Fort Ticonderoga 2008 - Friday & Saturday

Fort Ticonderoga was an absolute blast this year! The fort changed where the battle happened, and it seemed to be a much better place to have it. We had good weather, with only a slight amount of rain, and we were able to have lots of good times.

The weekend started off with a bang, quite literally. When we drove in, this is what we were greeted with ...



Yes, that's the road leading into what looks like bushes?? But no it was ...





A tree that literally fell over into the middle of the road. Luckily no one was hurt, and since no one was hurt, it was actually kind of amusing! We had to drive up on the grass, around the tree, and we finally reached ...



Where we signed in ...



The rest of Friday was relatively uneventful, filled with saying hi to everyone, setting up our tent, and just general, overall good times.

Saturday morning Kris and I woke up early and decided to sit out and watch the sunrise. We were not disappointed.







Unfortunately without us there to protect him, Kolby got attacked (saw crawling on the wall of the tent) by a ginormous (relatively medium sized) arachnid (spider). After which he proceeded to scream and cry at the top of his lungs, thus managing to wake all those around him. We quickly came to his rescue and moved on to more morningish type things.



Breakfast was cooked and served by Glen.







And it was enjoyed by all ...





Lunch came next, we had a super yummy pasta salad by June and sandwiches prepared by Lori.







The boys marched off to battle ...

The rest of our men manned the cannon ...





The ladies waited for their return …



The musicians got ready ...



and the battle got started ...





During the battle dinner was put over the fire...



And the women worked on weaving, game playing, and sewing ...







All the while, the battle soldiered on ...















There were a few causalities ...



But those were British, so yay for us! The battle went very well. The men returned home, we ate our dinner and had a casual night of chit chatting.



To see the rest of the pictures from Friday and Saturday, be sure to check out my album here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I hope all of you out there in blogland have a great and filling day (that is if you are from the US!).

I have a lot to be thankful for this year, but I am most thankful for having found this hobby of reenacting. It is a true joy in my life, and the memories my family and I are creating are worth every dollar we have spent ten-fold (at the very least).

I am also very thankful for the 2,632 of you that have visited my blog 4,050 times since early March when I really started posting to this crazy thing!

And I am thankful that my blog was of some use to those that found my blog through various search engines 1,623 times over the year.

I am also very thankful for the comments that have been left for me, it brightens my day to see your reactions to my posts.

Now go on out and count your RevWar blessings and Party Like It's 1621!!

Andrew Oliver

In the PBS explanation of The Stamp Act, they mention Andrew Oliver. He was the newly appointed stamp commissioner at the time that The Stamp Act was enacted. If you are like me, and have never heard of Andrew Oliver before, here is some more information I was able to find about him from FamousAmericans.net. I have cleaned it up a bit, but you can see the original write-up on their site.



Andrew Oliver was the lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts on March 28, 1706; died there, March 3, 1774. His father, Daniel, a member of the council, was a son of Peter, an eminent merchant, and grandson of Thomas, an elder of the church, who arrived in Boston in 1631. Oliver graduated from Harvard in 1724. He was chosen as a member of the general court, and afterward of the council. In 1748 he was sent with his brother-in-law, Governor Thomas Hutchinson, as a commissioner to the Albany congress that met to conclude peace with the heads of the Six Nations and arrange a rectification of the frontier. In 1756 he was appointed secretary of the province.

When the British parliament passed the stamp-act he made himself odious to the patriotic party by accepting the office of distributor of stamps. He was re-elected a councilor by a bare majority on August 14, 1765. An effigy of him was hung between figures of Lord Bute and George Grenville, on the large elm called the "liberty tree." In the evening the multitude, with cries of "Liberty, property, and no stamps!" demolished the structure that was being built for a stamp office. Oliver’s life was in danger, and the next morning he signed a public pledge that he would not act as stamp-officer.

A few months later there was a rumor that he intended to enforce the stamp-act, and on the day of the opening of parliament the Sons of Liberty compelled him to march to the tree and there renew his promise in a speech, and take oath before a justice of the peace, Richard Dana, that he would never, directly or indirectly, take measures for the collection of the stamp duty.

In 1770 he was appointed lieutenant-governor, his letters, with those of Hutchinson and others, recommending the dispatch of troops to this country, and the criminal prosecution of Samuel Adams and other patriots, were shown to Benjamin Franklin (q. v.) in England, as expressions from Americans of weight and station. Party feelings ran so high at the time of his death, that Hutchinson says "A large mob attended upon his interment anal hurrahed at the entombing of his body, and that night there was an exhibition at a public window of a coffin, and insignia of infamy.”

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The Real Stamp Act - Part 3

Part 1   Part 2

41. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any register, entry, or enrollment of any grant, deed, or other instrument whatsoever, not herein before charged, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of two shillings.

42. And for and upon every pack of playing cards, and all dice, which shall be sold or used within the said colonies and plantations, the several stamp duties following (that is to say):

43. For every pack of such cards, one shilling.

44. And for every pair of such dice, ten shillings.

45. And for and every paper called a pamphlet, and upon every newspaper, containing public news or occurrences, which shall be printed, dispersed, and made public, within any of the said colonies and plantations, and for and upon such advertisements as are hereinafter mentioned, the respective duties following (that is to say):

46. For every such pamphlet and paper contained in a half sheet, or any lesser piece of paper, which shall be so printed, a stamp duty of one half penny for every printed copy thereof.

47. For every such pamphlet and paper (being larger than half a sheet, and not exceeding one whole sheet), which shall be printed, a stamp duty of one penny for every printed copy thereof.

48. For every pamphlet and paper, being larger than one whole sheet, and not exceeding six sheets in octavo, or in a lesser page, or not exceeding twelve sheets in quarto, or twenty sheets in folio, which shall be so printed, a duty after the rate of one shilling for every sheet of any kind of paper which shall be contained in one printed copy thereof.

49. For every advertisement to be contained in any gazette newspaper, or other paper, or any pamphlet which shall be so printed, a duty of two shillings.

50. For every almanac, or calendar, for any one particular year, or for any time less than a year, which shall be written or printed on one side only of any one sheet, skin, or piece of paper, parchment, or vellum, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of two pence.

51. For every other almanac or calendar, for any one particular year, which shall be written or printed within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of four pence.

52. And for every almanac or calendar, written or printed in the said colonies and plantations, to serve for several years, duties to the same amount respectively shall be paid for every such year.

53. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which any instrument, proceeding, or other matter or thing aforesaid, shall be engrossed, written, or printed, within the said colonies and plantations, in any other than the English language, a stamp duty of double the amount of the respective duties before charged thereon.

54. And there shall be also paid, in the said colonies and plantations, a duty of six pence for every twenty shillings, in any sum not exceeding fifty pounds sterling money, which shall be given, paid, contracted, or agreed for, with, or in relation to, any clerk or apprentice, which shall be put or placed to or with any master or mistress, to learn any profession, trade, or employment.

II
And also a duty of one shilling for every twenty shillings, in any sum exceeding fifty pounds, which shall be given, paid, contracted, or agreed for, with, or in relation to, any such clerk or apprentice...

V
And be it further enacted ..., That all books and pamphlets serving chiefly for the purpose of an almanack, by whatsoever name or names intituled or described, are and shall be charged with the duty imposed by this act on almanacks, but not with any of the duties charged by this act on pamphlets, or other printed papers ...

VI
Provided always, that this act shall not extend to charge any bills of exchange, accompts, bills of parcels, bills of fees, or any bills or notes not sealed for payment of money at sight, or upon demand, or at the end of certain days of payment....

XII
And be it further enacted ..., That the said several duties shall be under the management of the commissioners, for the time being, of the duties charged on stamped vellum, parchment, and paper, in Great Britain: and the said commissioners are hereby impowered and required to employ such officers under them, for that purpose, as they shall think proper....

XVI
And be it further enacted... That no matter or thing whatsoever, by this act charged with the payment of a duty, shall be pleaded or given in evidence, or admitted in any court within the said colonies and plantations, to be good, useful, or available in law or equity, unless the same shall be marked or stamped, in pursuance of this act, with the respective duty hereby charged thereon, or with an higher duty....

LIV
And be it further enacted ... That all the monies which shall arise by the several rates and duties hereby granted (except the necessary charges of raising, collecting, recovering, answering, paying, and accounting for the same and the necessary charges from time to time incurred in relation to this act, and the execution thereof) shall be paid into the receipt of his Majesty's exchequer, and shall be entered separate and apart from all other monies, and shall be there reserved to be from time to time disposed of by parliament, towards further defraying the necessary expenses of defending, protecting, and securing, the said colonies and plantations....

LVII
... offenses committed against any other act or acts of Parliament relating to the trade or revenues of the said colonies or plantations; shall and may be prosecuted, sued for, and recovered, in any court of record, or in any court of admiralty, in the respective colony or plantation where the offense shall be committed, or in any court of vice admiralty appointed or to be appointed, and which shall have jurisdiction within such colony, plantation, or place, (which courts of admiralty or vice admiralty are hereby respectively authorized and required to proceed, hear, and determine the same) at the election of the informer or prosecutor.....

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The Real Stamp Act - Part 2

Part 1

22. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such probate, letters of administration or of guardianship, within all other parts of the British dominions in America, a stamp duty of ten shillings.

23. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any bond for securing the payment of any sum of money, not exceeding the sum of ten pounds sterling money within the British colonies and plantations upon the continent of America, the islands belonging thereto, and the Bermuda and Bahama islands, a stamp duty of six pence.

24. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any bond for securing the payment of any sum of money above ten pounds, and not exceeding twenty pounds sterling money, within such colonies, plantations, and islands a stamp duty of one shilling.

25. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any bond for securing the payment of any sum of money above twenty pounds, arid not exceeding forty pounds sterling money, within such colonies, plantations, and islands, a stamp duty of one shilling and six pence.

26. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any order or warrant for surveying or setting out any quantity of land, not exceeding one hundred acres, issued by any governor, proprietor, or any public officer, alone, or in conjunction with any other person or persons, or with any council, or any council and assembly, within the British colonies and plantations in America, a stamp duty of six pence.

27. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such order or warrant for surveying or setting out any quantity of land above one hundred and not exceeding two hundred acres, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of one shilling.

28. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such order or warrant for surveying or setting out any quantity of land above two hundred, and not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres, and in proportion for every such order or warrant for surveying or setting out every other three hundred and twenty acres, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of one shilling and six pence.

29. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any original grant, or any deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument whatsoever, by which any quantity of land, not exceeding one hundred acres, shall be granted, conveyed, or assigned, within the British colonies and plantations upon the continent of America, the islands belonging thereto, and the Bermuda and Bahama islands (except leases for any term not exceeding the term of twenty one years), a stamp duty of one shilling and six pence.

30. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such original grant, or any such deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument whatsoever, by which any quantify of land above one hundred, and not exceeding two hundred acres, shall be granted, conveyed, or assigned, within such colonies, plantations, and islands, a stamp duty of two shillings.

31. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such original grant, or any such deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument whatsoever, by which any quantity of land above two hundred, and not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres, shall be granted, conveyed, or assigned, and in proportion for every such grant, deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument, granting, conveying, or assigning, every other three hundred and twenty acres, within such colonies, plantations, and islands, a stamp duty of two shillings and six pence.

32. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such original grant, or any such deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument whatsoever, by which any quantity of land, not exceeding one hundred acres, stall be granted, conveyed, or assigned, within all other parts of the British dominions in America, a stamp duty of three shillings.

33. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such original grant, or any such deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument whatsoever, by which any quantity of land above one hundred, and not exceeding two hundred acres, shall be granted, conveyed, or assigned, within the same parts of the said dominions, a stamp duty of four shillings.

34. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such original grant, or any such deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument whatsoever, by which any quantity of land above two hundred, and not exceeding three hundred twenty acres, shall he granted, conveyed, or assigned, and in proportion for every such grant, deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument, granting, conveying, or assigning every other three hundred and twenty acres, within the same parts of the said dominions, a stamp duty of five shillings.

35. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any grant, appointment, or admission, of or to any beneficial office or employment, not herein before charged, above the value of twenty pounds per annum sterling money in salary, fees, and perquisites, or any exemplification of the same, within the British colonies and plantations upon the continent of America, the islands belonging thereto, and the Bermuda and Bahama islands (except commissions of officers of the army, navy, ordnance, or militia, and of justices of the pence), a stamp duty of four pounds.

36. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any such grant, appointment, or admission, of or to any such public beneficial office or employments or any exemplification of the same, within all other parts of the British dominions in America, a stamp duty of six pounds.

37. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any indenture, lease, conveyance, contract, stipulation, bill of sale, charter party, protest, articles of apprenticeship or covenant (except for the hire of servants not apprentices, and also except such other matters as herein before charged) within the British colonies and plantations in America, a stamp duty of two shillings and six pence.

38. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which any warrant or order for auditing any public accounts, beneficial warrant, order grant, or certificate, under any public seal, or under the send or sign manual of any governor, proprietor, or public officer, alone, or in conjunction with any person or persons, or with any council, or any council and assembly, not herein before charged, or any passport or let pass, surrender of office, or policy of assurance, shall be engrossed, written, or printed, within the said colonies and plantations (except warrants or orders for the service of the army, navy, ordnance, or militia, and grants of offices under twenty pounds per annum, in salary, fees, and perquisites), a stamp duty of five shillings.

39. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written or printed, any notarial net, bond, deed, letter of attorney, procuration, mortgage, release, or other obligatory instrument, not herein before charged, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of two shillings and three pence.

40. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any register, entry, or enrollment of any grant, deed or other instrument whatsoever, herein before charged, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of three pence.

Continue to Part 3.

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The Real Stamp Act - Part 1

Have you ever wondered just exactly what the Stamp Act really said? I found the full text on USHistory.org. They explain this document as follows:

On February 6th, 1765 George Grenville rose in Parliament to offer the fifty-five resolutions of his Stamp Bill. A motion was offered to first read petitions from the Virginia colony and others was denied. The bill was passed on February 17, approved by the Lords on March 8th, and two weeks later ordered in effect by the King. The Stamp Act was Parliament's first serious attempt to assert governmental authority over the colonies. Great Britain was faced with a massive national debt following the Seven Years War. That debt had grown from £72,289,673 in 1755 to £129,586,789 in 1764. English citizens in Britain were taxed at a rate that created a serious threat of revolt.

Click on over there to see their sources for this information. Since The Stamp Act is so long (it was written by a governmental figure after all, did you really expect it to be short?), I will break it up into 3 posts.

AN ACT for granting and applying certain stamp duties, and other duties, in the British colonies and plantations in America, towards further defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the same; and for amending such parts of the several acts of parliament relating to the trade and revenues of the said colonies and plantations, as direct the manner of determining and recovering the penalties and forfeitures therein mentioned.

WHEREAS, by an act made in the last session of Parliament several duties were granted, continued, and appropriated toward defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the British colonies and plantations in America; and whereas it is just and necessary that provision be made for raising a further revenue within your majesty's dominions in America toward defraying the said expenses; we, your majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of Great Britain, in Parliament assembled, have therefore resolved to give and grant unto your majesty the several rates and duties hereinafter mentioned; and do humbly beseech your majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the king's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that from and after the first day of November, one thousand seven hundred and sixty five, there shall be raised, levied, collected, and paid unto his majesty, his heirs, and successors, throughout the colonies and plantations in America, which now are, or hereafter may be, under the dominion of his majesty, his heirs and successors:

1. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any declaration, plea, replication, rejoinder, demurrer or other pleading, or any copy thereof; in any court of law within the British colonies and plantations in America, a stamp duty of three pence.

2. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any special bail, and appearance upon such bail in any such court, a stamp duty of two shillings.

3. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which may be engrossed, written, or printed, any petition, bill, answer, claim, plea, replication, rejoinder, demurrer, or other pleading, in any court of chancery or equity within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of one shilling and six pence.

4. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any copy of any position, bill, answer, claim, plea, replication, rejoinder, demurrer, or other pleading in any such court, a stamp duty of three pence.

5. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any monition, libel, answer, allegation, inventory, or renunciation in ecclesiastical matters, in any court of probate court of the ordinary, or other court exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of one shilling.

6. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any copy of any will (other than the probate thereof) monition, libel, answer, allegation, inventory, or renunciation in ecclesiastical matters, in any such court, a stamp duty of six pence.

7. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any donation, presentation, collation or institution, of or to any benefice, or any writ or instrument for the like purpose, or any register, entry, testimonial, or certificate of any degree taken in any university, academy, college, or seminary of learning within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of two pounds.

8. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any monition, libel, claim, answer, allegation, information, letter of request, execution, renunciation, inventory, or other pleading, in any admiralty court, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of one shilling.

9. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which any copy of any such monition, libel, claim, answer, allegation, information, letter of request, execution, renunciation, inventory, or other pleading shall be engrossed, written, or printed, a stamp duty of six pence.

10. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any appeal, writ of error, writ of dower, ad quod damnum, certiorari, statute merchant, statute staple, attestation, or certificate, by any officer, or exemplification of any record or proceeding, in any court whatsoever, within the said colonies and plantations (except appeals, writs of error, certiorari attestations, certificates, and exemplifications, for, or relating to the removal of any proceedings from before a single justice of the peace), a stamp duty of ten shillings.

11. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any writ of covenant for levying fines, writ of entry for suffering a common recovery, or attachment issuing out of, or returnable into, any court within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of five shillings.

12. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any judgment, decree, sentence, or dismission or any record of nisi prius or postea, in any court within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of four shillings.

13. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any affidavit, common bail, or appearance, interrogatory, deposition, rule, order or warrant of any court, or any dedimus potestatem, capias subpoena, summons, compulsory citation, commission, recognizance, or any other writ, process, or mandate, issuing out of, or returnable into, any court, or any office belonging thereto, or any other proceeding therein whatsoever, or any copy thereof, or of any record not herein before charged, within the said colonies and plantations (except warrants relating to criminal matters, and proceedings thereon, or relating thereto), a stamp duty of one shilling.

14. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any note or bill of lading, which shall be signed for any kind of goods, wares, or merchandise, to be exported from, or any cocket or clearance granted within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of four pence.

15. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, letters of mart or commission for private ships of war, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of twenty shillings.

16. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any grant, appointment, or admission of, or to, any public beneficial office or employment, for the space of one year, or any lesser time, of or above twenty pounds per annum sterling money, in salary, fees, and perquisites, within the said colonies and plantations (except commissions and appointments of officers of the army, navy, ordnance, or militia, of judges, and of justices of the peace), a stamp duty of ten shillings.

17. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which any grant, of any liberty, privilege, or franchise, under the seal or sign manual of any governor, proprietor, or public officer, alone, or in conjunction with any other person or persons, or with any council, or any council and assembly, or any exemplification of the same, shall be engrossed, written, or printed, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of six pounds.

18. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any license for retailing of spirituous liquors, to be granted to any person who shall take out the same, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of twenty shillings.

19. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any license for retailing of wine, to be granted to any person who shall not take out a license for retailing of spirituous liquors, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of four pounds.

20. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any license for retailing of wine, to be granted to any person who shall take out a license for retailing of spirituous liquors, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of three pounds.

21. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any probate of will, letters of administration, or of guardianship for any estate above the value of twenty pounds sterling money, within the British colonies and plantations upon the continent of America, the islands belonging thereto and the Bermuda and Bahama islands, a stamp duty of five shillings.

Continue to Part 2.

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Battle of the Hook

Last weekend a rather large event was hosted in Virginia. It was called Battle of the Hook. We were unable to attend ourselves due to the price of gas (who knew it would drop by over a dollar??) and just the general cost of day to day life. We couldn't afford to spend any more this month. However, it sounds like it was a well planned event and about 1,500 reenactors were able to show up. I wanted to share some links to a few articles and photo albums that people have posted on the web:

Daily Press Article

Photo Gallery

Gazette Journal Article

Pictures by "Photo Reflections by Wendy" - Album 1

Pictures by "Photo Reflections by Wendy" - Album 2

Pictures by "Photo Reflections by Wendy" - Album 3

Photos from Schottelius' Coy Brunswick Jagers

Photos from 2nd Mass - Album 1

Photos from 2nd Mass - Album 2

Photos from 2nd North Carolina

And here are a few videos I found:

I will update this post as more pictures are shared on the world wide web!

A Pretty Hefty To-Do List

So my second season of reenacting has come to a close. It was an incredible year, yet it was not without it’s ups (the awesome view of the Hubbardton Battlefield from our camp) and downs (gas prices … need I say more?). Overall it was an exciting summer and we had some really great events that we attended. I am pumped for the coming season, but also a little overwhelmed with the projects I have lined up. I think I would give just about anything to be the wife of a businessman in the 18th century (I’m thinking my husband would print and bind books, did they make a lot of money?) and all I had to do all day was chat with friends, and work on projects. But then again, if that were really me, that would mean I would be forced to live without running water as we know it today. And really who wants to carry water around the house in buckets? Not me. Of course if we were rich, maybe I could have a maid to do that for me … ah a girl can dream.

As it stands, my husband is not a wealthy merchant and I cannot stay home all day and work on projects. I guess that’s what I get for wanting my running water. So I am going to make a list of all the projects I have in mind here. And as I work on them, I will put up a post marking my progress. Hopefully this will force me to become accountable for all the things I have to do!

These will be completed in no particular order:

· Sew a hunting frock for Kris
· Sew 2 new shirts for Kris, one with white linen and the other with green check fabric
· Change the ties on my red skirt to Dutch Linen Tape
· Sew a new skirt with Green fabric
· Sew a new skirt for myself with some beautiful wool I found
· Sew a new apron with Green fabric
· Sew another new skirt with Silk fabric I found on sale
· Buy a Robe D’Anglais Pattern
· Sew a Robe D’Anglais with a simple linen fabric (need to buy)
· Sew a Robe D’Anglais with Green silk fabric (need to buy)
· Finish decorating straw hat
· Sew a special camera bag for Kris
· Attach the buttons to Kris’ long Gaiters
· Sew 3 new shirts for Kolby
· Sew a wool shirt for Kolby
· Sew (or have made, cause I’m not sure I can sew them) 3 pants for Kolby

Whew that’s a lot of projects!! I guess I have my work cut out for me! Most likely I won’t get through all of these before next year, but some of them, like Kolby’s clothes need to be done or else I may need to change his persona to a wild Indian child we found and adopted on our travels. Then I could just stick him in a loin cloth and call it a day … hmmm … that may not be such a bad idea!

In addition to the things I need to make. I also have a few things I need to buy. Luckily this list is not nearly as long.

· New shoes for Kolby
· New socks for me and Kolby
· New shoes for me
· Linen for Robe D’Anglais
· Green silk for Robe D’Anglais
· Dutch Linen Tape

Wow! That list is really short! That’s a very good thing. Well I better not stick around here too long; I have some projects calling my name!! I am already almost done with Kris’ hunting frock, so I will get that post and some pictures up for you shortly (ya know, in my spare time).

Reading 18th Century Documents

Wow! Has it really been 3 weeks since my last post? I am such a slacker. I have some crazy good pictures to post from Fort Ticonderoga, but I haven’t had the chance to load them to my computer yet. But keep an eye out for those in the near future.

For today, I have a fun website that I plan on thoroughly exploring. Back in July there was a topic on one of my boards of reading period documents. If anyone has ever looked at a period document, it can be difficult for our 21st century eyes to read.

Here is an example of a handwritten letter, composed in 1770:

18th Century Handwriting Example

As you can see the writing style is just something we are not used to seeing or reading.

One of the people who jumped in on the discussion shared a great website that can help us train our eyes to read these documents a little better. It is from the US National Archives, and can be found here:

Reading 18th Century Documents Tutorial

I haven’t had the chance to go through it all the way, but I think it will be a good one to explore. Handwritten letters can be a great resource when doing research in this time period. It gives you a first hand experience of what life was really like. And if you get the chance to read the original document yourself, even better, because there is no chance for intepretation mistakes.

If you are interested in reading 18th century documents, typed up in a font you can easily read, check out this website:

Avalon Project

Happy reading!

Flamestitched Wallet

Some time ago I stumbled across some information on how to make a flame stitched Wallet. I guess these were a pretty common way for people of the 18th century to carry money. This wallet consists of a needle worked panel on the outside that is stitched using the Irish Stitch design.



This panel is backed with linen and sewn up to form a wallet. Someone shared a link to some really great instructions for making a wallet from Interweave Press.

Wallet Instructions

They also have a chart you can print to achieve the Irish Stitch pattern the author used for her wallet.

Irish Stitch Chart

And here are some more detailed instructions on making the Irish Stitch (also called Bargello).

Irish Stitch How-To

This is a project that I would love to get around to doing, but of course finding time for all these things may require that I create a machine that can double the hours in a day. But if any of you are inclined to try this project before I do, please share with me how it turned out!

Cathedral Dig Yields 18th Century Find

Here is an interesting article from July 2008 about a dig in New Orleans. I found the article on WWLTV.com, and here is the full text for you.

NEW ORLEANS -- The first archaeological dig at one of the nation's oldest cathedrals has turned up a mix of new finds in the heart of the French Quarter. Discoveries behind St. Louis Cathedral include a small silver crucifix from the 1770s or 1780s and traces of previously unknown buildings dating back to around the city's founding in 1718.

Shannon Lee Dawdy, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago, shows off some of the relics found during an archeological dig behind St. Louis Cathedral. Achaeologists digging behind St. Louis Cathedral are unearthing nearly three centuries of history: the porcelain head of a tiny doll, an ersatz colonial-era pipe from the 1800s, bits of pottery that Indians may have traded to the men who built New Orleans.

The crucifix might have belonged to Pere Antoine, a Capuchin monk who was rector of the cathedral which dominates Jackson Square, lead archaeologist Shannon Lee Dawdy told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Pere Antoine came to New Orleans under the Spanish Inquisition as the Rev. Antonio de Sedella and lived in a hut behind the cathedral, where he was rector from the late 1700s until his death in 1829.

The crucifix "was found in a corner of the garden, near where Pere Antoine's hut was said to have been and dates to the period near the beginning of his time in New Orleans (1770s-1780s)," Dawdy wrote in an e-mail. The artifact will be sent to experts for evaluation.

Dawdy, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, and eight students spent a month excavating St. Anthony's Garden, a fenced area behind the cathedral. They concluded their work earlier this week.

The cathedral was completed in 1851 to replace one that burned down, along with most of the city, in 1788.

Until now there has never been an archaeological excavation anywhere on its property, said cathedral spokeswoman Nancy Averett. After Hurricane Katrina toppled the garden's live oaks and sycamores in August 2005, the cathedral secured a Getty Foundation grant to restore the garden and dig into its history.

Finds have included clay pipes, children's marbles, remains of china dolls and bits of what may be some of the first Indian trade goods in Louisiana.

The crucifix is about 1 3/4 inches high; the face of Christ might fit on half of a grain of rice. The right arm of the cross and the right side and chest of the figure of Christ are badly corroded. The figure's right arm and much of the minuscule face are gone.

Dawdy said the most significant find is probably the foundation of a hut where archaeologists uncovered a mixture of French artifacts from the early 1700s and fragments of Native American pottery, some painted red and others tempered with crushed shells.

A thin L of dark soil in a layer several feet below the surface showed where wood walls had rotted -- probably from a temporary hut where settlers may have lived while clearing trees for the first settlement, Dawdy said. In the corner of the L was a square post-hole -- a sign of French axes.

The walls don't line up with the street grid set in 1724, so the hut probably was built before that and may be from the settlement's very start, Dawdy said in an interview.

In another pit, Dawdy and her crew found sloping bricks from a colonial sidewalk and -- below that -- cypress timbers from another building not on any city map.

Unlike the hut, those timbers align with the 1724 street grid, Dawdy said Tuesday. She said the building probably dates from the 1720s or '30s.

"There are at least six timbers in place -- three upright and three running lengthwise," she said. "We just caught a piece of it."

She hopes to return for further excavation.

"This site is by far the richest and most interesting one I have worked on yet in New Orleans and the excellent preservation of the frontier phase of the city's founding makes it the `Jamestown' of the Lower Mississippi Valley," she wrote in her e-mail.

Authentic Cartridge Pouch

The U.S. Army Center of Military History website has a monthly artifact of the month. For July the artifact was a Revolutionary War cartridge pouch that they have in their collection.


Contrary to popular belief, American soldiers in the Revolutionary War generally carried cartridge boxes, rather than powder horns and shot pouches. The cartridge box held fixed cartridges of paper for faster loading, even in damp weather. This Pattern 1777 cartridge box represents one of the Army’s first attempts at standardizing military equipment.

Pickled Peaches - Historic Foodways

This recipe is a bit out there for me, I am not sure that I will ever make it, but it sounded interesting, and who knows, maybe one day I'll give it a try! This recipe comes to us from Historic Foodways. It is a Pickled Peach recipe by Hannah Glasse that has a modern adaptation done by Kimberly Costa. Here is the recipe and the adaptation:

To Pickle Peaches by Hannah Glasse in
The Art of Cookery Plain and Easy 1747

TAKE your Peaches when they are at full Growth, just before they turn to be ripe; before they are not bruised; then take Spring –water, as much as you think will cover them; make it soft enough to bear an Egg, with Bay and Common Salt, an Equal Quantity of each; then put your Peaches, and lay a thin Board over them, to keep them under the Water. Let them stand for three days and then take them out and wipe them very carefully with fine soft cloth, and lay them in your Glas or jar; then take as much White Wine Vinegar, as will fill your glas or Jar: To every Gallon put one Pint of best well-made Mustard, two or three heads o Garlick , a good deal of ginger Sliced, half and Ounce of Cloves, mace and Nutmegs, mix your Pickle well Together, and pour over your Peaches. Tye them close with a Bladder and Leather, they will be fit to eat in two Months. You may with a fine Penknife cut them a –cros, take out the Tone and fill them with made Mustard and Garlick, and Horse-reddish and Ginger, tye them together.


Pickled Peaches
Modernized and Adapted by Kimberly Costa

4 pounds fresh peaches
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons whole cloves
5 cinnamon sticks
1 3 inch piece of fresh ginger (optional)

additional items:
large pot of boiling water
large bowl of cold water with ice cubes
small piece of cheese cloth or large loose tea ball
Mason jars and caps, pre boiled

Bring large pot of water to boil. When water boils drop 2-3 peaches into the boiling water for 10-20 seconds. Pull out of water and drop into large bowl of cold water and ice cubes. Continue until all peaches are blanched. Peel, de-pit and slice peaches. You can slice in quarters or in halves.

Place cloves, ginger (optional) and cinnamon sticks in cheese cloth, tie closed. You can break the sticks if need be. Combine the sugar, vinegar , spices and water in a large pot, bring to a boil and continue to boil for about 5 minutes. Add peaches and boil for 15-20 minutes until tender but not mushy soft.

Put peaches into the boiled Mason jars. Fill with glass with syrup leaving about half an inch to the top. Wipe off rims, add lids and caps. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes or on your counter turn jars upside down for 10 minutes. When you turn the jars over test seal on lid. It should not ‘pop’ if pushed in the middle. If it is not sealed turn over for another 10 minutes. If the lid still pops when you press it the jar has not properly sealed itself. Proceed with the regular hot water bath canning method.

Details of Nathan Hale's Capture

I have another article for you written by Bruce Batten. This one was previously published in the Continental Soldier, the magazine for The Continental Line. He was kind enough to share this with me, so I could share it with you. I hope you enjoy it!

By Bruce Batten,
     First New Hampshire Regiment
     United Train of Artillery

The details of the capture and execution of Nathan Hale have perplexed historians for years. This confusion may have come to an end because of a manuscript given to the Library of Congress in 2000.

This manuscript was written during, or soon after the war by Consider Tiffany, a shopkeeper from Connecticut, who was also a British sympathizer. The manuscript was donated to the Library of Congress by G. Bradford Tiffany, a descendant. The manuscript details blunders made by Hale that led to his hanging on September 22, 1776. The manuscript identifies Major Robert Rogers, British hero of the French and Indian War as the man who trapped Hale.

Hale, a graduate of Yale College and a Connecticut schoolteacher joined the Continental Army and quickly rose to the rank of captain by 1776. At this time the American army had been driven from Long Island and Washington desperately needed information on the strength and plans of the British. This meant sending a spy into British territory. Hale volunteered.

Captain William Hull, a friend from Hale's regiment tried to discourage Hale from volunteering for such a danger filled mission. Hale told his friend, "I wish to be useful and every kind of service necessary to the public good becomes honorable by being necessary". This was at a time when spying was seen as a dishonorable engagement, but still necessary for the information spies could provide.

Hale, dressed as a civilian crossed by boat from Norwalk, Connecticut to Long Island and slipped behind enemy lines. Hale was untrained in the art of spying and was an easy target for the cunning Major Rogers. Rogers was an expert frontier fighter who had led a group of fierce, resourceful rangers from New Hampshire during the French and Indian War.

Rogers had recently escaped from the Americans and was on Long Island recruiting tories as troops to fight for the British. According to Tiffany’s manuscript, Rogers had been observing Hale for days. Hale’s activities raised suspicions for Rogers and led him to believe that Hale was in disguise.

Rogers decided to talk to Hale and he led Hale to believe that they were on the same side. According to the manuscript, Rogers said, “ he was upon the business of spying out the inclination of the people and motion of the British troops. Hale then told Rogers of his own mission. Rogers invited Hale to dine with him. At dinner, Rogers and several friends engaged Hale in similar conversation. “But at the height of their conversation, a company of soldiers surrounded the house, and by orders from the commander, seized Captain Hale in an instant,” wrote Tiffany.

Captain John Montressor, a British officer sent to Washington’s headquarters for an exchange of prisoners told the rest of the story to Hale’s old friend Captain William Hull. Montressor told Hull that Hale had taken notes on British forces and was brought before Sir William Howe, British commander. Hull reported, “those papers concealed about his person betrayed his intentions”. Hale was hanged as a spy the next day by the British.

Thank you Bruce for sharing your article! Here are the sources that Bruce used.

Sources:

Carl Hartman, The Associated Press, The Concord Monitor, Concord, NH, Saturday, September 20, 2003.

Hutson, John. "Nathan Hale Revisited." Library of Congress Information Bulletin. July 2003. Library of Congress,.

The Duchess - New Movie

It looks like there is a new movie coming out called The Duchess. Here is the trailer for the movie. Just a warning, it will begin playing as soon as you open it. I wanted to put it right in this post, but figured that would get old quick when you visit my blog! Also the website linked above has a different trailer on it, so check that one out too!

The Duchess Trailer

It doesn't look like the movie has a wide release as of yet, but I do hope it makes it way around the country. I think it would be a real treat to see on the big screen. From the sounds of it though, we may have to settle for the video in our area.

I grabbed the description of the movie from IMDB.com:



A chronicle of the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who reviled for her extravagant political and personal lives. She is a vibrant beauty and celebrity of her time. But she is trapped in an unhappy triangle with her husband and his live-in mistress. She falls passionately in love with an ambitious young politician, and the affair causes a bitter conflict with her husband and threatens to erupt into a scandal.

And here is an article from an interview with Keira Knightly who stars in the movie. It was done by USA Today:



TORONTO — For someone constantly scrutinized for her slender frame, Keira Knightley knows how to stuff her face.

"I have food! That's so good!" crows Knightley, surveying the spread before her. She jams chunks of a banana into her mouth and cheerfully recounts an earlier mishap with an ingestible.

"I was wearing really great trousers, but then I spilled tea down (them)," says Knightley, who changed into a flouncy green skirt paired with a white blouse, blue jacket and decadent Chanel Mary Jane heels.

She points to her gams, now on display. "And I didn't shave my legs. It's quite embarrassing," says Knightley, as she admits how hard it is to shake the illusion that "randomly, somebody is just rubbing them up and down."

Knightley, 23, may act laissez faire about her own sartorial misfires, but her latest character is dubbed the "empress of fashion." In the lavish historical drama The Duchess (opening Friday), Knightley dons staggering headgear and spectacular, intricate gowns as Georgiana Spencer, the Duchess of Devonshire, an 18th-century "it girl" trapped in a frigid marriage to a frosty duke (Ralph Fiennes) who demands a male heir she can't produce. Georgiana channeled her energies into frocks, electoral activism and an affair with budding politico Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper) as things on the home front became ever grimmer.

"The costumes, I saw them more like an armor than anything else," Knightley says. "She creates the person she wants to be. As it gets worse and worse and worse, the (costumes) get bigger, and the wigs get wider. It's more that, 'I'm here, and I'm fine.' A lot of the time, we do do that. I've got a friend who says, 'When something (expletive) happens, you put your red lipstick on, and you go out.' "

The Duchess is the first film almost entirely carried by Knightley, who earned a best-actress Oscar nomination for her spunky turn as Elizabeth Bennet in 2005's Pride & Prejudice and sashayed through three Pirates of the Caribbean hits with Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom. Since then, she has gravitated toward smaller, more intense films, such as last year's Atonement and the upcoming Dylan Thomas drama, The Edge of Love, written by her mother, Sharman Macdonald.

Last year, Knightley said she was apprehensive about playing the duchess, the subject of a best-selling biography by Amanda Foreman. The film delves into only a small part of Georgiana's colorful life, largely skimming over her gambling addiction and debts, and not touching on her relationship with France's equally stylish royal Marie Antoinette. Though Knightley had read Foreman's book and Antonia Fraser's Marie Antoinette: The Journey, she simply couldn't nail down how to get into Georgiana's head or the most real way of playing her.

But once she reported to work, she laced up that corset and felt "really excited, actually. In every performance, in everything I try to do, you have to look failure in the face," she says. "You have to accept that you're going to fall down in a really embarrassing way and then dive into it knowing that it could go very wrong but trying your best. It was scary but equally so rare that such a wonderful character comes through the door. You can't say no. You have to play her."

Of course, Georgiana's accoutrements, culled by costume designer Michael O'Connor, proved rather unwieldy for Knightley, who, when not on red carpets, mostly kicks around at home in flats and T-shirts.

"High heels are bad enough. I don't think you need a corset and wigs, as well," she says. "The wigs were the problem. They were big like birdcages. The hats were sewn onto the tops of them. And the whole thing was glued to my head, pinned in. I had neck aches. I literally couldn't hold the thing up. So they built me a stand so I could rest the whole lot on."

He's the duke, not Voldemort

Neck aches aside, there's also the heartache of playing hostile spouses. She and Fiennes had never met before the film and in the movie have no loving, or even coolly affectionate, scenes together. His duke lavishes warmth on his dogs but dismisses her. Her duchess shacks up with a younger and far more attractive lover. He threatens to take away her kids. She refuses to save the marriage. In real life, both say they got along just fine. "To play a married couple that have no familiarity with each other was an interesting test," Knightley says.

So, how did she keep the tension and rancor alive even as she got to know Fiennes better?

"I don't know. It's a very American question, how. It's (expletive) acting!" retorts Knightley.

One thing she avoided? Watching Fiennes' Lord Voldemort torture and torment Hollywood's most beloved young wizard in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. "I've read the books but haven't seen the films. He's a snake, right? I didn't watch it because I decided I think it would frighten me if I had to play his wife," she says.

Fiennes stayed in a hotel while Knightley opted to share a house with co-stars Cooper and Hayley Atwell, who plays her confidante. The arrangement helped them keep their distance on-screen.

Because of their proximity, Knightley says, her trio "formed a little group."

"It was good fun, that house. We had good fun, long dinners that were cooked for us."

Fiennes, for the most part, was excluded. "When it was me as the duke, I thought, 'She didn't like me,' " says Fiennes, referring to his off-screen relationship with Knightley, which he says was actually a positive one. "It's a shame we don't have any scenes where they are companions. I sort of decided he loved her deep down but didn't know where to start. And they don't start off as adversaries. She's just bruised by his insensitivity. He expects her to understand that it's absolutely fine that he brings in his illegitimate daughter."

Knightley doesn't see much of herself in Georgiana, a feisty yet ultimately tragic figure. Her best friend (played by Atwell) moved in with the couple and had a long-term affair with the duke, and Georgiana, meanwhile, was forced to give up the infant conceived during her tryst with Grey.

"I live with me every day. It's not that fun. I'm not looking for biographical work," Knightley says. Taking the role was "about escapism. She was a character so easy to sympathize with, empathize with. I wasn't looking for any parallels with myself. It's more general terms than going, 'Oh, I gave my baby away, too.' "

She pauses just a beat. "Which I didn't, by the way."

Knightley just 'has it'

For someone barely in her 20s, Knightley is preternaturally poised and mature in interviews, her self-professed jet lag notwithstanding. She's quick-witted, swears like a sailor and comes across as just self-deprecating enough to be real.

"Keira has great clarity as a person (and is) amazingly open for her age," Fiennes says.

Even though he and Knightley are hardly buddies, they did click during the shoot. "She has a great maturity and an openness and a natural spontaneity, a vivacity. That's a crucial thing you can't act. She has it," he says.

She doesn't moan about the paparazzi attention she gets at home in England and dismisses her peers who act surly and dismissive in public. "They hate their jobs," she says with a laugh.

Yet she draws a firm line between business and her own real life. To wit, she has never talked about her boyfriend, actor Rupert Friend, and won't even confirm she has one.

Knightley buries herself in books and has a penchant for the bleak. Recent reads include Bernhard Schlink's "beautiful" The Reader and Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road. "Two really depressing books but really good," she says. "Not exactly a barrel of laughs."

This time last year, she was devouring Gitta Sereny's Into That Darkness: From Mercy Killing to Mass Murder, an account of Treblinka's commandant Franz Stangl. Now, she has moved on to the works of novelist and war correspondent Martha Gellhorn.

"Not exactly happy, but interesting. Really great writing creates such amazing images," Knightley says. "It's a compilation of investigative journalism. She has just gone into Dachau. It's awful, but the way she writes is wonderful. I just started it. I'd never read any Martha Gellhorn before, and she's a wonderful writer."

She'll have plenty of reading time after she's done promoting The Duchess. Knightley has nothing lined up for the rest of '08.

"I haven't quite found what I'm looking for yet," she says, adding that her selection process is more instinctive than calculated. "What I'm not capable of doing is, 'For my career, I should be doing this right now.' I can't do that because I can't try and be interested in something that I'm not."

Nor can she fake enthusiasm for a film she despises when it's time to go out there and sell it.

"It has to be about something that I do actually want to talk about. It can be really embarrassing and depressing and very cynical if you sit there and go, 'Well, I got a really big paycheck.' "

Knightley isn't all doom and gloom. In fact, when it comes to films, she says the oddball and offbeat move her. "There's an amazing film called Couscous (La Graine et le mulet) — so beautiful, about a guy who's trying to open a couscous restaurant," says Knightley. "I sat in the cinema crying and crying and crying. I want to phone the guy up and say thank you.

"Film can be so magic."

I so hope it comes to a theater near me before it goes to DVD! If you have seen it, please let me know how it was!!

Update: The movie is now out! Check it out here: The Duchess

Darkness in New England

I stumbled on a great article a little while ago and I wanted to share it with you here. It talks about how a 220-year-old mystery has been solved. On May 19, 1780 darkness fell upon New England and for the longest time it was a mystery as to what happened. They had theories of a forest fire, but no proof. In 2007 it looks like they found proof of a huge fire in Canada. Here is a link to the article in Wired (which links to even more information elsewhere on the web), and here is the text for you to read:

1780: In the midst of the Revolutionary War, darkness descends on New England at midday. Many people think Judgment Day is at hand. It will be remembered as New England's Dark Day.

Diaries of the preceding days mention smoky air and a red sun at morning and evening. Around noon this day, an early darkness fell: Birds sang their evening songs, farm animals returned to their roosts and barns, and humans were bewildered.

Some went to church, many sought the solace of the tavern, and more than a few nearer the edges of the darkened area commented on the strange beauty of the preternatural half-light. One person noted that clean silver had the color of brass.

It was darkest in northeastern Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine, but it got dusky through most of New England and as far away as New York. At Morristown, New Jersey, Gen. George Washington noted it in his diary.

In the darkest area, people had to take their midday meals by candlelight. A Massachusetts resident noted, "In some places, the darkness was so great that persons could not see to read common print in the open air." In New Hampshire, wrote one person, "A sheet of white paper held within a few inches of the eyes was equally invisible with the blackest velvet."

At Hartford, Col. Abraham Davenport opposed adjourning the Connecticut legislature, thus: "The day of judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause of an adjournment; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty."

When it was time for night to fall, the full moon failed to bring light. Even areas that had seen a pale sun in the day could see no moon at all. No moon, no stars: It was the darkest night anyone had seen. Some people could not sleep and waited through the long hours to see if the sun would ever rise again. They witnessed its return the morning of May 20. Many observed the anniversary a year later as a day of fasting and prayer.

Professor Samuel Williams of Harvard gathered reports from throughout the affected areas to seek an explanation. A town farther north had reported "a black scum like ashes" on rainwater collected in tubs. A Boston observer noted the air smelled like a "malt-house or coal-kiln." Williams noted that rain in Cambridge fell "thick and dark and sooty" and tasted and smelled like the "black ash of burnt leaves."

As if from a forest fire to the north? Without railroad or telegraph, people would not know: No news could come sooner than delivered on horseback, assuming the wildfire was even near any European settlements in the vast wilderness.

But we know today that the darkness had moved southwest at about 25 mph. And we know that forest fires in Canada in 1881, 1950 and 2002 each cast a pall of smoke over the northeastern United States.

A definitive answer came in 2007. In the International Journal of Wildland Fire, Erin R. McMurry of the University of Missouri forestry department and co-authors combined written accounts with fire-scar evidence from Algonquin Provincial Park in eastern Ontario to document a massive wildfire in the spring of 1780 as the "likely source of the infamous Dark Day of 1780.

Reading of the Declaration of Independence

I found this wonderful video on YouTube recently. There is something so striking about hearing the Declaration of Independence read out loud, especially by such a wide variety of individuals. I hope you enjoy it!

Blast from the Past

Recently I was browsing around the SmugMug galleries searching for pictures with the tag “Revolutionary,” when I stumbled on a few gems. I am not sure who these belong to, but here is a direct link to the entire gallery. These are of the First New Hampshire at Fort Ticonderoga back in 2005. Enjoy!





Pictures and videos from this weekend at Fort Ti coming soon!!