for the longest time

okay, so this post is actually about something that happened a MONTH ago, but oh well. SO, Casie and Lucy and I went to the Annual Brooksville Raid Festival, which commemorates a battle/skirmish/whatever that happened there during the non-civil War. (Read previous post about why the War wasn't technically a Civil War). Fun times! PS- Indian fry bread is AWESOME!

Okay, this is me and Lucy in my car. Don't worry, we were stopped when I took this!


Casie would like everyone to know that our trip was sponsored by Merita sweet sixteen powdered-sugar doughnuts.

So the festival part is full of vendors who make crafts and tasty food like home-made root beer and Indian fry bread. This is guy had a blacksmith exhibit.

The participants in the Raid stay in camps like the soldiers would have back then. Complete with little canvas tents and camp fire cooking. First we toured the Union camp.

And you'll never guess who we ran into there- our old friend Abe Lincoln! haha. Mary Todd looked kinda grumpy. Maybe war's not really her thing... "Abe, why do we always have to go to your things... what about my knitting circle? geesh..."

This guy was resting up before the big battle.

Next we moved it on over to the Confederacy Camp. It was definitely much more populated and festive. The food looked better, they had more stuff, AND the people seemed to be having a big party.

Yep, definitely the South:

I didn't see any wagons at the Union Camp... I'm just sayin is all...

While we were over there, the Confederates had a little "Inspection" of the new troops.

Let the battle begin! It actually is quite a slow process, because all the troops have to move around the battle field and do all this strategic maneuvering. It really makes it evident how much war has changed. Eventually guys on horses start riding around. This is them:

They have cannons. And they were LOUD. And sometimes they would make smoke rings that floated up in the sky for a long time. It was cool. At times fire even shot out!

This picture was taken towards the end of the battle. You can see some of the guys laying down. Sometimes they would "die" and then after a while get back up and keep fighting. Towards the end though, they mostly stayed dead. The confederate party was pretty much over.

All in all, it was a lot of fun! I definitely recommend it, especially on a day as pretty as we had. I mean, its mostly cool for the educational value, since you already know how it ends. But it is neat to see everyone all dressed up in costume and everything. Maybe next year Casie and I will get some big ol' hoop skirts and bonnets and try our luck as Southern Belles. Maybe. : )