Civil War

If any of you pholks haven't attended one of those Civil War re-enactments, you should.

In my hometown of Knight's Ferry in the Mother Lode gold country, a group of Civil War buffs holds two days of mock battles about 300 yards from my house.

It's been a couple years since I was able to be up there for the annual event. I was there but, I confess, I did not actually attend. I really didn't have to see it. Several thousand pholks gathered along the Stanislaus River near the historic Knights Ferry covered bridge and watched a hundred or more Union and Confederate “actors” wage their battles.

As I said, I didn't walk down the hill to watch any of the four “battles.” The jarring boom, boom, boom of cannon fire, rebel yells, the “lock and load” and “fire” commands, the drumming and bugling and thousands of rounds of gunshots gave me more than I needed.

Instead I worked in the yard with my wife and together we “enjoyed” the cannon concussions for several hours on Saturday and several more on Sunday.

With those several thousand pholks driving into the community of roughly 200 to watch the re-enactments, visit displays put together by the Civil War group members who set up tents, campsites, battlefield hospital sites, dress in the 1860s motif and sell all sorts of historic and replica goods, the town was crowded.

I must tell the truth as to why I didn't go “see” any battles. I didn't want to walk the 300 yards up the hill on Shuper Road. It really isn't that steep of a walk, one I've made thousands of time over the years. I used to run up and down the road and through the covered bridge without even breathing hard. I still can walk down to the bridge, the longest covered bridge west of the Mississippi, and still do on occasion, but not this weekend.

I could have driven another route to the battle scene but probably would have had to park so far away that there would have been little advantage.

On Sunday, when the drummers and buglers began signaling the last “performance” I almost took the trek down the hill but suddenly I came up with what I considered a brilliant idea.

I told my wife that I really had planned on writing something about the event, but since I was hearing and frequently feeling the sounds of the skirmishes, I could do a story about the “sounds of the Civil War” without having to walk down the hill, mingle with the spectators, watch the soldiers and cannons and all that, without having to “climb” Shuper Road back home. My wife had earlier offered to stop her yardwork and drive down and retrieve me when I called her, but I told her I didn't want to inconvenience her. Besides, writing about an event I really didn't attend would be a twist and a new challenge.

She gave me one of those wifely “Oh sure, that's a good idea” half-smiles and kept working. As luck would have it, about that time, half a dozen bone-rattling cannon blasts erupted, followed by a two or three volleys of black powder rifle shots and a loud chorus of battle cries. The buglers were bugling and the drummers were drumming. All realistic except for the hand-clapping rounds of applause bouncing off the green-covered hillsides. I don't think there was much hand clapping and taking of bows during the real Civil War. But the dedication and effort by those who play war and invest lots of dollars on spring weekends really do deserve a good hand.
It seemed like everybody had a ball.

AND SO DID I and, in fact, I had about two dozen of them.

The other reason I made the trip northward was to attend a community party, commonly referred to as “Benny's Ball Feed” a pot luck event featuring mountain oysters (beef testicles for those of you who don't know).

Benny Cassinetto, a long-time area construction contractor now semi-retired with a knack and reputation for cooking, crafting home-made wine and throwing parties, has made the ball feed event an annual happening.

With the help from area ranchers, Benny collects probably 500 pair of mountain oysters and with the help from volunteers and wife, Linda, spends countless hours pitching in for the spring doings.

There are lots of other dishes, including Benny's famed pastas, along with salads, snacks, appetizers and more great desserts than should be allowed.

There are, of course, various liquid refreshments to make the hours of preparation a little easier and the socializing a little more social. That also helps in the recruitment of the clean-up crew.

As they say, everyone who wanted to “had a ball.” And those who didn't still had a great time.

Miles can be reached at mshuper@valleyvoicenewspaper.com