I attended what was advertised as the Mansfield "Ghost Tour" Saturday night up at the Mansfield Battlefield along with my brother, who happens to be a vietnam vet. I have stated here on the board in past years how I despised the idea that folks would use cemeteries and actual graves of soldiers as Halloween props to make a profit off Halloween. However, the Louisiana Division SCV newsletter that I learned about the event from stated this was to be a strictly "Living History" type of event. I phoned the Battlefield museum to check on this and decided to go see for myself what this was going to be.

I was a bit nervous about my brother going with me. He has never attended any type of reenactment and the idea of bringing up what may be painful memories for him was also a concern. I felt relieved when our guide made it clear, before he "got into character" that this was definately not a Halloween event.

I am not going to bore anybody with the details of the event except I wish to say that I was happy to see the reenactors were doing this as a way to show folks what the soldiers had to live through on the night of April 8, 1864. I was told that each "scene" we stopped at was taken from actual recorded events.

I walked away with my brother feeling pretty good about how the event was handled. I felt good to believe the event was done to honor the men. To emphasize this the museum was open free of charge to all visitors for this event.

I drove two hours to attend the event then two hours home. The event lasted about 45 minutes. There were no sutlers or sales of any type to distract one's attention. Folks will have to decide whether a short event such as that is worth a long drive. But if one does live close enough to make the trip I recommend it. My brother walked out saying he wished we could have spent more time and now says he wants to go to Camp Moore with me in November. Evidently, it stired his interest.

My compliments to the reenactors, volunteers and Mansfield State Historic Site peronel who pulled this off. Job well done :-)