Photo By Spc. Charles Leitner | A reenactor, dressed in clothing reminiscent of the 1800s, watches a musician play his...... read more read more
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COUNCIL GROVE, Kan. – Before the dust had settled on their drive to Council Grove from Fort Riley, the troopers of the 1st Infantry Division Commanding General’s Mounted Color Guard had gone through a transformation. As though it had carried the same electrical charge as Doc’s Delorean, the troopers emerged the cloud of dust and stepped into a world known only to the pages of history wearing the same wool uniforms worn by ancestors of the United States Army.
Along the Neosho Riverwalk at Council Grove, reenactors traveled from across the country dressed in clothing reminiscent of the old West. Some sat behind small stands, selling trinkets made of bones, medallions and artifacts resembling the era under tents constructed as nomadic museums of sorts showcasing an array of arrowheads, tomahawks, gunpowder horns and rifles with their wooden stocks rotted away, found long ago on some nearby American battlefield.
Influenced by Buffalo Bill’s legendary troupe, the annual Gunfight on the Santa Fe Trail was a Broadway spectacle with a western twang, staged on the streets of Council Grove where for many troopers of the Commanding General’s Mounted Color Guard, it was a surreal moment in which they were able to look back through the lens of history and live as those who came before.
“You get to go back to that late 1800, early 1900, era,” said 1st Sgt. Roy Walters of the Commanding General’s Mounted Color Guard, “where you get teepees and the old officer tents. You’re out there living it and being a part of it.”
The smell of horses, gunpowder and charcoal fires transported people back to this particular chapter of history. On Saturday morning, after a night spent sleeping under the stars, the smell of bacon grease and coffee, percolating over the fire, kept people flipping through the pages of a history book that was playing out before their very eyes.
Dressed in blue pants, white collared shirts and vests made entirely of wool, the mounted color guard rode through the streets of Council Grove wearing knee high leather riding boots and their signature Stetson hats, a symbol of the unit and U.S. Army cavalry regiments.
“We are a living history of the United States Army, the cavalry and Fort Riley,” said 1st Lt. Roman Villarreal, the XO of the Commanding General’s Mounted Color Guard.
Throughout the event, troopers experienced some of the same hardships that soldiers of the era would have experienced.
“You try your best to conceptualize what’s happening, what you’re actually doing and what it could have been like back then,” said Sgt. Freddie Cohen, who had attended the annual event last year, “when soldiers were wearing that uniform, traveling and doing their job.”
They slept on the ground on top of their bedrolls or saddles under the stars, after spending the day sweating bullets in hundred-degree heat. They posted roaming guards throughout the night to tend to the horses that had been tied to trees in pairs as had been done when they were used as the premier means of transportation. It’s one of those things you can only imagine. You can never know how it was because it was different back then, said Cohen.
Though it was not all pain and suffering. Much of the Color Guard's time was spent tending to camp and the horses, interacting with people at the event and talking about the unit’s history. In fact, troopers of the mounted color guard enjoyed many activities offered to those living back in the day. They competed in knife and tomahawk throwing competitions and played characters inside a saloon as re-enactors played out skit after skit that comically mimicked life in the old west. To watch a little bit of the pain and sweat and then afterward getting to see the smiles on the soldier’s faces at the end of the day made everything worth it, Walters said.
“Being able to take a weekend and live in such a way as the cavalry did on the Great Plains was an insightful and humbling moment,” said Villarreal.
As the sun began to set on Saturday evening, word came out that Billy the Kidd had been sighted around town and was planning to rob the bank. A crowd of locals had gathered to watch the show. Music from classic Western films played over a loudspeaker. The stage was set and the curtains had been drawn.
“Playing actual cavalry soldiers saving the town from bank robbers and saving the day was probably one of the coolest things I’ve done with this company,” said Cpl. Samantha Ugarcina.
Townsfolk walked alongside a few troopers of the color guard, each person gallivanting around in their western characters; an outlaw here, a saloon host and the sheriff there.
In a flash, gun smoke dressed the street in a thick cover as people dressed to the nines in Wild West costumes poured out of shops and alleyways, taking aim and firing blank rounds at bank robbers who sought cover behind stage coaches and large wooden barrels that were supposedly filled with whiskey.
“I think this will be one of those stories that will get passed down to our grandkids,” said Walters. “‘I was a cavalry soldier on a U.S. Army horse. Let me tell you about this gunfight between us and Billy the Kidd.’”
From around a nearby street corner, the rest of the General’s Mounted Color Guard rode out in formation. Outlaws reeled as the imaginary bullets struck them down. In the final act, Billy the Kidd emerged from the bank defeated. He stumbled to the center of the stage on W. Main St.
In a chorus of gunfire, the curtain fell, the infamous outlaw with it.
“If you ever really wanted to know who killed Billy the Kidd,” Walters joked. “It probably wasn’t Pat Garrett. It was probably a member of the Commanding General’s Mounted Color Guard.”
| Date Taken: | 07.15.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 08.01.2023 15:59 |
| Story ID: | 450361 |
| Location: | COUNCIL GROVE, KS, US |
| Web Views: | 47 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Who Shot Billy the Kidd?, by SPC Charles Leitner, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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