Taken September
18, 1999, at the Chickamauga Reenactment
15th Wisconsin is forward on the
right under smoke puff from shell burst
Photo courtesy of Svend Olsen and
family.
|
Taken September
18, 1999, at the Chickamauga Reenactment |
The photo shows an early phase of the "Assault of Heg's Brigade" battle scenario, which took place at the reenactment of the September 19-20, 1863 Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia. The reenactment was held near Ringgold, Georgia, just a few miles from the original Chickamauga battlefield. The Assault of Heg's Brigade was intended to reprise the original fighting that took place around Viniard's Farm on the first day of the battle.
In the foreground of the photo are Federal (Union) Infantry reenactors portraying the regiments of General Carlin's Brigade, which were at this point being held in reserve. In the middleground of the photo is a line of Federal Infantry reenactors who are portraying the regiments of Heg's Brigade. On the right end of this line are the left and right wings of the 15th Wisconsin, with the 15th's National flag standing between them.
Carlin's and Heg's brigades were, respectively, the 2nd and 3rd brigades of General Davis' 1st Division of General McCook's 20th Army Corps, which was called the Army of the Cumberland.
The photo shows the 200 or so reenactors who were there portraying the 15th Wisconsin. This was about the same number of soldiers that the original 15th took into the fighting at Viniard's Farm. The long line of Heg's Brigade shown in the photo contains some 700 reenactors. Altogether there were some 2,000 Federal Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery reenactors on the field during the Assault of Heg's Brigade. They were opposed by an estimated 3,000 Confederate reenactors.
At the point in the reenactment that this photo was taken, little other than artillery firing had occurred. The haze in the air in the photo was part cannon smoke and part dust raised by the movement of thousands of reenactors. The ground was very dry and dusty, just as it had been during the original battle. Later in the reenactment the smoke and dust settled over the scene like a thick fog, just as it had in the original battle.
This page Copyright 1999
Scott Cantwell Meeker, Deep
Vee Productions.
All Rights Reserved. Last updated October 25, 1999.