Dressed in Civil War garb and carrying a blue and white Union flag, pistol in hand, Sam, who has been riding since he was 5, joined around 2,000 American Civil War reenactors on Veterans Day weekend on a make-shift battlefield about 25 miles south of Collierville, Tenn.
Sam was part of a national Civil War event called the Twin Rivers Campaign, featuring the 1862 battles of Ft. Henry and Ft. Donelson. The three-day event, hosted by the Blue-Gray Alliance of Reenactors and The Battle of Collierville Association, was held on a several-thousand-acre ranch in Michigan City, Miss., a site chosen over Collierville, for its size, to accommodate around 2,000 visitors.
Officially, since he wasn’t 16, he wasn’t allowed to shoot a pistol unless ordered and accompanied by an officer, and once, when that happened, the flag got in the way, but he caught the pistol before it dropped, he said. Though they shot blanks, a too close shot could hurt someone, he said.
This was the first Civil War reenactment for Sam, the son of retired U.S. Air Force Col. Samuel Ryals and his wife, Ginger, also an Air Force veteran.
Ginger Ryals, captain and coach of the Top Hands rodeo drill team, said she met William Gay, 54, of Clifton Mills, a professional reenactor, through the entertainment circuit.
He coached her son in his role as an officer’s aide and loaned him a uniform. She, in turn, hauled two of Gay’s horses, along with Sam’s horse, to the event.
Rebels raided the Union camp Saturday night and since Sam was the only one near a .44-caliber Remington, officers okayed his shooting it, saving their group, she said.
The two sides participated in planned battles for daily public shows and unplanned nightly skirmishes, sleeping on hard ground, with hay and blankets as cushions. Temperatures dropped to freezing one night so Sam said he made his bed by a nearby fire, only to be kept up half the night when it grew too toasty when fed periodically by a fellow reenactor.
“It was fun,” said Sam, who made friends behind enemy lines during a midnight raid. He said he is looking forward to next year’s battle at Wilson’s Creek, Mo.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2341 or kullmer@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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