John Pietri (23329)
President
The Sea Turtles had an exciting Historic Rally in Lake City, Florida, February 16-18. We stepped back in time to February,1864, to visit the Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park and witness the 160th Anniversary of the Battle of Olustee. This Civil War Battle was the largest battle fought in the State of Florida.
On Friday evening before dinner, we had three soldiers from the 54th Massachusetts Voluntary Infantry, Company A, Reenactors, visit us to talk about The Reenactment and how it was back then. The men were: Joseph C. Zellner who portrayed Pvt. Solomon Pierce, who fought and survived the Battle of Olustee, Sergeants Emmett Bell-Sykes and Gerard Grimes. They talked about how life was back then, the weapons that were used, the clothes they wore and the living conditions. These Reenactors must spend 10 hours of research for every hour that they participate in doing a Reenactment! It was a great presentation, and everyone was excited about seeing the Reenactment on Sunday.
On Saturday, we visited the 46th Annual Olustee Festival and Arts and Crafts Show in down-town Lake City. We also had the opportunity to visit Falling Creek Falls. That evening we had lots of fun with a Civil War Trivia Game led by Ray Evans.
On Sunday, the weather did not cooperate. It was raining in the morning but by the time the Battle of Olustee began, the rain had stopped but it got COLD! Battles take place no matter what the weather and at 1:30 the Battle began. The Confederate Snipers advanced, The Cavalry responded, the Canons began firing and the Battle was on! How exciting to hear those canons fire and see the soldiers advance while firing their rifles. We were witnessing history, and it was thrilling.
Our Rally was honored to have our International Directors Duane Paige & Laurie Hunt with us. They have many new ideas to help grow the Newmar Kountry Klub and I know they are going to be very successful. They are very easy to talk to and they want to hear our ideas for the future.
I will be going back to Olustee next year. It was just awesome to see 1500 men preserving history for us, our children and grandchildren.
We can be contacted at: president.flseaturtles@gmail.com cell: 407-952-0901.
