At Saturday's battle at Perryville, KY, this past weekend, the Confederate cavalry ride straight into a company volley of fire, stop, shoot their revolvers until they're empty and then ride away.  The Confederate infantry refuses to give up ground as they are supposed to according to the historical script for the battle, but instead fire THROUGH a hill at us for nearly 15 minutes while we kneel out of sight before they back up.  The "fight" lasted 45 minutes and there was no direct fire between the infantry lines.  The park service and the crowd loved it.  The entire Union officer corps was shocked when we heard that, because we thought it was one of the worst we'd ever been involved in.

At Sunday's battle, the Confederate line marched straight towards to Federal artillery.  As soon as the right half of their line was visible to the Federal infantry, they fired two volleys into it.  That side of the line crumbled and the rest of the force retreated in an extremely historically and tactically correct manner.  The Confederates then called an end to the battle.  The fight lasted 15 minutes, and afterward the Federal army went through the historical village to look for Confederate stragglers to add some entertainment for the spectators.  There were yells of fury from the park staff about how quickly it ended.

If I had been a spectator on Saturday, I would have been pissed at how inaccurate and poorly executed the battle was.  If I had been a spectator on Sunday, I would have been pissed that I had driven all the way there for 15 minutes of show.  Aside from the Saturday battle (and the morning tactical fight, that I won't bother getting into,) I thought that it was an excellent event, and in case you actually look and think, "How did he gain four and a half pounds in one day?!?!?!" it's from re-hydrating.

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