This is a 1stperson account given by a U.S. Marine participating in war games at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
In March of 1978 I was a part of a field exercise in the woods at Fort Bragg. My buddy and I were hold up in a foxhole in a forward position charged with the task to report any sounds or movement we might observe to headquarters.
We had done this in the past and after we checked our radios we settled in for a long wait. It was early morning around 4:30 a.m. and the damp mist that surrounded us seemed to permeate my bones.
My buddy caught a few winks as I looked into the dense fog. The time crept by so slowly I felt myself nodding off but I caught myself determined to fight the boredom.
After a while I heard the faint sounds of a conversation in the woods near me. I then smelled the aroma of hot coffee. I quietly listened for the next 15 minutes as the voices became gradually louder.
I then saw several men wearing blue uniforms nearby. I rubbed my eyes for all our men wore green uniforms not blue. I checked and these men were definitely wearing blue old-fashioned uniforms.
It dawned on me that their uniforms looked like the type worn by Union soldiers during the Civil War.
These men moved so close to my position that I could have reached out and touched them. I clamped my hand over my buddies’ mouth waking him.
He sat quietly and watched these men as they went about their morning chores–his mouth was wide-open.
We then heard gunshots and men shouting. We saw a group of Confederate soldiers in worn and tattered grey uniforms attack the Union camp.
It grew colder as we watched this battle. The Union soldiers managed to drive the Confederate soldiers back into the surrounding pines. Then all these men just faded away into the mist.
I looked at my buddy and asked, “Did you see that?” He nodded yes. We both agreed that it would probably be best if we didn’t mention what we had seen. We never did tell anyone.
After we got back to our post in Jacksonville, North Carolina I decided to do some research on the history of the area.
I discovered that on the spot where our foxhole was located a Civil War battle was fought on March 10, 1865. Two Confederate brigades had attacked a Union Division at a place called Monroe’s Cross.
The sights, sounds and smells that I experienced that morning were very real.