Although it threatened rain on Thursday, the rest of the weekend was almost perfect at Olustee this year. The artillery camp was as farby as usual, but we managed to Þnd a spot on the back side this year which removed us from much of the confusion. As usual there were scores of suttlers, and even the most jaded shopper could find something of interest.

This year there was a battle on Saturday afternoon as well as on Sunday. The PLA fought alongside of our fellow DSAB members, the 22nd Heavy Georgia, and had a good time. We got to be somewhat mobile, limbering and unlimbering the guns several times, and moving them on and off of the field.

After the battle on Sunday, we had a chance to do something unique. A certain veteran artillery reenactor had died recently, and his last request was that his ashes be fired from cannon across the battle field. We had about 20 guns all loaded with small cartridges bearing his ashes, and we took turns firing salutes across the field until all the guns had fired.