NATCHEZ &045; Guns popped and cannons blasted while onlookers held their ears, their breath and their cameras as Confederate soldiers gained at least one victory over Union soldiers.

At the Civil War re-enactment at Historic Jefferson College Saturday afternoon, a lengthy battle between the two camps ensued, with the Confederacy surrounding the Union soldiers and forcing their retreat.

There also will be a re-enactment at 1 p.m. today.

The real battle took place Dec. 7, 1863, as Wirt Adams’ cavalry came to face the union-occupied Natchez in hopes of remedying that.

Historian Clark Burkett said Natchez was occupied from July 13, 1863, to the end of the war. As Adams’ troops moved into town and then south of it, the Union troops came within five miles of them. The Confederates took a night march to close in on the Union troops and fired on them as soon as there was light to see.

Burkett said the Union was first caught by surprise but then regrouped.

Saturday, the Confederate soldiers had a plan, sending out snipers around the Union soldiers and eventually surrounding them. The cannons fired out large rings of smoke onto the battlefield, forcing &uot;whoa&uot; from the crowd.

&uot;I just didn’t think it would be so real and so loud,&uot; Suzette Doyon of Pensacola, Fla., said. &uot;I have never seen one of these (re-enactments) before. I love this. This is fun.&uot;

Driving through Natchez Friday, she and husband Fred saw the sign and made the stop back in Saturday afternoon.

They whispered back and forth, wondering what the next move would be, only to be silenced by the booming of another shot from the cannon. &uot;There certainly is a real need for earplugs here,&uot; Fred Doyon said.

But not many men went down from all of the shots.

&uot;You couldn’t hit an elephant,&uot; one of the Confederate soldiers yelled across the field to the Union soldiers firing at him.

Burkett said no Confederate soldiers were injured in the real battle, but 15 Union soldiers were hurt, though none died.

Some began to fall by the wayside late in the battle and many of the phalanxes fell at one of the last shots from the cannons.

In fact, Burkett said the Union cavalry retreated in the real battle because they did not have their cannons with them.

Oddly enough, though the Confederates got the cheers Saturday, Burkett told those gathered that both considered it a victory &045; Adams won the battle on the field and the Union got Adams to leave.

And after the troops were finished with the battle, they settled back in their camps with tents pitched beside the battlefield.

The men who took part in the battles travel around the south for the re-enactments.

From a three-day affair in Gettysburg to the battle re-enacted Saturday, lasting about 30 minutes, the men get into the battle.

&uot;Everywhere we go, we re-enact the battle there,&uot; said Will Richardson of Ridgeland, out of the major signal corps, Army Mississippi, 46 Mississippi.

But don’t forget the women, who watched along with the audiences Saturday. Many of them wives of re-enactment soldiers, they dress in period clothing and give audiences a sign of the times, many doing impressions of characters who would have been there.

&uot;Our homes were overtaken by the Yankees and we traveled where our husbands were, or our sons, to be safe for a while,&uot; Ruth Barnes of Vicksburg, from the Sweats Battery, told her story as she rocked in the old wooden rocking chair next to her tent Saturday.

Women would normally have been laundresses or nurses if they were at the camps, but some had no where else to go but be with their husbands.

Like Amie Clark, who impersonates an Irish immigrant along with her husband.

Many immigrants got off the boat and were given enlistment papers to sign, she said. Where else did the wives have to go? So, they often became laundresses.

The 10-year veteran of Civil War re-enactments said she loves it, and the friendships she has made are like no other. &uot;It’s like family. This is my family,&uot; Clark said.