Buncombe Rifles Now

The Buncombe Rifles...

...Since 1986

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Tami Meserve (flower girl) and Gary Gorman (Best Man) at Tex and Rena's Wedding in 1983.

In the fall of 1985, four members of the Fifth Virginia Cavalry decided it was time to strike out on their own and form a new team. Drawing on a century of combined experience of life in the Western North Carolina mountains, and armed with a passion for skirmishing and a vast knowledge of the original unit, they set about organizing the Buncombe Rifles.

After months of planning, recruiting and drilling new troops, designing and building uniforms and the like, finally eight members stood inspection at the 73rd National Skirmish in the spring of 1986, and the North-South Skirmish Association had its 211th team.

The Buncombe Rifles as a team hit the ground running. A probationary team as of Saturday at the 73rd National, with five of our eight shooters seeing their second skirmish, we came in 40th out of 208 Musket teams on Sunday. We went on to host our first regional skirmish in July of 1987 (the First French Broad), co-hosted our first National in May of 1988, and took the third place Musket Team medal at the 79th National in 1989.

The early 90's saw the formation of the Buncombe Rifles BRass Band, and to this day we continue to be very instrumental in providing the music for the National Opening Ceremonies. In the last 10 years at least one of our members has served on the staff for each of the National skirmishes.

As the decade rolls over again, we continue to enjoy the camraderie of our 20-plus active members, while the Buncombe Rifles tradition of friendly competition and good sportsmanship stands ready to support our next generation of skirmishers.