CHOOSING THE GROUND AND DRAWING THE LINE

Make sure the spectator-area slopes down toward the battlefield instead of away from it. If not, move it--or get bleachers. This should be obvious, but isn't.

A number of years back, the Gettysburg 130th Pickett's Charge was UNSEEN by thousands who had paid and traveled far to see it--all because the ground sloped away from the field through the middle of the spectator area along the direction of advance.

People in the front row who had been sitting, stood up. Then those directly behind them did too, guaranteeing that everyone behind on that gradually dropping of ground stood no chance at all. That led to incredibly bad behavior from many hundred of spectators. Cursing, booing, shoving--you can imagine. I can't imagine it didn't help to spoil the moment for many of the rebs marching up that side of the field.
While much has been said about poor rained-out Shiloh, the fact is that parts of the ill-defined spectator area appeared to be 1 1/2 feet BELOW the level of the battlefield, bisected by a ditch and sloped back from there. That would have been a problem on a dry day but quickly turned into a wide pool of mud and water on a rainy one.
In addition to the unavoidable rain-storms and mud, Pea Ridge, Arkansas, 1995, also had an avoidable problem. An S-shaped spectator line that snaked along an irregular, relatively shallow battle field. On day 1, the action was on most spectators' far right flank. The next day everyone saw about one-third of the action because people along the snake blocked each others' view. So spectators mostly saw spectators, except those who kept pushing back and forth through the mud and crowd to chase the battle.

SPRING HILL, TENNESSEE

From a rise, you are looking along the spectator line towards the tree-line. It marked roughly the two-thirds point for the spectator line at the battle of Franklin in 1995. The area beyond the trees was the focus of many human wave assaults against the large Federal defensive works--not much of which could have been seen from this position.

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

The spectator line is mostly a symbol, not a real barrier. On 2 1/2 foot stakes, with a little slack, the message is sent clearly, whether by heavy cord, rope, police-line plastic tape. Though a bit flimsy, they're easy to patch, too. A few staff to patrol the line keeps the symbol working.

If using yellow plastic tape, 'slack' means don't make any part of the line tight. Allow a 2 inch droop in the middle of the line between two stakes. Don't just wrap it around a stake. Tie off the tape at each pole as you go so that if a section gets broken the whole line won't go down. Keep extra tape on hand to tie into sections that do get broken.

In August of 1998, at a re-enactment that's been held for several years, the line staff made the line taut and springy, and it broke repeatedly during the battle itself.

Several years ago, at Ida Lee Park, Leesburg, Virginia, the spectator 'line' was heavy duty industrial (orange plastic) net fencing, between 3 and 4 feet high. You could get a clear view by standing up in the front row or, if on a chair, a more limited view by dragging your section down. Or, the most limited view by trying to peek through the 2"by 3" grid holes, if you were in the front row on the ground or on chairs. Quite the viewing challenge.

This fencing choice did keep kids busy throwing themselves on it and bouncing off--even during the battle.

Perhaps industrial strength fencing was required by insurance. But it destroyed the wide open magic of the battlefield that makes these events so special.

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