Today Grant and I attended the Vermillion County Civil War Days, a Civil War reenactment held at Kennekuk County Park in Danville, Illinois. The two-day event recreates the Battle of Shiloh.  Near the battlefield, there was a large encampment of canvas tents. Some were only for sleeping, and others were blacksmiths and sutlers (traveling stores). Men, women, and children were dressed in period clothing. Abraham Lincoln and the first lady were both there, as well as Generals Sherman, Grant, Lee, and Custer.

Today, Saturday, was the first day of the battle, which in reality occurred on April 6, 1862 and continued until a Union victory the next day. At one end of the battlefied were the Union cannons, at the center a small Union camp, and hidden in the woods, the Confederates were waiting. Confederate forces led by General Johnson surprised and overran the Union encampment. As the Union soldiers fell back, a young girl in the crowd yelled “Scaredy-cats!” After trashing the camp, the Confederate assault continued. Both sides exchanged cannon fire, gunfire, and calvary fought with swords and guns. Eventually the Confederates pushed the Union men back to their artillery and forced them to surrender, after which the Union prisoners were taken and paraded past the grandstands in a final walk of shame. Of course, history tells us that Federal reinforcements will arrive, and the Union does win-but that’s not until tomorrow.

The cannons were most impressive, shaking the ground, filling the air with smoke, the largest weighing about 3,000 pounds. They created these amazing smoke rings, one traveled almost a quarter mile and grew to a diameter of about twenty feet before hitting the ground and disintigrating.  The booming cannons, gunfire, and galloping horses really do transport you back to the 1860s, and it was a memorable event.  And I look forward to finding a Revolutionary War reenactment next!