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The 17th Mississippi Winters at Morven Park (page 2) |
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by Gary Dickens |
May, 2010 |
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Today, Doug Smith and fellow Confederate re-enactors use Moore's diaries, as well as archaeological evidence, to recreate the Morven Park winter camp of the 17th Mississippi Regiment. Camped out among three replicated huts from that cold and wet northern Virginia winter of ’61-'62, they seek to give visitors to Morven Park a sense of what it was like to be a Confederate soldier. |
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Doug Smith, leader for the 17th Mississippi Regiment re-enactment project, discusses events from the winter encampment with a group of Morven Park visitors. |
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The winter camp, while detailing a mere handful of the estimated 50 huts constructed to house the 17th, helps one understand that, like Valley Forge, men sought more protection from the elements than a flimsy tent could provide. To have a solid roof and a small fireplace would help take some of the chill from one’s cold bones, in turn helping some stave off the deadly diseases common in those unsanitary camps. |
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Camp Cook Joe McGreal comes all the way from Ohio to keep the 17th MS re-enactors fed. | ||||
By outfitting themselves in historically accurate uniforms and equipping with replica gear, Doug Smith and his men teach us tanglibly. You can see leather soles worn from drilling, you can smell the cook’s campfire, your heart jumps when they fire off a practice volley. The distance of nearly 150 years has erased all firsthand memories of our nation’s darkest days. The efforts and research of men like Doug Smith and thousands more will help keep these memories as near as possible. Those who understand history are less likely to repeat its errors. |
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Contact: gary@leesburgmag.com |
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