We went to a Civil War reenactment this afternoon - the Battle of Chalk Bluff near St. Francis up on the Arkansas-Missouri border.
It was small - about a tenth the size of the battles staged every June at Billie Creek Village near Rockville, Ind. - but the crowd was enthusiastic and everyone seemed to be having a good time.
Here's a somewhat incongruous shot of a Union soldier sharing a digital image on his Olympus camera with his buddies.
We also chatted with a couple whose 7-year-old son is wild about the Chalk Bluff event. Today was the fifth time he's been to the annual affair. The first time was when he was 2 and in a stroller. His parents say he talks about it all year long. I expect to find him being a drummer boy in Confederate gray in a couple of years.
Here's a photo of the t-shirt his mother was wearing. She claims an ancestor of hers rode with Quantrill's Raiders in the Civil War - a claim that can get you into a fight in some bars in eastern Kansas or western Missouri. We're reminded frequently that, for a lot of folks around here, the Civil War is far from over and done with.