The Palmetto Battalion

The Civil War
reenactors organizaton
of South Carolina


The April 2008 issue of The Vindicator is available online. 
(It's the one at the top)

The Vindicator has been moved out of the Members Camp so everyone can enjoy this fine publication. Our push to encourage you to view the newsletter here on the website is really an effort to save money.  A dollar and twenty cents doesn't seem like alot until you multiply it by four or five hundred people. Then again by 6 times per year.  That's about 3000.00 that can be used to finish the restoration of a flag, keep a piece of South Carolina history from being sold on the private market, or another worthwhile project.

145th Gettysburg. The Battalion will be attending the 145th anniversary Gettysburg event over the long weekend of July 4-6.  Gettysburg has a mystique that entices people like moths to a flame.  Is it the great extent of the battlefields, or the unprecedented number of monuments?  Maybe it's the acknowledged "high water mark" of the Southern effort to gain independance.  You'll have to go to find out for yourself.  Allow yourself a couple extra days because you'll need at least that to see everything, and that might be the quick tour.

We have a good number of people registered already and are pushing to get enough to make our own battalion on the field.  A recent count shows that we have 102 total people going with the Battalion.  Allowing for civilians and officers, that looks like about 75 rifles.  It looks like we'll be able to stand as our own battalion.  Three 25 man companies is well enough, but three 30 man companies would look marvelous.  If you haven't already registered, come on let's get with it.   Call your pards that haven't been out of the house for a while and convince them to go.  It's only 8 or 9 hours up the road without scaring the kids.  You can leave the house after roll call and still have you dog set up before dark.  If you stop by JR's to stock up on cigars, allow another 2 hours.

The registration is now 30.00 and has been extended until April 30th.   That may include an additional 5.00 fee to cover the expense of wagons to be used by our brigade.  They are not allowing walk-ons.  There is no mention of whether they'll allow substitutions.  Event information can be found at the Gettysburg Reenactment website.   Information more specific to our Battalion can be found at the Gettysburg topic on our bulletin board.

Remember, the event is what you make of it.  A good group of pards and you're going to have a good time.  That's what we're talkin' about, so round 'em up and start makin' plans.

145th Chickamauga.  This is a North South Alliance event and since we're members of the Army Of Tennessee, we have a place at the table.   The event is in September and registration is 10.00 due by May 31st.  I see some hubbub starting to stir about this one.  And rightly so.  The NSA is known for associating with quality events and the AoT has their act together.  And it's not real far, with the site about 2 hours beyond Atlanta.  We'll have more information before long.

Writing about the roster makes me think of attendance.  It's possible that you could be a Battalion member and not have attended any events.   Attendance has a bearing on your individual voting status, and your units existance as well as staff voting status.  It's clearly explained in the  bylaws.

Attendance problems over the years have been traced back to the conveyance of the necessary information to the Battalion adjutant.   The responsibility for that does not lie with the adjutant. He is charged with receiving and recording the information.  The responsibility really belongs to your unit rep.  The Battalion has requested that an attendance roster for your unit be turned in to the adjutant on the Sunday of the event.  If not on Sunday, bylaw 5b requires it to be received within 30 days of the event.  This point is very important to understand.  Getting the information to the adjutant also includes the means by which it was sent.  If the envelope containing the info got lost in the U.S. Postal System, the adjutant did not receive it and consequently is not yet responsible for it.  To be sure that the unit rep has successfully completed his task, he should check the roster or contact the adjutant to be certain the information was duely received.  During this part of his task he should notice if something is amiss and take it up with the adjutant then, not the Thursday night before Boone Hall or Saturday morning before elections.

The morning roll is not the same.  It's taken by the first sgt takes and given to the the sgt. major, who then gives it to the adjutant.  That's so the commanders at the event will know the numbers for whatever scenarios are to take place, not for keeping up with Battalion membership.

Attendance.  In an effort to reduce confusion and facilitate the adjutants duties before elections, we've added the Attendance Roster to this site.   The Sgt. Major has been bragging on how the 1st Sgts. and unit reps have been so good about getting the rosters turned in.  If you see that you've been omitted from an event, have your unit rep or 1st Sgt. contact the adjutant with the correction.

The roster is displayed in PDF format.  If that's not familiar to you, click here for an explanation of what it is and directions on how to install the viewer.

Mystery Monument.  In the Photo Album, there's a feature we're calling the Mystery Monument.  The Lt. Colonel must think our monuments aren't challenging enough so he sent one of his own in.  See if you know where it's at.

Past mysteries can be seen on the Monuments page in the Photo Album.  While you're traveling around and see a Civil War monument, take a picture and send it in.  We'll use it here and over time we'll have a fine collection in the album.  But it's not fair to guess your own submission!