Brandy Station

[JC Edwards]

Being an armchair Cavalier, I was hoping this part of the Gettysburg campaign would have made it into the game......

Perhaps we can get it in an expansion?

[dale]

Ohhhhhh Yeahhh!

To play the biggest calvary battle in North America?

Huge map needed.

A total revision of the calvary engagement rules needed.

Union calvary could not capture the Confederate artillery in that battle. Like the French in Waterloo they rode through the artilleriests without being able to spike the guns or carry them off.

Could this possibly start with JEB Stuart's Grand Review? That in itself would be awesome to see recreated.

[Zeke]

I did an oob for this on the mmg forum would love to see this with the new game engine....Cavalry on the TCM format was fairly limited.... maybe a expansion idea!

[MadMan]

Something of a story.

When I was about 8, my family took a trip.
This trip went up the Smokey Mountains across to D.C. and then back down the eastern seaboard, thence a kinda reverse Sherman's March inland.

In D.C. we of course went to The Smithsonian. There I was allowed to pick a Souvenir. I choose a book of Civil War art prints. These prints had been commissioned by LIFE magazine for the 1961 Centennial. (It is also the year of my birth)

The Cover & inside spread was this print of the Battle of Brandy Station

Fast forward to 10 years ago. The local paper runs a story about a local artist whose painting is being reissued to raise money to save the Battlefield. The very same print.

I call directory assistance get his number & call.
C.E. Monroe, Jr. & I talked for quite some time.
And I purchased his print.

Fast forward to about 3 years ago. The building in which I work (and have worked for the last 17 years) has a large 3 story mural in the lobby. Now the bottom of the mural is obscured by a curving stairway, but you can walk comfortably under it. Passing under it one day I notice the artist "signature" ... C.E. Monroe, Jr.

[JC Edwards]

MadMan wrote:

Something of a story.

When I was about 8, my family took a trip.
This trip went up the Smokey Mountains across to D.C. and then back down the eastern seaboard, thence a kinda reverse Sherman's March inland.

In D.C. we of course went to The Smithsonian. There I was allowed to pick a Souvenir. I choose a book of Civil War art prints. These prints had been commissioned by LIFE magazine for the 1961 Centennial. (It is also the year of my birth)

The Cover & inside spread was this print of the Battle of Brandy Station

Fast forward to 10 years ago. The local paper runs a story about a local artist whose painting is being reissued to raise money to save the Battlefield. The very same print.

I call directory assistance get his number & call.
C.E. Monroe, Jr. & I talked for quite some time.
And I purchased his print.

Fast forward to about 3 years ago. The building in which I work (and have worked for the last 17 years) has a large 3 story mural in the lobby. Now the bottom of the mural is obscured by a curving stairway, but you can walk comfortably under it. Passing under it one day I notice the artist "signature" ... C.E. Monroe, Jr.

Seems your path in life has, at times, been destined to cross that of C.E. Monroe Jr.'s MadMan.

Thanks for sharing that with us.

JC

[dale]

Well, here is my real life Brandy Station story...

In 2004 I went to the 140th reenactment weekend there. It just so happened to be a weekend in which Friday night it rained about 3 inches. It did not clear up Saturday morning and it was misty and foggy all day. The 140th was a big deal. The Brandy Station Foundation pulled out all the stops for it and had invited calvary groups from all over the country to participate. The Brandy Station Foundation is a private non profit group that is not connected to the Department of the Interior in any way so that the reenactment actually took place on the very site of the battle. Since the rain and bad weather kept most of the expected crowds away there were only about 8 of us that day who were not reenactors so we were treated to special tours of the battlefield. At around 3:30 that afternoon the mist was increasing so that the visibility was at times only about 20 yards. All was quiet around us as we climbed Buford's Hill where the fighting had swirled back and forth between Buford's calvary and Rooney Lee's troopers. The speaker was describing the actions of the individual soldiers and which ones had fought and died at this very spot (some are known to have been buried here in unmarked graves at the base of the knoll). At that moment we heard below us the snort of horses and the muffled clanging of gear. About 30 Confederate calvary approached the crest in a slow procession surrounding the small hill, emerging from the mist below. The fog itself tamped down all sound so that we did not become aware of their approach until they were within a few yards. The speaker went stone, cold, silent and no one spoke. We were all transformed by the vision at that moment. It was as close as I have ever been to seeing the ghosts of soldiers and I could have been easily convinced that they were not flesh and blood. (Virginia calvary reenactors are a special breed, they live the part. Many can trace a direct lineage back to men who rode with Stuart, some even have horses that are descendants of horses that were in the Confederate calvary. Needless to say everyone of these reenactors in this company had beards, soiled uniforms, and had the look of campaign veterans.) It was a moment that will stay with me always.

[ironsight]

Hey JC, dale, great stories!;)

dale, speaking of rain 'n mud, i made a trip down to Gburg a bunch of years ago around the 4th a July to see my first big re-enactment. The local one's around here have but a handful of re-enactors.
Anyhow it rained a couple of days before and the morning of the first day of the re-enactment, mud, mud and more mud, deep mud.

Luckily as fate would have it, the rain stopped late that morning. Even though there were rumors it was cancelled, all that mud didn't stop us spectators from going to the re-enactment as most of us traveled quite a distance to get there. I understand though some re-enactors were flooded out of their encampment and didn't participate in the re-enactment.
Just about all the people at the motel i was staying at were there to see the re-enactment. We all had some great partying times, BS'ing and stories to share at that motel...just about worth the trip itself!
The show went on as scheduled and it was a good one regardless of the hundreds of shoes that were mud-ruined that day.

Other than the memories of the re-enactment itself, the thing i remember most were the local farmers pulling mud-stuck cars out of the parking lot with their tractors. Dam good thing i took my trusty Jeep down there!

The other thing i remember, is in Pennsylvania, you cannot buy just a 6-pack of brew! Only by the big case? WTF is that all about?
Are they encouraging alcaholism?

[Chamberlain]

Great story dale !!!!

That sounds like it is one of those "you had to be there" when explaining what it was like !!!!!

Thanks for Sharing !!!



Chamberlain