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1ST MICHIGAN INFANTRY A CIVIL WAR REENACTING GROUP
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FEBRUARY MEETING
The February meeting for the First Michigan Infantry took place on the 2nd at the Portage Public library. The purpose of this meeting was to establish our schedule of events for the year. This year we have several event date changes as well as the addition of our first national event as a group. On the last page is a list of events.
UPCOMING EVENTS
March 15-16- Kalamazoo Living History Show This is the official kick off of our reenacting season. We will have our usual recruiting booth this year at the show. You must be in uniform to man the booth.
March 15- On the Saturday evening of the gun show, Wyatt and Keith will be hosting a cookout in their apartment on Gull Road at 6pm. We can watch a few Civil War movies, talk Civil War, drink some beer and play some cards. Directions
EVENT UPDATES:
This year the First Michigan will be hosting three reenactments. Here are the updates for each.
BRANDYWINE- MAY 16-18
Props go out to Joe Fortner for really taking the bull by the horns on this event. Registrations for this event continue to roll in. We already have five cannons and three Rebel units registered. We also have the tree frogs (Sharpshooters) and Zouaves coming. On February 17th a meeting was held with the school board down in Niles with Jeff, Joe, Gordy and Keith in attendance. Several items for the event were hashed out as well as the school day being set up. This year’s school day will be very big with the possibility of several area school districts attending. Contact Joe about this event.
PORTAGE- JUNE 20-22
Portage is starting to take shape with one Rebel group having committed already. A lot of details are still being hashed out for this event with Jeff and Keith shoring up a few more commitments for this event. Contact Steve about this event.
COLDWATER- SEPTEMBER 12-14
Keith has been working these last few weeks and has been able to get this event back together. With Gettysburg taking place a new date was needed for this event. After some discussion it was decided that September was the best time. With conflicting Confederate schedules hard to coordinate with, it was decided to combine this event with Little River Railroad’s annual train robbery. At this event we will still camp at the Coldwater station. Each day we will ride the train out to Quincy where mounted train robbers will ride up and try and take our money box. This is a closed invitation event with only the First Michigan attending. Contact Keith about this event.
PEOPLE IN FIRST MICHIGAN HISTORY
LEWIS SPAUN
Born: 20 January 1809 Occupation: Carpenter/Farmer Enlisted: 12 September 1861 Co. G 1st Michigan Death: 30 August 1862 Killed at Second Manassas. Note the frock coat and Hardee hat, an excellent illustration of an early war uniform of the 1st Michigan.
THIS MONTH IN FIRST MICHIGAN HISTORY Feb. 1862- Annapolis Junction guarding Washington & Baltimore Railroad Feb. 1863- Winter camp in Falmouth, VA Feb. 1864- Winter Quarters near Culpepper, PA Feb. 1865- Battles of Dabneys Mills and Hatchers Run, 5-7
NEXT MONTH IN FIRST MICHIGAN HISTORY Mar. 1862- Annapolis Junction guarding Washington & Baltimore Railroad Mar. 1863- Winter camp in Falmouth, VA Mar. 1864- Winter Quarters near Culpepper, PA Mar. 1865- Appomattox Campaign, Battle of Gravelly Run, 29. Battle of White Oak Road, 30-31. GETTYSBURG 145TH
The deadline for Gettysburg registration is March 15th. Please get your registration form into Devin by the 29th if you are sending it in with the group or A.S.A.P if sending it into the event directly.
Those Registered: Devin Greene Steve Rossio Adam Nini Brent Reeves Joe Fortner
Those prepaid being sent in on the 29th: Keith Rigoni Dean Rigoni Cris Westphal Gordon Carlton Carl Bowers
TREASURERS REPORT
As of February 18: $130
AUTHENTIC ITEM OF THE MONTH
This is the first issue in what will be monthly authentic item of the month. During the course of the war the First Michigan was issued just about every combination of uniform available to the Union Army. This month’s photo alone shows that in early 1862 the First was outfitted the exact same way as the Iron Brigade. Currently no two people in our group wear the same uniform. While most of these uniforms are correct we seem to be portraying the unit as all stages of the war at each event. In order to show the public at each event the true uniformity of a unit in the Eastern Theatre we need to start getting the same uniform combinations. This month’s item is the forage cap. There are few pieces of equipment or uniform that visually defines the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac more then the forage cap. The forage cap is the most important piece of uniform for reenactors and is the most visible at all times. With all this in mind, the need for a quality forage cap is obvious.
There were several styles of forage caps during the war with the most common being manufactured by Lewis J. & Issac Phillips of New York. During the war Phillips manufactured around 800,000 caps. Below is an early war enlisted LJI Phillips Type 1 forage cap.
Today several companies make quality reproduction of the LJI Phillips Type 1 forage cap.
Dirty Billy Hats- Campaigner quality, I have personally bought several hats from Dirty Billy including this one and they are all top quality. Make sure you visit his store some time in Gettysburg. http://www.dirtybillyshats.com- $100
Wambaugh, White, & Company- Campaigner quality. I have inspected one of these hats that Adam Nini just bought and the quality is also top rate. The only difference I see between this hat and Dirty Billy’s hat is that the liner is a difference color. Wambaugh is a mail order only business but is based out of the Lansing area. http://www.wwandcompany.com- $95
Cheaper but less authentic forage caps are available from several mainstream sutlers. The closest is: Fall Creek Sutlery- General quality. http://www.fcsutler.com- $55
Many of you may think that buying authentic items is very cost prohibitive but this month’s item is a good case in point. The difference between blanket wool and a first rate reproductions is only $40. For most of our summer events the forage cap would be best piece of headgear to wear. Also if we all could get forage caps this would be the first step in the right direction of portraying a more authentic group.
FIRST PERSON
One item that has been lacking around the First Michigan at events is first person. First person is another way to create moments of immersion into the Civil War. First person also puts on a very good and educational presentation to the public. “First person” is the act of portraying a person from the past. This mean doing things like referring to everything in the present tense, having knowledge of how and about what people spoke, and otherwise staying in character. This goal is to make other people, including your comrades, spectators or any other audience feel that they are interacting with a historical persona and not a modern man. The first step in developing first person with our group will be making a general biography of your life if you actually were in the civil war. We all can come up with a few items that our persona experienced or saw and from knowing each others first person character we can better carry on historic conversations.
What’s in a bio:
Name (your name) Enlistment date, location Date of Birth, Location (1861- roughly your age), (your choice) Date of Marriage, Location, Spouse Name Medical- eyes (color), hair (color), complexion (fair, light, worn, etc.), height Occupation- (civil war version of your occupation, i.e. engineer=surveyor) One Paragraph bio (Most 1st Michigan soldiers were usually second generation Americans. They were born in New England and moved to settle the state in the years before the civil war. This then led to your current occupation in Michigan, these are just rough guidelines, just try and keep it as realistic and authentic as possible. )
My Biography as an example:
Name: Keith Rigoni Enlistment: 2nd Cpl May 1st, 1861 1st Sgt September 16th, 1861 Date of birth- Feb 15, 1836 Albany County, NY Medical- brown eyes, brown hair, fair complexion, 6’1” Occupation- Surveyor, Storekeeper Bio- Moved to Michigan in 1850 when my family started a homestead in Marshall. I graduated from the University of Michigan in 1858 where I caused quite a bit a trouble with Elon Farnsworth. After graduation I got a federal appointment as a surveyor and plotted farms in Kalamazoo for two years before returning to Marshall to start a dry goods store and joined the local militia company. After serving in the 1st Michigan Regiment 3 month regiment as a corporal I used my political connections obtained through the land office to be appointed 1st Sergeant in the reorganized 3 year regiment.
Dates for your bio, 1st Michigan Muster dates:
May 1st, 1861 (Three Month Regiment) September 16th, 1861 (Three Year Regiment) Or you could have been a later replacement with date of your choice.
After you have developed a civil war bio please submit it to me to be posted under you photo on the website.
WEBSITE
The First Michigan’s website is now online at www.firstmichiganinfantry.com. The need for a website became readily apparent with so many people needing information on the upcoming events the First Michigan is hosting. The website already contains most of the vital information about our group, recruiting and events that we are hosting. During the coming months a lot more information will be posted. If you have any ideas or suggestions about the site just shoot me a line. There are several emails available through the website already that will hopefully aid in getting information to the group as well as to other interested parties.
You can now refer question about Niles to: Niles@firstmichiganinfantry.com About recruiting to: Recruiting@firstmichiganinfantry.com And about the website to: Webmaster@firstmichganinfantry.com
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
The schedule of events can be found HERE on the website or on the next page for the printed version.
COMIC STRIP
An anonymously submitted Comic strip has started arriving in the mail. I will begin posting these comics monthly.
THE MULE KICK BY R.E. TREAT
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