Cannons blasted and bugles blew

A crowd filled the bleachers lined up along the field adjacent to Heritage Park.

Suddenly, the dull thuds of cannon fire could be heard and plumes of smoke appeared amidst the waving flags, bugles blowing and shouts of Union and Confederate soldiers.

Sabers clacked, swung by soldiers on horseback, the smell of gun powder was thick from both the cannons and the Souave rifles.

"Shoot 'em dead," yelled one infantryman, and the cries of the injured and dying could be heard from both sides of the trench.

The re-enactment of the 1860s war zone, and other living history camps located in Heritage Park, were included in the third annual Old Town Days, presented by the Town of Gardnerville.

The ensuing surgery, 1800s-style, was reportedly enough to make five Carson Valley Middle School students pass out, one get sick, and another get nauseous, according to the surgeon whose persona name is Dr. William Thomas, a Union major. The students attended a school day on the first day of Old Town Days, Friday. The event ran Friday through Sunday, with breakfast provided by the Lions Club, Borges Carriage hayrides and Brockfield pony rides on Saturday, a performance by David John and the Comstock Cowboys Saturday afternoon, a Civil War ball at Sharkey's Casino Saturday night, a church service and a ladies tea on Sunday, plus two or three battles each day.

"We've got wounded men who we're going to work on," the doctor said Sunday afternoon, following the final battle of the weekend held at 1:30 p.m.

Surgical procedures included placing "maggots" - live meal worms - on a neck wound on a "Private Dhrman."

"It's good to have those. It gets all the dead meat," said the surgeon.

"Lois Augusta Lindley" was a surgical assistant.

"One son was killed in the war, my husband's dead. There's nothing to prevent me from going to war," she said.

A Confederate soldier who was detached from the seventh Virginia cavalry, "Corporal Marcus Clark," was supported by two people as he walked into the doctor's camp.

"My horse got killed yesterday so I became infantry," the infantryman said, as another woman surgeon began examining his shoulder wound. "If I survive this, I'm definitely going to recommend more women surgeons in the South."

Attendees were able to view life as it was - watching soldiers clean their guns and ladies perform daily chores - in several tents around the park. Two tents sold merchandise and clothing, reproductions from the era.

For more information, visit the Comstock Civil War Re-enactors Web site at www.ccwr.us.

n Jo Rafferty can be reached at jrafferty@recordcourier.com or 782-5121, ext. 210.