May 25 -- Green Bluff's Siemers Farm, known for strawberry and fall festivals, transformed into a Civil War battlefield this Memorial Day weekend.

Late Saturday morning, Union and Confederate soldiers traded rifle, pistol and cannon fire, sending white smoke into the air and some unlucky troops to the ground, as a crowd of attendees got a close-up look at the battle re-enactment.

The Washington Civil War Association, a nonprofit organization established 32 years ago, hosts about four Civil War battle re-enactment weekends per year throughout the state, said Howard Struve, colonel of the Union Army who came from Port Orchard, Washington, to lead his troops into battle.

The re-enactment at Siemers Farm continues Monday. Tickets can be purchased online at wcwa.net or at the farm.

The Confederate and Union armies set up separate camps at Siemers Farm. Rows of white tents dominated the grassy camp landscape as soldiers and their families, dressed in the appropriate 1860s attire, spoke among each other and educated people who came to the event about the war and the era.

Struve's office was under one of the white tents. Paperwork on his desk consisted of a battle map, military telegraph and morning report with regiment numbers. A photo of President Abraham Lincoln hung on a wooden post outside his office.

Struve called his Union Army the "Army of the Columbia," a fictitious name referencing the Columbia River. A "42nd Corp" green, red and blue battle flag was posted outside of Struve's tent.

He said they decided on "42nd" because it represents Washington becoming the 42nd state in the U.S. The state formed in 1889, nearly a quarter century after the Civil War ended.

A Confederate sergeant of the 14th Virginia Infantry Regiment prepared his soldiers at camp for the impending "Battle of Siemers Farm."

"Prepare to die, 14th Virginia," he told his troops.

On the Union side of camp, a bugler alerted soldiers to ready for battle.

The Union soldiers from the North wore blue, wool uniforms and the Confederates from the South sported gray uniforms.

Both sides marched a short distance to the spacious grass and dirt battlefield where cannon fire from both sides awaited them.

Union and Confederate soldiers formed lines against one another and fired. A soldier or two would fall to the ground, often yelling in pain from the gunshot wound. A medic would then run to their aid and patch them up.

One Confederate soldier's painful screams were apparently too much for his commander.

"Shut up, that's embarrassing," the officer yelled as gunfire continued around them. "Keep your mouth shut, boy."

Others "died" more immediately and laid motionless on the battlefield. One dead Confederate soldier was barefoot.

Union cavalry soldiers, at times, charged the Confederate lines on horseback firing long-barreled pistols at the Rebels, a common name for the Confederates because they were seen as rebelling against the Union government. The Rebels returned fire with their rifles at the cavalry.

Union sharpshooters held off a Confederate infantry charge by killing a few soldiers. A Confederate bugler then sounded a retreat call for the rest of the charging soldiers to fall back toward their side of the battlefield.

Each side launched cannons from several hundred yards away at each other. Some of the crowd plugged their ears immediately before the loud cannon fire erupted.

Roughly 30 dead soldiers littered the battlefield at the end of the approximately 30-minute skirmish.

Soldiers from both sides removed their hats as a bugler played taps. Attendees applauded the soldiers' performances.

Jason Kinley and his wife and children were some of the crowd members who watched the re-enactment. Kinley said more troops participated in a Civil War battle re-enactment he attended about eight years ago on the West Plains, but Saturday's re-enactment was a more intimate setting.

"I thought it was good in terms of we got to sit a little bit closer and hear some of the conversations between the actual soldiers," Kinley said of Saturday's performance.

Struve said they've held re-enactments at other areas near Spokane, such as Riverside State Park and locations on the West Plains. Memorial Day weekend is traditionally the first re-enactments of the year, and they're typically held in the greater Spokane area.

The weaponry used in the re-enactments is reproduced, but much of the equipment and supplies are authentic from that period, said Lisa Tharp, chair of the Washington Civil War Association. Tharp, a Union officer, went by Maj. Floyd Heckey, her great-grandfather's name.

While some women fought in the war, they were not officially allowed, so they often assumed male names and concealed their gender.

Tharp said re-enactors not only depict what battle was like in the Civil War, but showed what life was like in military camps, evidenced by the tents, horses and soldiers' families at the camps Saturday.

She said she and Struve have each been with the association for about a quarter century. She called the members her "extended family."

"It's fun," Tharp said. "Nothing like the taste of black powder first thing in the morning along with your coffee. But, we're also here to educate."

After the morning battle, soldiers returned to their camps where they slept all weekend.

Justin Dille, a soldier from the 14th Brooklyn, New York, Regiment, traveled from Oregon City, Oregon, a suburb of Portland, to participate in the re-enactment. The 14th Brooklyn was a militia group in the war and were able to wear a different uniform, including red trousers, than the Union soldiers. Dille sported the red baggy pants this weekend.

They were called the "Red-legged Devils" for their brave fighting and uniform, according to the Brooklyn Public Library. They fought in many of the war's major battles and were the only regiment to fight in all three days of the Battle of Gettysburg. They were honored with three monuments at Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Dille, a member of the Northwest Civil War Council in Oregon, said he started participating in Civil War re-enactments in 2017 after he got "hooked" watching his friend act in one. Dille, a U.S. history fan, said he was one of the founding members of the 14th Brooklyn.

"I like teaching people and bringing the best out of themselves," Dille said. "And then I get to test it out there on the battlefield as kind of a high-stress situation to see if they've really started to pick up on those things."

Chandler White, a 27-year-old Spokane resident, is part of the 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters, Company D (Maine). He also started doing re-enactments in 2017 as a Confederate soldier and eventually joined the Union forces.

White, a member of the National Guard, said some of the Civil War actors have been doing it for decades and many are military veterans.

"It's a great hobby, if you're interested in history, if you're interested in military equipment, even if you just want to get out of the city," he said.

He said the battle re-enactment is planned, but it's not scripted in detail. He said the two sides react to each of their battlefield maneuvers. He said sometimes regiments choose to battle a certain regiment in the re-enactment.

"There's a little bit of unit rivalry," White said.

Union sharpshooters got paid more and, similar to the Brooklyn 14th, wore special uniforms, White said.

Sharpshooters wore green tops and bottoms with green hats, according to White. He said they switched to blue jackets as the war went on because the army couldn't afford to keep making unique uniforms. By the end of the war, they looked like regular Union soldiers, except they kept their green hats as a point of pride.

Using Sharps rifles, sharpshooters could shoot enemy soldiers from as far away as 800 to 1,200 yards, White said. Sharpshooters often targeted Confederate officers and other important soldiers, like drummers, flag carriers, buglers and artillerymen. They could shoot nine rounds per minute where a regular Union soldier shot three rounds.

The sharpshooters' gear, including their cowhide knapsacks and a multipurpose metal mess kit attached to it, was custom, said White, who displayed his knapsack and kit.

Sharpshooters had the metal pot and pan cookware combo early in the war, but many of the items went missing and were destroyed during the four-year war, so it was special to see them in the latter stages of the conflict.

At the Confederate camp, Stephen Shopshire, a quartermaster sergeant for the 15th Alabama Infantry Regiment, came from Bremerton, Washington, to battle the soldiers in blue. He was accompanied by his wife, who is treasurer for the 15th Alabama, and two children.

He's been fighting with the 15th Alabama, perhaps best known for its valiant attempt to seize Gettysburg's high ground at Little Round Top, since his first re-enactment in 2021 in Cheney. He said the 15th Alabama was a very proud and large unit.

"A lot of the Union generals feared the 15th Alabama because of their war cry," Shopshire said. "Our war cry would just send chills down everybody's spine."

He said he enjoys teaching the war's history to the public who attends the re-enactments. He said his family fought in the war, and one of his family members was present when Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in April 1865 at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.

"It was a brutal war, but it opened the door for us to move forward as a country," Shopshire said.

Shopshire said the number of Civil War battle re-enactors has dwindled, which White attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shopshire said ticket sales at the re-enactments go to the Washington Civil War Association and allows it to buy equipment, ammunition and other supplies.

He said he wants the hobby to stick around for his children.

"We're trying our hardest to keep it going, and without the public, we can't do that," Shopshire said.

Tharp and Struve said they are looking for more people to join the nonprofit as soldiers and civilians.

Visit the association's website at wcwa.net for more information.

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