Battle of Resaca
The Battle of Resaca took place May 13th-15th, 1864. It was the first major engagement of the Atlanta Campaign during the Civil War.
Before the Battle
The reenactment of the Battle of Resaca is the oldest and largest reenactment in the state of Georgia. Thousands of people from across the country come to Chitwood Farm to watch the events take place.
Prior to the battle starting there is about 5 hours that you can spend going into the camps that those that are participating in the battle have set up.
Most of the participants call themselves "campaigners" which means that they take on the roles of the person of that era and they try to live as close to them over the course of the few days that the reenactment takes place.
A lot of campaigners have collected a wide assortment of props over the years that they set up in their camp to make everything look as authentic to the time period as possible. Most of them even have rips in their clothing that they have not sewn because they say that it adds to the character.
As I was talking with this man above, I found out that he had crafted the label for the wine bottle himself. I later found out that he was playing the role of the Sergeant Major for the Confederate Army. This man has been a campaigner in these reenactments around the country for close to 30 years now and he says that one of the main reasons he does it is that it is a great way to tell the history of the war and to make it fun for people to learn. Plus he loves to be outdoors with his troops.
As the Sergeant Major spoke to his group of soldiers prior to going into battle, this young soldier was packing tobacco into his corn cob pipe as he listened.
It really was a cool experience to listen to the talk and tell me stories about the different battles that they have been a part of.
One of the men that stays close to the Sergeant Major during battle is the bugler so that he can play out the orders that are given.
Taking campaigning to the next level
While I was going through the camps, I ran into these two young soldiers.
They told me that the troops had specific rations that they carried with them during battle and that over the course of the next few days they were going to stick to the rations that the soldiers were allowed.
He was mixing flour and water together to make a dough.
Then he took the dough ball and rolled it out on a piece of wood to form a snake.
Then after it is formed into a snake, they wrap it around their weapon rod and heat it up over the fire to cook it. When it is done, they store them in their little food pouch that they carry with them and eat them on the battlefield.
It was pretty cool watching these two take the time to prepare their meals using these old techniques and doing everything to stick as close to the Civil War era as possible.
Bugles call for inspection
The bugle began to sound to notify everyone that the time for battle was growing near.
With that, the troops began to line up for inspection to make sure they were prepared for the battlefield.
I still couldn't believe how closely everyone resembled the Civil War era look. Their uniforms, beards and facial features matched everything with the time period.
The soldiers weapons were checked to make sure they were functioning properly and that they would fire.
Once their weapons were checked and the troops were inspected, they waited for the order to start marching towards the battlefield.
When the order to move came, they started to march out to prepare for battle.
The troops moved out while Sergeant Major and the Mounted Cavalry watched from behind.
The Battle of Resaca begins
With soldiers taking their places out on the battlefield, the battle has started.
The roar of the cannons and the sounds of rifles could be heard across the field.
98,000 Union soldiers and 60,000 Confederate soldiers faced off during the Battle of Resaca over the 3 days that it had lasted.
There are differing numbers when it comes to the estimated number of casualties during the battle, but one source I found estimates that the Union Army suffered 4500 casualties and the Confederate Army had 2800 casualties.
The Union Army was advancing towards the middle of the battlefield, pushing the Confederate troops back.
After the Confederate Army was pushed back, the battlefield was littered with bodies. What happened next took me by surprise. Everything was quiet and then the bugler on the Union side began to play Taps. After the first few chords, he paused and then the bugler on the Confederate side continued playing.
Both buglers played Taps back and forth across the battlefield that was littered with the dead of both sides. This was a beautiful way to finish the battle and a great way to honor the men that died on both sides during that battle. It was quite a sobering experience.
Short film of The Battle of Resaca
Over the two days that I was there observing the reenactment, I also shot some video, with some footage from a friend named Travis, and made a short film about the whole reenactment. You can watch the video through the embedded YouTube link below:
After the battle
After the battle I spent some time hanging out with a few of the campaigners. As I was speaking with this guy, he pulled out his flask and asks if I was thirsty. Since I have been busy traveling and missed the last #whiskywednesday post, I felt it was only fitting that I have a drink with this man.
He was drinking an apple cider whisky called Serpent's Bite and it was probably the smoothest whisky I have ever had. I may or may not have had more than one swig from the flask.
Once the lid of the flask came off, I don't know if this other guy had super human hearing and heard the flask top being unscrewed and that was like someone calling his name or if he could smell the whisky we were drinking, but he came storming out of his tent with his flask in hand ready to share his whisky.
He was drinking a blueberry whisky and this one was super smooth too. I am not sure what this one was called, but I wish I had gotten the name so I could try and find some of it.
So once you have been drinking whisky after a battle on a hot day, what else do you do? Take some sweet pictures with your rifle, duh. He was super excited to get the gun out and start posing for some pictures.
In closing
The two days I spent covering The Battle of Resaca were amazing. It was the first battle reenactment I had ever been to and my first time in the South truly learning about the Civil War.
I am going to be sharing more of my experiences as I travel the South and up the East Coast while I am shooting pictures for this book about the Civil War. There is so much history in this area and the stories are amazing.
