Lost in '64
Do you really want to become lost in old Florida? Once a year you have that opportunity at the Olustee Battle Re-enactment in Baker County at the Olustee State Park. While I have attended most of the 49 re-creations of the Confederate victory over Union forces intent upon bringing Florida under Federal control, for the past five years I have sought out a trio of North Carolina ruffians.
Usually I arrive as early as I can on Saturday and Sunday mornings, just when John Segale, Scott Baumgarner and John Chovis are putting eggs and sausage and other unknown additions into their frying pan. Donning DD beards long before they were the rave, these men annually transport me into the realm of 1864. But you must come early and take your time. If you are rushing about with the crowds trying to get a good seat at the battlefield, you will miss the real essence of being transported back.
This year(2014) the trio told of camping out at Gettysburg, when around dusk, with football field length openness on all sides of their camp, an officer comes walking down the hill, covered in soot, in search of three ladies. "You seen three ladies in those hoop skirts?" the officer asks. They strike up a conversation and he says what company he is 'attached' to. Baumgarner, knowing his history, when he hears 'attached', knows that term used only back in the 1860's. When Segale wants to show him something from his tent, when he turns, the officer has disappeared. They described to the re-enactors of this officers regiment and not a man recognized him. They had spoken with one of the apparitions often seen at such events. I just enjoy standing on the perimeter of their camp, not being intrusive or interjecting my ignorance, learning from them. Seagle, the senior in the trio, runs a railroad museum in Cherryville, NC. He says too many Yankees are invading it lately. A gun collector, he said as a boy his daddy would set him on the hill from the still and if anyone approached, fire the double-barrel once, giving them time to break down the moonshine still.
They had a rough going this year getting to their camp, telling how they made a wrong turn down a wet Osceola Forest road and became stuck Friday evening. Scott hiked out, found a park service person who came with a wench and pulled them out.
"I may pull your vehicle apart", the ranger said. Chovis in his dry wit said, "Go ahead and pull her apart, I'll put her back together when we get out." Wonderful men, great humor balanced with a serious concern for the condition of our country 150 years later.
From left to right, posing with a history class from Orlando, John Segale, Scott Baumgarner and John Chovis.
I did not make this years battle getting over a stroke, and last year the trio weren’t in attendance. 2025.
