Battle of Picacho Peak

This past Sunday we went to our neighbor's property, the Picacho Peak State Park, and watched the reenactment of the Civil War battles of the Southwest. Three separate battles were reenacted there, the Battle of Valverde, NM; the Battle of Glorieta, NM; and the Battle of Picacho Pass, AZ, all served the purpose of paving the way for the opening of Santa Fe Trail. We got to the state park at 9am when the gates opened and walked around the camps of the Confederate Troops - of Texas, and then wandered through the Federal camp of the Northern States. We were impressed with the 250 plus volunteers - men, women, and children - who put in their time, effort, money and travel time to do reenactments. When the volunteers are not doing these three reenactments, most travel to the eastern states and participate in those. The battle of Picacho Pass, fought on April 15, 1862 - which is the 150th year anniversary this year. Although this battle was a draw when both sides withdrew from the skirmish after an hour with few fatalities and wounded, the historical aspects of being the western most battle of the Civil War lasts. We watched an artillery demonstration which the solders explained each of the jobs of the battery, and then commenced with firing the cannons. These cannons are reproduction but deliver the same extremely loud noise and compression of air! And each of the firearms used by the men are also reproductions but with no ammo loaded. Still, pretty convincing. Women also were at the reenactment as nurses, wives of the men, seamstresses, laundry lady, women who like today's groupies - follow a rock band around - those women followed the troops and their roles were to 'entertain' the men, if you get my drift. We saw children also dressed in period costume, even one little girl who was dressed in period costume and selling lemonade - yes, I was a sucker and bought her lemonade, saw doctor (medic) running around the battlefield, young boys who were with a regiment and were drummers or fifers to keep the spirits up of the fighting men. Mounted cavalry were also present. And the cavalry was from Fort Huachuca (pronounced Who-a-cha-ca....like an Indian chant - who-a-cha-ca, who-a-cha-ca) which is near Tombstone, where the Buffalo Soldiers were first enlisted and to this day, the Fort is home to Buffalo Soldiers and the Mounted Cavalry of the United States. Fort Huachuca is an active Army base today with it's main mission in communications and also active drone missile program. The term Buffalo Soldiers was a nickname of the Black Men who served in the Army during the Civil War, and the Indians said they looked like the buffalo since their hair was short and curly just like the buffalo. I really enjoyed Sunday's experience. We have been near another reenactment in Ohio, the battle of Lakeside-Marblehead, while we were camping at East Harbor State Park in Ohio. We will never forget Abe Lincoln walking around handing out copper pennies to children - something he was known for. How life-like was that? As I look back on the pictures of Sunday, I get a chuckle - you see people sitting on the side of the mountain watching the reenactment while in the same picture you see the battle going on in front of them and further in the distance you see the State Park campground with the RVs.