"Aerial Photographs of Reenactments?" Topic

I'm painting 6mm, and I'm curious to see how an ACW battle would look from the air.

Does anybody know of web links to ACW battle reenactments photographed from an airplane flight, or a balloon?

These are not the best but all I could find for now.

skyperspectives.com/events.html

There are some great shots from a more authentic event that was put on in West Virginia 3 years ago but Ill have to dig to find them. If you can find a copy, the American Heritage War Atlas has some great paintings from the aerial perspective.

link

Sean

I'll second Sean on American Heritage. These are the coolest paintings ever from an aerial perspective! These paintings are what got me into the whole "litte men" thing in the late 60's. I would spend hours looking and dreaming of "wouldn't it be cool if you had little guys & trees & rivers…" that of course let to Airfix figures & the rest is history.

The trouble is that most reenactments are tiny compared to the real thing. Even for the film "Gettysburg" where they assembled 5000 reenactors to recreate Pickett's charge was less than HALF the size of the real event.

I participated in the Gettysburg reenactment back in '98. That was huge. Some reports say there was close to 35,000 reenactors there. Some of the recreated battles were so huge (numbers wise) that they had to cycle in brigades during the battle so everyone could play.

The skyperspective images are quite interesting. However, note that there are far too many cannons on the field vs infantry and the shot was taken in California, so the terrain and landscape is far different than say Virginia. Also, in a reenactment, generally, horses are greatly under represented in the artillery and support. Finally, distances are far shorter than real life. Simply put the reenactors have to use the available space rather than be spaced correctly. For example, cannon fire that should be at say 500 yards might be at 100 yards.

Ceterman…haha that book did the same for me! My father gave me his copy when I was a kid, the rest as they say, is history. Now my place is over run with minis, terrain, and reenacting gear.

Sean

Terry, I was at Gettysburg '98 – what an event that was for a first-timer come all the way from New Zealand!

As far as I recall, they had almost the right number of men for Pickett's Charge.

I've never seen an aerial view of it, though I do have the official reenactment video which has some crane shots.

Not quite an aerial shot, but a pretty good panorama of the Gettysburg 135th nevertheless:

link

Don't forget to scroll to the right.

And on YouTube:

link

"I participated in the Gettysburg reenactment back in '98. That was huge. Some reports say there was close to 35,000 reenactors there."

"As far as I recall, they had almost the right number of men for Pickett's Charge."

Er … I disagree:
"Historical accuracy was of great concern to the producers and director. … and "recruited" more than 5000 unpaid re-enactors to fill up the screen during the battle scenes"
link

The actual Pickett's charge involved 15,000 Confederate troops:
"Some 15,000 Confederate troops assaulted Cemetery Ridge, held by about 10,000 Federal infantrymen."
Encyclopedia Britannica

Iv'e been playing 6mm for 25 years it is the only scale where battles look right, especially of you put on the terrain.

I recently sold my 6mm and went in to 10mm see Picketts charge at Derby for 10mm phots, maybe that will give you some idea.

Martin

Sorry but Mike is wrong about the Getyysburg reenactment. He is on about the film, the 1998 show had a total reeneactors of just over 20,000.
The unpaid actors Mike mentioned, were reenactors, I talked to two from the 4th Texas who did it. They would only do it if the story was changed to fit the truth of the areas of conflict, it was not the directors who decided this.

The 150th already has well over 20,000 reenactors booked.

Recently I stayed with the Gettysburg club for five days and learnt so much. Two of the gamers were Park Rangers who know the history more than any of us, I have studied Gettysburg since 1983 and lectured on it once and I still learnt off of those guys. I was even presented with a book by the author of " The Struggle for the Bliss farm Gettysburg" by Elwood Christ (thanks Woody)an excellent book of reference.

Hope that helps

Yeah, I was talking anout the 1993 film. As I said above "Even for the film "Gettysburg" …"

That said (and thanks for the correction) I still stand by my original comment:
"The trouble is that most reenactments are tiny compared to the real thing."

From the looks of the film, the union army won because of logistics! A pretty chubby group! Did they sit on the Rebs at the Bloody Angle?

The body shape is very 6mm though!

To be clear: I was specifically talking about the 1998 Gettysburg reenactment, not the movie, in my previous posts. The photos and video clip I included in my posts are from that reenactment.

According to the figures bandied about at the time, there were 23,000 reenactors, including 700 cavalry and 135 cannons, present at the reenactment. There were around 100,000 spectators over the three days of the reenactment.

Paddy Griffen (sp) book battle in the Civil War has some drawing from an overhead perspective. As to using reenactment videos or stills I would advise against it. The regimental flank markers at Gettysburg indicate a much smaller frontage then many of the gamers tend to use in most of the rules out there. location of reserves, and 2nd echelon units in an assault are also faulty in many interpretations and modeling of the battlefields.

VR
James Mattes

"The regimental flank markers at Gettysburg indicate a much smaller frontage then many of the gamers tend to use in most of the rules out there."

I've run into that also while mapping out units at Chickamauga.

Snorbens,
I was one of the 60,000. That was an awesome display. You guys did a great job. I've been back once since the. Hope to get there again soon. Thanks for the job you guys do.
Mike

I was at that 98 event and led Armsteads brigade out on the field. Our brigade was 150 men short of the real thing. T believe there was over 35,000 there to be hones. I had never seen so many in one place.

I was there too, but on the Union side. My unit portrayed the Pennsylvania brigade that initially refused to charge forward into the Angle to repel the Rebels. They went in later (as did we). Still, it was pretty good just being a close-in "spectator" to the main action. When we did finally move up and fire our rifles, we were in a formation 4 ranks deep, with the front two kneeling, and my unit standing. You can just imagine the smoke & noise!

An unforgettable event, for sure.

I too was there but busy selling books out of my tent on sutler's row. Did leave the store a time or two to see part of the battle. Awesome.

At 135th Gettysburg, my brother and I were both trailing the lines, working as Confederate assistant surgeons/medics (period and modern). Pickett's Charge was huge, even from the inside. And there were other scenarios going on that weekend, too. I remember during the Culp's Hill fight that I crawled INTO the 14th Brooklyn's fire to care for a (simulated) patient, covering him with my body when the fusillades got hot--literally, 'cause we were getting spattered with burning powder. Meanwhile my unit got shredded and died gloriously around us. Hell, we even got cheered by the Chasseurs for our unit's dramatic demise (no jean-cloth kevlar in our uniforms!)
BTW, if any of you fellow 135th veterans got your canteen water chilled at that event by a couple of short, dumpy Rebel surgeons, that was us.

That 135th reenactment was my first ever reenacting event. What's more, I travelled there from New Zealand, never having even heard of the hobby of reenacting prior to being invited. So what a blast it was for the freshest of fish that I was back then!

I was particularly chudffed to see my photo later on the cover of 'Civil War News', portrayed at the climax of Pickett's Charge:

picture

I've stil got photos and my impressions of the event on my website:

link