Military Activities
This is what you can expect
Patrols and Guard Mount
Patrols and guard duty are the two main military activities at this event.
Patrols
Searching civilians: Procedure and rules of engagement
For event purposes it is the Fall of 1864.
We are sending patrols through a crowd looking for contraband, using information provided by citizens who describe people who may be trying to get supplies or weapons to their friends and relatives in hiding who are evading the draft or who have deserted. Some of the people in the crowd support them. Others are opposed. We are not there to make things worse. We are in fact walking a narrow line between holding people to their duty and not stirring up Copperhead opposition with a national election only weeks away. We are there to force draft evaders and deserters to hew to their duty, and that’s all. But we need information to find them, and someone smuggling material to them probably has information we can use. Note: In the farm building area, where there are going to be a lot of spectators, our weapons will be unloaded and unprimed.
When a person suspected of smuggling (that is, someone with a distinguishing ribbon marking them as a first-person participant) is seen, the patrol officer moves in front to calmly accost them. Two soldiers quietly move behind the suspected smuggler at “port arms” and in a position to block any attempt by the civilian to leave. The rest of the patrol, at “port arms,” moves to each side of the civilian, facing OUT. The visual “message” is that the possible smuggler is literally surrounded, with two soldiers watching the individual and the rest of the patrol facing out to block anyone who might want to rush to their aid. The message to all is “There’s no point making a fuss”. That’s what will be visually communicated to spectators. However:
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Don’t touch the person even if it’s someone you know. We will work with Quiet Valley staffers to act defeated, possibly indignant, but with no attempt to bolt. There may be sass and hard words. There may be banter. Ignore it. Don’t touch them. Don’t react. Faces deadpan, and silence in the ranks.
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The officer courteously asks them first for their military pass, then for their bundle, basket or box for inspection. They will do so. We will instruct them pre-event that this is the proper response in 1864 when confronted by legal, armed authority. (It’s pretty much the proper response now, too.)
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If they don’t have a pass or if contraband is found or suspected -- how dangerous is an apple and who knows where it was going? -- a noncom and two soldiers, with muskets carried at port arms but not pointing at anyone during all of this, take both the contraband and the suspect to the Bureau of Military Intelligence tent, where they are both examined. Contraband material will go into a pile at the guard tent, where people can see it. The suspect is seated in a chair and will, after a pause, be questioned by BMI Capt. Bill Etzkorn. After questioning, the suspect may be escorted to the modern operations building on the hill, and released to go about their normal farm business. Or they may simply be given back their basket and released directly into the farm, if the BMI determined they were not involved in smuggling.
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A civilian or staffer or volunteer undergoing this can expect to be detained for no more than 30 minutes.
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The remaining part of the patrol (patrols will be up to 10 muskets plus one officer and two noncoms) can go about its business of searching the crowds and buildings.
We will search buildings. All are reasonably small. We will not search two buildings: the big barn (our hospital) and the main farmhouse (small rooms with both food prep going on and lots of stuff that can break). We follow generally the same procedure as questioning civilians: Men with muskets at port arms will cover three sides of the building, the rest of the patrol will hold on the fourth side, and the officer will send a noncom and one or two men, without muskets, to conduct the ‘search’. Note: We don’t want to take any of the heritage craft demonstrators away from what they’re doing, so don’t find anything at those stations. In cases where something is found that is intended as contraband, it will be marked with a ribbon.
The farm is 72 acres. When the patrol is done with the farm buildings, it moves to the covered bridge, where muskets will be loaded with powder and caps. The patrol then moves out to try to find a suspected camp of draft evaders and deserters. Patrol format: Two men 20 yards in advance, the main body, two men 20 yards in the rear, looking behind. (Two, like skirmish drill: Somebody stays loaded.) After contact, summon them to fall in to be taken to Harrisburg. There may be shooting. If prisoners are taken, disarm them (if necessary leave someone with the weapons until the rest of the “brigands” can secure them. Again, arms port, through the farm to the BMI tent just outside the military camp, where the prisoners are turned over. There may also be a civilian official present from the Harrisburg bureau that oversees the state draft. The patrol is then dismissed and the officer reports to the officer of the day. After a period of time the prisoners will be escorted, at arms port, out the front gate to the farm. They may then be released, to take a roundabout route to rejoin the Brigands. NOTE 1: It’s 72 acres of woods and fields, and some of the terrain is quite steep. NOTE 2: One of the roads will be used for horse-drawn wagon tours. Avoid firing when the wagon is in view: 1. Even with horses used to gunfire, you just never know what they’ll do with a close shot; 2. Sometimes it’s more intriguing for spectators to hear the fight rather than see the fight.
The patrol experience should take one to two hours, and we’ll have three patrols, at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., roughly, corresponding to the farm’s data on when we can expect peak crowds of spectators.
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Guard Mount
We are strangers in a strange land that contains elements somewhat hostile to Union troops, so we are cautious about crowds near the camp. The guard mount tent will be at a gate leading to the military camp, manned by an officer and two sentries, with the rest of the guard mount, four to ten soldiers, accoutered and grouped near the tent, but idle. We will not need to post guards around the perimeter, the camp is not accessible except through the one small gate. Anyone who wants to visit the camp must show a military pass, which the Quiet Valley staff will be handing out at the admissions booth; only adults will need a pass. Anyone without a pass gets sent to the Bureau of Military Intelligence tent, where they will be issued one after a brief questioning by the officer there.
When the officer of the guard clears spectators for admission, he also asks if they would like a guided tour, and assigns a soldier from the guard mount company to conduct the tour. We will have “stations” in the camp, some functional to our operation like the company kitchen and others, like displays of what a soldier carried, purely for spectator view. We’ll work out the details Saturday morning.
Firing demonstrations: Will be at the far end of the military camp, farthest point from the gate, pointing away from the farm and the camp, and can take place whenever spectators are present. It can be one or two soldiers doing it, or a small group. Basic stuff, loading and firing.
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Other Stuff