Reenactment Spectators

When we go to reenactments, we get to see a broad array of spectators.  For our smaller events, there are times when we will be lucky to see a handful of people.  On the other hand, there are also times when we might see thousands.  The most spectators that we ever saw at an event were at the 150th Gettysburg Reenactment, as seen in this picture.  Our unit was on the left of the line so we were closest to the first row of grandstand seating.  Here you can only see about a quarter of the spectators on the least crowded day.  There was also grandstand seating behind us and to our extreme far right behind Confederate lines.  Besides just spectators, the 150th Gettysburg was also a record for me in respect to reenactors.  There were about 30,000 reenactors who brought 156 cannons, and over 2,000 horses.  It was so full that we had to create a double line of cannons for Pickett’s Charge on the final day of the event.  When we have a double line, we need to put a row of cannons right in front of another row, plus the multiple columns of infantry right in front of us.  The Confederates decided to spread out instead, and their line of artillery was close to a mile in length.