The Battle of Jackson Crossroads

Civil War reenactments are popular around here. They offer adults a chance to be kids again--playing dress-ups and good-guys-and-bad-guys--besides spending the weekend camping out in the woods with friends. What more could you ask?


When it comes to the Battle of Jackson Crossroads, there’s no doubt who the bad guys are. In the original battle (actually, there were two), marauding Union soldiers from the nearby siege on Port Hudson descended on Jackson looking for supplies. The local militia rode out and whipped their thievin’ Yankee asses (twice). Since our lake house lies between Jackson and Clinton not too far from the battle site, I felt like I should be out there givin' a rebel yell with the best of them.

In the reenactment, of course, both sides are, by necessity, played by good Southern boys from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Down here, if reenactment groups didn’t crossdress, they’d never have anyone to fight.


This was my first Civil War reenactment (as a spectator only; I used to go to medieval ones in England), but we had so much fun we’re already planning to go to the Battle of Port Hudson reenactment next year.


As for my own Civil War antecedents, my Tennessee great-grandmother’s four half-brothers all fought in the War Between the States, but they, ahem, fought for the Yanks. Just don’t tell anyone.


And I promise my next post will be on adapting screenplay structure to novels.