After Action Report
Ocklawaha River Raid outside Ocala, FL
November 5th - 7th, 2004

Compiled by Pvt. Steven Fowler

Observations:

• First time at this event. Very nice. Well the event was any way. The field was a pain on both our shock absorbers and our pelvis joints. Ouch!! Up and down, up and down, up and down. Those who were there know what I'm talking.
   
• The food was great as usual. Things pretty much ran smoothly. Arriving around 2:00 pm and getting things setup. This is a small event run by Keith Cole's unit. A small number of Sutlers were there as well. One of the big actions was the kid's battle on Saturday. Very neat of Keith's unit to set this up. You have seen the kids always playing, well they took it a step further and made an actual battle out of it. I started about 4:00 pm and lasted way past dark. One of the funny moments was when Will and his unit were making a push thru the Sutlers, a Union kid came up to Will and shot at him with a wooded pistol. Will looked down at his chest, looked up at the kid, looked back down at his chest, pointed at it and with a sweeping motion with his hand and pointed at the sky with a resounding yell of "Ping!!" as if the bullet ricocheted off his chest. Those of us watching were absolutely rolling with laughter. Very good Will!!
   
• The biggest thing about this weekend can be related in one word, CANNON!! This is the first reenactment that the Marine cannon was used. Very cool!! We also ran Von's cannon and worked with Milton's to form a four gun squad. Oh and we had about 6 muskets running as well.

Actions:

• Action Saturday: The battle on Saturday started with most of us running on cannons and about 4 muskets. We ran Von's gun diminished with 3 men (me being one of them). Our gun was run diminished as well. And we were rocking once we setup and got going. I can't say how well the battle went, was concentrating on ramming those rounds in the cannon. We had fun and everyone was excited at how well the cannon was working. Saturday's battle ended with the Confederates loosing.
  
  
• Action Sunday: We were able to get some muskets out and the cannon.  Von's gun was held back today to allow the muskets to get on the field.  The battle again was small and fun.  Folks were even stopping on the road to watch the battle.
  

Members:

• Sean Wells
• John & Krystyne Bateman
• Will Bateman
• Jim & Annette Burke
• Roger & Patsy Scott
• Steve Fowler
• Ira Fogg
• Michelle Crook
• Denice Weigand
• Jamey, Paige & Huston Creel
• Neil Stimac
• Cody Stevans
• James & Mary Ellen Irvin
• Russ, Aaron & Rob (from the 8th Florida)

22 total people, 16 troops and 6 civilians.

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