Boys experience cold facts of battle at PRNMP

— Bundled against the wintry March winds, two 12-year-old boys met on different sides of the fence at the Pea Ridge National Military Park Saturday in to commemorate the 149th anniversary of the Battle of Pea Ridge fought March 7-8, 1862.

One boy - Joshua Schafer of Ozark, Mo. - portrayed the drummer boy for the 3rd Louisiana Infantry.

Another - Darick Allen of Garfield and a student at Pea Ridge - was visiting the park with his grandparents and learning a little more about history.

For both boys, relief for the cold was relatively easy to find - either by a propane camp stove or in a warm van. But, for the drummer boy 149 years ago, it wasn’t that easy, as both boys learned.

Allen, the son of David and Tonya Hartsfield, said he went to the park “to see the firing” and was amazed to learn that the old musket balls “ripped through bones.”

Schafer, the eldest of four children of Chris Schafer, said he has been portraying a drummer boy for about two years alongside his father.

“My dad used to do it (reenactments) with his father,” Schafer said, “and he got me interested. My younger brother will be start soon, too.”

Wearing period-style clothing - some of which his father made and some was either purchased or traded for - Schafer and his father joined other reenactors camping at the park this weekend.

Drums, bugles and fifes could be heard in the din of battle, one reenactor explained as he spoke to onlookers about the battle. He explained various forms of firing rifles - by volley or by file, and pointed out two red flags hundreds of yards apart marking the end points of where a line of infantry soldiers would have stood.

“These fields would have been full of soldiers,” he said.

“This morning was super cold,” Joshua Schafer said. “I needed the heater.”

The reenactors camped in tents made similar to the ones used by the Civil War soldiers. Schafer said he likes history - “I was really into it,” he said, adding that his father thought he would be good as a drummer boy since he was a good musician. He said he plays the trumpet in the sixth-grade band in school in Ozark, Mo. “Boys weren’t allowed to carry a gun,” he said.

Schafer’s father confirmed that saying boys as young as 10 might join the company as a drummer boy, but soldiers tried to keep the younger boys out of the fray of battle. He said there wasn’t the paper work there is today to confirm a person’s age.

“I made my pants and shirt,” the elder Schafer said, adding that he buys some reproduction clothing from Robert Serrio of Neosho, Mo.

“He does a lot of research to make things as accurate as possible.”

John Stuart of Neosho, Mo., has been a reenactor since 1985. He is looking forward to the 150th anniversary of the battle of Wilson’s Creek later this year. “My family fought at Wilson’s Creek,” Stuart said.

“Our great-great-grandfather fought for the 2nd Illinois artillery,” Schaffer said.

Both Schafers and Stuart said they enjoy attending reenactments and are looking forward to next year’s 150th anniversary at Pea Ridge.

News, Pages 7 on 03/09/2011