I would appreciate it if you have got it readily available. Of course my immediate interest was the part about the Missouri Troops at Fort Pleasent.

As for reenacting I have been of the opinion that you could put a officer in his most splendid Uniform and a bare Nekkid doughboy right side by side and be authentic because of the wide variety of states of dress that there were at different period of time.

This is a classic case. I am sure that what Schaumburg was describing was Clarks and Musser's commands in his report. About 700 men who had just spent a month slogging round in the briars, bayous and underbrush along the west bank of the lower Mississippi River. Traveling as light as they could and avoiding the landing parties that were put ashore to try to track them down.

You know from personal re-enacting experience how quickly jackets, pants and shoes wore out under those conditions. How quickly those "arsenal bright" guns rust when they are not properly cared for. And if you have just spent a month under those conditions your drill wouldn't be parade ground fresh either.

I would bet a dollar to a do-nut that if you were to detailedly examine the facts behind the medical comments Schaumburg makes about the medical condition of the troops in can probably be broken down to those commands who went on the Campaign as compaired to those of Mitchell's 8th Missouri who stayed and garrisoned the Fort. So it is an enlightening document. But only accurate if you know the background information. I wonder what Schaumburgs report would have stated had he reviewed those same troops a month later after they had an oppertunity to refit.

This is also the reason that I think that most of these Missouri boys were wearing Arkansas Depot uniforms from the State prison when they went to Louisiana.

BUT if you didn't know that background information and just read Schaumburg report you would think those old boys were some of the worst troops in the Confederate Army? And how could any commander allow his troops to get in that condition? Schaumburgs comments I feel are more accurately a snapshot of a specific moment in time, and not the normal condition of these troops.