You are at the FrontPage

Each page listed below has up to 20 thumbnail photos to click on, so click on a page to discover and relive the event.

Page1 - Town, Camp
Page2 - Saturdays Battle
Page3 - Saturdays Battle
Page4 - Sat. Battle, Night
Page5 - Colors, Memorial, River
Page6 - Camp scenes
Page7 - Sundays Battle
Page8 - Sundays Battle
Page9 - Sundays Battle
Page10 - Sundays Battle

Horse Landing
-by wes mayhle-

This event usually features a battle for the fort at the east end of a large battlefield. A new feature was introduced onto the field this year - a town!! More than 10 main structures and several additional enclosures became the mock town of Baldwin, Florida and the 2 day scenario allowed for each side to capture and invest the town for the delight of the several thousand spectators present during the weekend. And what's the use of building a fake town if part of it doesn't get blown up and burned? - which is what happened. The sides of the buildings were made from the exterior slabs left over from a sawmill and gave a decent log look to the structures.

Some soldiers spent a cold night in the town camping inside the drafty enclosures during Florida's first cold spell of the season. I will guess that approximately 700 hundred reenactors were present for the event including about 40 cavalry and 13 artillery pieces. As usual the evening dance gathered 300 or more at any given time and lasted well into the night. Sunday morning was cold and almost frosty for the Union and Confederate "Colors" and the memorial down at the river, held for a departed reenactor. I was lucky with my timing and was able to document all three ceremonies.

The battles on Saturday and Sunday lasted a full hour and covered the entire large battlefield. At times the opposing sides were stationary and burning their powder but there was plenty of maneuvering and pyrotechnics and the scenario was believable. I was disappointed at the constant and highly visible photographers on the field during the battles. Kudo's to the event organizers for adding the mock town to an already established and good event. It was fantastic and proves that even established events can continue to grow and expand.

For additional reenacting information go to
Florida Reenactors Online - a website that regularly features some of my photos and articles and where you can find many links, monthly newsletters and many other resources about the American Civil War and reenacting that conflict.