Members of the 2nd Florida
Volunteers Living History, Inc. (a detachment from Company E of the 2nd
Florida Volunteers, Battery A of the 2nd Florida Light Artillery and two
members of our civilian auxiliary) gave a Living History presentation to Boy
Scout troop 590 in
First Sergeant French led the
Infantry detachment, which included Second Sergeant Saunders, Corporal
Saunders, and Private McCarthy. Paula
Coutu and her daughter Hannah represented the Civilian Auxiliary.
Captain Speir and his adjutant
Corporal Speir represented the Artillery. Two
tents were set up to demonstrate our field conditions to the assembly.
After the salute to the colours and
a quick introduction, First Sergeant French began the presentation with
excerpts form the Manual of Arms. He
then performed a weapons inspection. Second
Sergeant Saunders inspected First Sergeant French’s musket with proper
military attention to his duty. First
Sergeant then used Corporal Saunders in a demonstration of each soldier’s
accoutrements. The infantry
detachment them proceeded to enlist volunteers from the scouts to learn some
of the more basic facing drills.
Once the infantry presentation was
concluded, Captain Speir proceeded to provide an overview of the types and
uses of artillery, as well as the types and uses of ordinance during the
war. The infantry detachment then
re-enlisted their volunteers for a more practical demonstration of the
effects of artillery when fired from the front and from the flank of a line
of infantry. These volunteers were
also used to demonstrate how artillery, and in particular mortars, have
rendered fixed fortifications (fortresses and walled cities) anachronistic
to 1860’s warfare.
At the conclusion of the
presentations, a question and answer period was provided where the history
of the unit and our involvement with the larger Second Florida organization
were discussed. First Sergeant French
passed out contact information for the unit to several interested parties
and there was much interest and discussion. Private
McCarthy discharged his musket twice at the request of the scout leaders,
which looked quite impressive in the low light.
The scouts accorded us every
courtesy and provided warm monkey bread and Cajun goober peas for our
refreshment. All in all, it was a
very pleasurable evening. The Second
Florida was well represented and each member present deported themselves
honourably and with distinction.