Naturally all organizations begin from an idea, but ours just might be slightly different than most. After the disbanding of the O.H. Booth Hose Fife & Drum Corp, five of it's members already being civil war buffs deceided to join the ranks of the reenactors. Well, this is no cheap ordeal. There is a certain amount of items needed just to join and attend the first reenactment. Then you find out all the other items needed for camp and so on. Now this may not be to frustrating and expensive for one individual, however try completely outfiting three. Ed and his two son's and I and my two stepson's, the bill was some what scary.

Things were so sad, that at our first reenactment there were six of us and only three rifles. So Ed and I volunteered for guard duty at camp while three son's fought and one was a messenger. At night, thank goodness for those 20th century tents (pop-ups) and that meal cooked over the camp fire, (from McDonalds) which was eaten with authentic plates cups and silverware, (also complements of McDonalds) and as for the lanterns and candles, well, we roughed it. On a dark night yes you can walk into a tree. It's sad when six people forget just one flashlight.

To make matters even more fun, the company commander sent a detail to find us since we missed roll call. We were placed under guard for desertion, (hey, this may be a hobby but they play the game as if it were real) so our punishment was policeing the area and fetching fire wood, (for their fire).

Well Ed and I discussed the situation several times, and one day I receive a phone call from a very excited man shouting he has an idea on how we can make some money to help offset these expenses. Now Ed has had some good, and some not so good idea's in the past but it was worth the trip to find out. When I arrived at his house he was waiting in his driveway waving his arms and saying, "I got it I got it".

Ed began explaining his idea. Since there is so many parades in this area and they are always needing music, lets start a small drum corp.There are six of us counting little Eddie whom Ed had taught to drum. We all have our instruments, and if we do a civil war group we got the uniforms and equipment and we only have to do it long enough to get fully outfitted. And so began the Confederate reenactors with two fifes, two snare drums and two bass drums. A temporary idea turned permanent and grew.

This is the true story, I hope you found it as amusing as we did living it.

Story told by Art Daniels