Let's Get Going Again

Good day all, Just a note to you all to say I haven’t forgotten about this event or about Co. Aytch. Now that we are past the hectic finals season (or I am, at least) and I’m down at Chickamauga for the summer I will once again have time to work on organizing. Heck, it’s my job now.

The park staff is excited about having a top-notch group out to represent Watkins and his comrades. His story is so important to our collective understanding of the Western Confederate soldier, that it is imperative that we understand how and why that story was constructed after the war. I hope that you all can help us show these soldiers in a light in which they have never before been seen. This group can help us break up the mythology that surrounds this unit and discuss how important their story is to understanding the coming of the Civil War and its Reconstruction aftershocks.

I know when I got in touch with most of you it was before you all could accurately foresee your schedules for September 19-21. Now that the date is drawing closer, try to drop me a line in the next little while to say you’re still with us. Nothing written in stone, you understand, but just want to start getting a count.

We will likely collect a small registration fee (circa $20) from everyone to cover rations and some extras. I know that travel costs on short budgets will hurt enough, so I don’t want to impose too much. All of our sources say that the boys of the Maury Grays were a gambling set, so I was thinking we might turn your registration dollars into some quality reproduction notes and a few packs of cards so that we might participate in that. Gamble all you want during the weekend, and we’ll split everything up at the end so everyone goes away with their fair share.

Keep checking the blog for updates from me. As we begin to make specific plans for anniversary programs, locations, and activities more specifics will follow. In the meantime, expect some more notes about the prewar and postwar activities endeavors of the boys of the First. If you haven’t already, look over the reading list and pick up one or two of the suggested books there for summer reading. The more you all read, the better our unit impression and the more meaningful the event will be for you.