6, August 1876 (+135)
To: General U. S. Scout
Headquarters Grand Army of the Frontier
Near Washington City
Copies to: (Bvt.) Col. Major Matt Lewis Chief of Staff,
(Bvt.) Col. Drydock Chief of Ordnance,
(Bvt. ) Col. Bull Schmidt Adjutant ,
and The ladies and gentlemen of the GAF at large
Sir:
I have the honor to submit my report following the 2011 Department of the Missouri Headquarters Muster of the Grand Army of the Frontier.
Except for a straggler or two, the men arrived Thursday afternoon and evening. The weather was quite hot, though I believe it was cooler than most of the same excursion one year ago. After an excellent meal of Cowboy Cheese Steak, the men busied themselves setting up camp and preparing for the action that they were sure to see on the morrow. Preparations were complete by the coming of darkness, and the men found themselves engaged in getting reacquainted and entertaining each other with stories.
Friday morning the men breakfasted on a hearty breakfast that Delmonico had prepared. Operations commenced with the Expansion Era Match side match. As it was last year, this match was held using the skirmish format but with a new twist; all knockdown silhouettes. The Blunt silhouette targets are challenging and quite enjoyable to see fall. This format requires fewer squad members to run each stage as there are no spotters needed. A timer/Range Officer and 2 brass shaggers are all that is really needed to run one of these stages safely. Either the target fell or it didn’t. If it didn’t it is shot again until it does. This requires no mathematical computations for time penalties. Since reloads are an integral part of this format the shooter is expected to be able to safely load his weapon on the stage. The shooter therefore approaches the start line weapons empty, loads and holsters his side arm and then loads the rifle. The clock starts on his first shot. He moves through the course engaging targets as they present themselves. There are no procedural penalties because the shooter shoots the targets as they are seen, and thus no sweeps to memorize. The brass shaggers follow picking up the empties as they go. The Timer/RO of course maintains safety during the match. Following completion of the course the shooter demonstrates empty guns to the RO and as this small group retreat through the course back to the starting line the targets are reset.
Following a late lunch the group commenced the long range rifle match. The 400 yard long range rifle match was once again found to be quite challenging. This long range match was a paper match. The participants were allowed 5 sight in shots followed by 10 shots for score. 2 men at a time went following each other. After the targets were scored the next pair fired their sighters. After restoring ourselves with an outstanding evening meal we busied ourselves with preparations for the coming day’s action and renewing old acquaintances. After the weather cooled a bit the command set the targets for the next day.
The Main match utilized the same format as the Expansion Era Match did. It should be noted that several of the participants of this Muster had never shot a match that followed the skirmish format. I heard nothing but positive comments from them. In fact the newest member of the GAF Stu Kettle; who comes to use from SASS, obviously had no problem adapting to the new format as he shot the match in the fastest time. So fast in fact, that his time for the entire match was less than most of us shot a single stage.
As an example of what a skirmish stage might be like I will describe the final stage we shot Saturday evening. The shooter found himself stationed in the earth works in front of Fort Scotsman. The enemy hoard is fast approaching and the shooter is down to only 5 rounds rifle and 5 rounds pistol on his person. He shoots the rifle targets on his front until his rifle ammunition is gone and starts his retreat to the fort. On the way he is jumped by five more enemies at close range he pulls his side arm and eliminates this threat. One last enemy is in his way so he fixes bayonet and clears his path. At the fort he replenishes his ammunition and clears the enemy in the front including any that he missed while he was still outside the fort walls. For most participants, this stage took between 20 and 30 rounds of rifle ammunition and the 5 pistol rounds.
I totaled the scores early Sunday morning and the certificates were awarded to the men. At this point we broke camp and the men returned to their home quarters.
Our mess consisted of 14 Brave souls including camp followers. This number had been reduced by a number of family emergencies including 2 separate funerals. Pre-registration was half again more than last year and I fully expect this number to grow until I have to cap it to keep the number of participants at a manageable number, both for the cook and for squad size.
Here I should thank a number of people: The Sargent Lions Club for sponsoring the insurance; Lt. Col. Dusty Tagalon for printing the winners certificates; Lt. Col. Ned Neiderlander, for building the traveling trophies and his efforts building camp equipage, the targets and props (the Maxim guns were really cool, Y’all shoulda seen them) Major Bowview Haymaker for donating the outhouse; Capt. River City John for donating the door prize; and finally Capt. Delmonico. For those of you who missed this match, the food alone was reason enough to come to this Muster. It is simply amazing what Delmonico can make in dutch ovens. Thanks Glen!
Improvements to the range and camp site have already begun for next year!
RESULTS:
Department Champion: Chuck Luetkemeyer – 1st Marksman, 1st Field Uniform
Main Match:
Marksman
1st D. Chuck Luetkemeyer ( Col. Drydock)
2nd LesRichardson (Pony Express)
Rifleman
1st Dale Beethe (Lt. Col. Ned Neiderlander)
2nd Jerry Davenport (Pitspitr)
3rd Donnie Luetkemeyer (Cpl. Chauffeur)
Scout
1st Stu Kettle
2nd River City John
3rd Bowview Haymaker (Paul Arens)
Field Uniform
1st Chuck Luetkemeyer
2nd Jerry Davenport
3rd Les Richardson
Camp Award
1st D. Chuck Luetkemeyer ( Col. Drydock)
Expansion Era Match
Expansion Era Champion: Dale Beethe (1st Regular, Second Uniform)
Regular
1st Dale Beethe
2nd Jerry Davenport
Volunteer
1st Les Richardson
2nd Chuck Luetkemeyer
Guardsman
1st Steve Summers (Stu Kettle)
2nd Donnie Luetkemeyer (Cpl. Chauffeur)
3rd Bowview Haymaker (Paul Arens)
Expansion Era Uniform
1st Jerry Davenport
2nd Dale Beethe
Long Range Rifle
Marksman
1st Chuck Luetkemeyer
2nd Jerry Davenport
3rd Les Richardson
Regular
1st Dale Beethe
2nd Paul Arens
Rifleman
1st Donnie Luetkemeyer
2nd Steve Summers
3rd Jerry Davenport
4th Dale Beethe
Scout
1st Paul Arens