This past weekend, the girls and I
attended our first “official” event of the 2019 season with
Warner's Regiment. A few years ago, the State of Vermont declared
June 23
rd to be “Ethan Allen Day.” For those not
familiar with
Allen, he's a bit of a folk hero in Vermont for
fighting back against New Yorkers who were trying to claim New
Hampshire land grants, and also for the capture of
Fort Ticonderoga
in the days after the start of the American Revolution. His last
home was in today's Burlington, Vermont, and the land has been turned
into a small
museum and education center.
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| The girls, harassing the museum exhibits. |
Since I was headed
to the event as one parent with four girls, we opted to drive up the
morning of the event, rather than the night before. We did take our
tent, so the girls would have a place to relax out of public view, as
well as a base of operations for things like diaper changes.
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| 3/4 of the crew, taking a break. |
For this event, the focus was to be on
Distaff and civilian activities, with the military playing a smaller
part. As such, there were other groups there demonstrating spinning,
wood carving, flax preparation and other things. The men, women and
children of Warner's also demonstrated sewing, knitting, games, and
more. Overall, it was a very casual and relaxed atmosphere.
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| Relaxing in the shade. |
About
mid-day, the soldiers from the Regiment demonstrated some close order
and open order drill. There is a popular myth that all Revolutionary
War battles were men lined up in long lines taking turns shooting at
each other in open fields, but the War in the northern theater was a
bit different. We demonstrated how men would have gone about moving
through woods and broken terrain.
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| Your humble author, defending The Grants. |
Later in the afteroon, a
couple of the men taught some basic drill movements to members of the
public, who were given wooden practice muskets to learn with. While
this was happening, a group of our Distaff members learned basic
black powder and musket safety and handling. This was led by a
couple of our female members who usually portray soldiers, but for
this event chose to take part as Distaff.
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| Engaging with the public. |
By afternoon, my
children had hit their energy limits, so I gathered them all up and
headed back home. The next morning, they were all still tired, so I
returned to the Homestead alone to take part in Sunday's activities,
and to retrieve our tent and equipment.
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| Distaff weapons training. |
Sunday started with a
short religious service by our Regimental Chaplain. I'm not much of
a church-goer, but I really enjoy hearing a sermon while sitting out
on the grass, under the shade of a tree, with birds and a breeze as a
backdrop.
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| Sunday services. |
The rest of the day brought more drilling and
demonstrations, ending about mid afternoon. It was an excellent
start to the “official” season.
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| Sisters strolling the orchard. |
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| Nature girl. |
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| Learning to fire. |
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| Musket training. |
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| Some 18th century gaming. |
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| Projecting confidence. |
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| "Make READY!" |
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| Reflection and relaxation. |
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| Out for a walk. |
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| The "official" portrait. |
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| Her fourth season. |
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| The unofficial portrait. |
* Photos by myself, Elaina Davis, Crystal Bailey, and Heather Kenyon-Haff
