of the farm.
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| 2016 We usually try to get at least one meal at the 1831 Eagle Tavern. |
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| 2016
And the tavern looked even more spectacular by candle light in the evening:
One of the favorite times for us was spending an evening inside the Eagle Tavern. Beginning in 2015, the good folks at Greenfield Village opened up this 1831 building on Saturday night strictly for period-dress reenactors only.
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| 2016 Over the years, my wife, Patty, has become not only a master at the art of spinning wool into yarn, but a master presenter at reenactments as well. No, she does not care for the 1st person events I do, but to speak to visitors about her passion for woolen arts is something she does very well, and she holds the visitor's attention while doing it. |
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| 2016 The McMann specialty is period cooking, and there are few better at cooking a 19th century meal than Carol, seen here making noodles. |
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| 2016 Wearing our Sunday Best. |
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| 2016 Letter writing. |
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| 2016 Ah...the family that helped to get my family involved in reenacting. |
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| 2016 Can you guess what these Victorian ladies are replicating? No? Well, I'll give you a little hint:  Thank you ladies! (By the way, the Beatles 'flag semaphore' does not spell out "Help," because, according to cover photographer Robert Freeman, "the arrangement of the arms with those letters didn't look good. So we decided to improvise and ended up with the best graphic positioning of the arms." Instead, what you see The Beatles - and our Victorian ladies - spelling out is NUJV) |
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| 2016 The lovely ladies of the Christian Commission at the ball |
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| 2016 The Memorial Day ceremony: here are the ladies who will lay the flowers and wreaths in honor of those in the military who are no longer with us. |
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| 2016 Here is part of the camp of the 21st Michigan. My son and a few of the others always try to remain in camp unless they are marching & drilling or unless there is a battle. In this way someone will always be available to speak to the visiting public. |
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| 2016 Some of the southern boys play an old tune... maybe it's Shady Grove perhaps? |
Welcome 2017!
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| 2017 Here you see a few of the men (and young lady) from the 21st Michigan shortly before the Memorial Day ceremony. |
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| 2017 The cavalry also takes part in the ceremony. |
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| 2017
Two women dressed in 1860s mourning clothing brought the memorial
wreath up to the front.
Photograph by Bob Jacobs
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| 2017
Here are a few of the women who took part in the wreath laying ceremony.
Photograph by Bob Jacobs
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| 2017 21st Michigan men with their pards from other units. |
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| 2017
My beautiful wife and I in front of Firestone Farm.
She shows her patriotism well.
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| 2017 From senator to druggist: When Dave Tennies decides on an impression, he certainly gives it his all, and he is doing just that as an 1860s druggist. |
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| 2017 1860s fashionistas! |
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| 2017
A personal highlight for me this weekend was seeing Jay Ungar and his wife Molly Mason perform at Greenfield Village Saturday evening.
You do realize that Jay Unger wrote and recorded "Ashokan Farewell," right?
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| 2017 Here we go, off to Firestone Farm to have the annual 21st Michigan group photograph taken. We garnered a lot of attention as we strolled along, and about a dozen modern visitors, with cameras in hand, followed us. |
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| 2017 And here it is. I gave it a more period look. |
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| 2017 A few of us spent some time strolling the Village, taking a few picturesque pictures, such as what you see here on the porch of the Susquehanna house. I suppose we do have a bit of a southern flare to our 'look,' but fear not - we are tried and true northerners! |
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| 2017 Off to dye aprons. |
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| 2017
My reenacting daughter, Kristen, and her quality period-correct jewelry sutlery, The Victorian Needle.
The best part is that she can document nearly every piece she makes to an original period piece.
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Now let's visit 2018:
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| 2018 Through the Ackley "time-travel" bridge we go... |
Since the Village was now swarming with mid-19th century folk, what a great opportunity to recreate what it could have looked like having the townsfolk await court cases inside the Logan County Court House, where President Lincoln once practiced law. Now, in the mid-1800s, the men were able to sit in the front seats while the women would have to sit toward the back and sides, and sometimes even peer through the open windows or doorway.
Just as you see here:
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| 2018
It wasn't too difficult for me to find willing participants to help out in my little 1860s courtroom photography session.
(Many thanks to the presenter who was working inside the courthouse for taking this picture!)
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| 2018 One of our 21st Michigan members, Mrs. St. John, got a few of the ladies together to make poke bags for our guys in the military. |
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| 2018 And then it was off to the camp of our boys in blue to deliver the little tokens of appreciation from the local ladies. |
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| 2018 Some of the local youngsters decided to have picnic 'neath the shade of a weeping willow tree near the covered bridge. |
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| 2018 A late spring day in the 1860s. |
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| 2018 The linen brigade! There were a few of us with white linen jackets hanging about a-waiting for the memorial service to commence when I pulled us all together for the photograph. |
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| 2018 David Walker with the Carlsons |
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| 2018
The Masciale's - wonderful period musicians
and genuinely fine people!
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| 2018
Here is a group shot of the ladies who participated in the
Memorial Day/Decoration Day service for 2018
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| 2018
The military marching to the Village Green.
Many of the reenactors are also veterans themselves - and a few are still in the real (modern) forces.
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| 2018 Standing on the corner, watching all the men go by... |
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| 2018 The Michigan Cavalry Brigade Association |
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| 2018 This was a real treat to witness. |
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| 2018
The 2018 21st Michigan group shot.
This is a little more than half of our total membership.
Not a bad looking bunch, eh?
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| 2018
This is a fine photograph of my son Robbie and I over at the military camp of the 21st Michigan.
He is his father's son in that he strives for authenticity and accuracy.
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| 2018 Peering into the past... |
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| 2018 We always seem to wind up at the Susquehanna House, which is perfect for the type of pictures we like to capture. |
And, finally, we now visit CWR 2019:
So we'll begin with a sort of yearning for a time past - - in a sort of nostalgic photograph taken by Gary Thomas, member of the Facebook page "Friends of Greenfield Village" with pertinent lyrics by 1970s musician Cat Stevens:
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| 2019
Well I think it's fine, building jumbo planes
Or taking a ride on a cosmic train
Switch on summer from a slot machine
Yes, get what you want to if you want
Cause you can get anything
I know we've come a long way
We're changing day to day
But tell me, where do the children play?
Well you roll on roads over fresh green grass
For your lorry loads pumping petrol gas
And you make them long, and you make them tough
But they just go on and on, and it seems that you can't get off
Oh, I know we've come a long way
We're changing day to day
But tell me, where do the children play?
Well you've cracked the sky, scrapers fill the air
But will you keep on building higher
'Til there's no more room up there?
Will you make us laugh, will you make us cry?
Will you tell us when to live, will you tell us when to die?
I know we've come a long way
We're changing day to day
But tell me, where do the children play?
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| 2019 The annual 21st Michigan group photo, this year taken at the Smiths Creek Depot. Every year at Greenfield Village we take a "family picture," though it is unfortunate we can never seem to get everyone to make it. Yes, unfortunately, we are missing a number of our membership yet again! |
And a few of us hung around after the group picture was taken to recreate our own depot scenario in photographs:
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| 2019 Waitin' for the train to come in... |
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| 2019 Yep---I love that the ladies here enjoy having a bit of fun as well and know how to bring this all alive. |
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| 2019
Some of the ladies of the 21st Michigan were chosen to do a couple of scenarios in the spirit of the picnickers at Manassas
Now, please understand, they are not necessarily reenacting that first battle of the Civil War; they are, instead, giving an impression of "curiosity-seeking" citizens, perhaps looking for a bit of Victorian entertainment, not fully understanding the danger of it all.
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| 2019 Some of the young ladies decided to write letters to the boys in blue, something we really haven't done too much lately as a group, but the interest seems to be growing again. |
Yeah, for the most part, the weather during this weekend was fair to good, especially on Memorial Day Monday, but for about a half hour late Saturday afternoon we had a pretty intense storm come through, with high winds whipping the rain around, which, at times, was falling sideways. It seemed that our entire camp membership was holding down the fort, so to speak:
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| 2019
Our next door neighbors bore the brunt of the
whipping wind; a side pole gave way, allowing the
wind to knock over a shelf inside the tent, precious
pieces crashing to the ground. It's unfortunate that they
lost a wash basin, an oil lamp, and some lamp oil
spilled onto a bonnet, soaking the ribbons and straw.
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This is a 7/8 size replication modeled after an 1863 original. This one was built by the Chase and Sunburn Coffee Company in 1970.
The idea for a coffee wagon came in 1861 when delegates of the northern YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) came up with the idea to help out with the soldier's spiritual and temporal needs of the Union Army as well as to help alleviate some of the suffering from wounds and illness.
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| 2019
And now we have one at Civil War Remembrance at Greenfield Village.
History coming to life...
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| 2019
Again we have Robert Beech, who studied the
art of period photography in Gettysburg.
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| 2019 Our boys in blue marching to battle... |
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| 2019 And the Confederate Army was on the opposite side of the field, ready for a fight. |
And, with a sort of 1st Manassas in mind...
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| 2019 A buggy with travelers rode past the boys in blue, enhancing their anticipation for the excitement of 1860s entertainment. |
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| 2019 Then the firing of musketry began in earnest- - - |
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| 2019 "Those spectators who found themselves too near the combat eventually found themselves overtaken by the retreating men." |
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| 2019 The horror of what was witnessed will remain. |
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| 2019 Lorna prepares the ladies for the wreath and flower laying ceremony for all the military who had passed away. |
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| 2019 Heather, who you met in one of the tintypes earlier in this posting, was asked to participate. What an honor, especially with it being her first time out as a Civil War reenactor (she usually does Revolutionary War). |
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| 2019 Is she saddened at what she saw during the battle? Is she saddened because this was the third of the three day reenactment and she's not ready to go home? Is she saddened at the fact that there was no Civil War Remembrance in 2020? Could be all three... |
Sad...
Thus ends the third and final "Best of" Greenfield Village's Civil War Remembrance. I hope you enjoyed the pictures from all three. If you haven't seen the other two, the links are right HERE for part one, and HERE for part two.
Until next time, see you in time.
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As a musician playing for attended daytime concerts during the Civil War Remembrances and also for the contra ball on those weekends, I certainly enjoyed viewing photos of events and people that I could not see during my tie there. An exciting moment for me was in 2017 when Jay Ungar and Molly Mason performed and asked me and musician friends to join them for a rousing final tune that evening! It was grand!
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