The Andrus Family: Bentonville Battle

This last weekend we went to an annual even in Four Oaks called "The Battle of Bentonville". It's a reenactment of a Civil War battle. It was fought on March 19-21, 1865 and was the last full-scale action of the Civil War in which a Confederate Army was able to mount a tactical offensive. This major battle, the largest ever fought in North Carolina, was the only significant attempt to defeat the large Union army of General William T. Sherman during its march through the Carolinas in the spring of 1865. Of course there is a lot more to the story, but I don't feel like typing it all. Here is a link from the sight if you'd like to read it yourself. It is really quite interesting http://www.nchistoricsites.org/bentonvi/bentonvi.htm.
We got there around 11 and walked around the event sight for awhile. They had a huge camp set up in front that was recreated to look like the old union camp. It was huge and the actors were dressed in appropriate attire for the time period. I loved the dresses the women wore, so fun, but did not envy them in the summer heat. They had another huge area where you could purchase food, and also a merchants area filled with many random things. 1800's style dresses, bonnets, old fashion candy, play guns, real rifles and knives. Jason wanted a gun and I told him if he could find one under $60 he could get it :) haha! Well you can imagine that there was no such thing. I think the cheapest may have been around $250. After touring around the Harper House, where the wounded had been taken after the battle, we headed down the road to the battle grounds. We had to to wait until 1 when they opened the gate. Once inside we got a nice spot, around row 4-5 and waited and waited. The actual battle didn't start until 3 and so we sat out in the hot sun for 2 hours! It was toasty warm! The battle soon started and we enjoyed watching it. 15 minutes in Morgan got fussy because it was past time for her nap. Jason took her to the back into the shade and let me enjoy the rest of the battle. So sweet of him :) I was surprised that the cannon's didn't scare her. She did have some ear plugs in but still, they were loud. Super loud! The battle took an hour and then we headed home to get ready for Stake Conference. We were really tired and Morgan's sleeping schedule got messed up, but it was worth it!