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On Sunday there was no battle. The plan was to have some friendly games with the boys and their guns. But the heat was so intense, that all events were tentatively canceled. Even by early morning the boys looked like they were ready to melt.
We started the morning with a lovely breakfast prepared by Debbie. Starting with sausages …
and pancakes …
and finally some melons cut by Kitty …
After breakfast the men went behind the tent and cleaned their guns from the day before.
A lot of people left early in the morning, and I can’t say I blame them. Some of them had a ways to drive, and the heat was just horrid. We decided to wait it out for a bit because we didn’t have as far to drive (comparatively speaking) and we figured it would be easier to pack up after some of the other regiments were gone. I made sandwiches and pasta salad for lunch, and someone decided that they would have one of the competitions that had originally been cancelled. It was a “Last Man Standing” competition. The instructions, as relayed in an email, are as follows:
The final event is known as “The Last Man Standing”. All registered participants, including members not part of a team, are encouraged to participate. This event will determine who is the fastest individual within the BB or CL. Time will begin at 35 seconds and count down by 5 seconds until 25 seconds. Time will count down by one second thereafter until there is a last man standing. Time starts from the firing position and ends when the musket is at the shoulder. If time is called -usually through a whistle blow – before the musket is at the shoulder, that individual is disqualified. When the musket is fired, if there is a mis-fire, that individual is disqualified. An individual moves to the next round only when the musket has got to the shoulder within the allotted time and has discharged. If the top three individuals are part of a participating competitive unit, then points will be awarded to each unit that the individual is part of.
I didn’t quite understand how it would work, but it ended up being a lot of fun to watch. Basically the men that were participating lined up and someone would start a timer. Each guy then had to do a dry fire and reload their gun and have the gun to their shoulder ready to fire once time was called. If they made any mistakes they were disqualified. Then they went down the line and each person fired their gun, if it mis-fired they were disqualified. If it fired they continued on to the next round.
It was a quick, but fun, event. I hope they do it again at another event. I think it really engages the crowd. No one from the 1st NH participated, but I think they would if it was done at another event.
Sunday was a fun day and it was so nice to only have an hour drive home. I don’t think we have any other weekend events that are that close. I hope West Boylston makes this a yearly event, though it was small in size, it was big in fun.
If you want to see all the pictures from Sunday check out my gallery here.
Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel
Posted 3 years, 7 months ago. Add a comment
There’s nothing better then sitting around an open campfire, in the early morning drinking coffee and preparing for the day ahead.
Except when a beautiful lady fetches you a glass of water of course, since it was scorching hot out, Rachel wanted to make sure I was completely hydrated.
While I concentrated on the battle and Rachel concentrated on the water, Kolby concentrated on what was most important, at least to him anyway, filling his tummy.
After the necessities were taken care of we lined up to prepare for battle.
I was exceptionally happy about going into battle.
As we marched into battle Kolby and Jeffery said that they would meet us there.
We waited around for them to show up …
but they must have gotten lost …
or just have gotten a better offer …
Whatever the reason, we waited for them as long as we could, until finally our O.M.V. (official military vehicle) showed up.
Although Dan was still deep in thought about what had happened to the boys.
Upon arrival to the field we took care of the necessities … our mid morning snack.
In the past my musket didn’t work, in fact due to a soft frizzen, it didn’t work once in Pennsylvania. In West Boylston (after I had sent it to the shop to get the frizzen hardened), the musket completely redeemed itself. It turned into the little musket that could. That, however, is the reason I don’t have more pictures of the skirmish itself. Since I was fighting in the skirmish, and not trying to fix my musket, I wasn’t able to get many pictures, though I did manage a few.
Bruce and myself volunteered for a detachment of six to go into the battle separately from the rest of the group. At first the rest of the group was hesitant to accept me since I’m still sort of new to the hobby …
but after I got my hands or face a little dirty, they warmed right up.
I do want to take the time to thank them all for allowing me to fight with them and taking the time to teach me so much.
Finally after a morning of combat, sweating it in the woods, we were able to surface stack our muskets …
and mingle amongst our allies and the British. It was the “99 Degree Heat Truce”.
However, a small group did not take part in the truce.
Nana Janie didn’t mind the truce she was just disappointed that there were no Indians.
Soon, however, we all had to prepare for another battle …
We did post lookouts …
and while no one was looking we kept the truce going for as long as we could.
Finally though, as nice as the truce was, our friends became our targets …
after the French fired the first shot …
and so then the little musket that could decided that it didn’t want to play anymore. So I was left holding the camera. The battle was excellent.
Both sides fought well, even if those that died did so conveniently in the shade.
The red coats fought hard …
but were no match for the mightiness of the continentals …
well some of them anyway.
In the end, the heat got to everyone and since most of them were laying in the shade anyway, or their muskets stopped firing. There was no clear winner in the battle, except maybe the sun … or Kolby and Jeffery, who were really the smart ones.
And I want to thank the town of West Boylston for having us it was truly a wonderful time.
Very respectful,
Kris
Posted 3 years, 7 months ago. Add a comment
This event was probably one of the most relaxing I have been to. Our cooking for the day was relatively low because the guys would be gone from 10 till 4, and they were taking lunch with them. Then we had a nice ham and bean dinner that was provided by the organizers of the event. This meant that there wasn’t a lot of cooking for us women, and we got to spend more of the day relaxing and walking around visiting the area.
The day started off with breakfast. We were joined for breakfast by the UTA.
Debbie made us scrambled eggs, sausage, and a yummy fruit salad.
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the vittles.
The boys also put together their lunch which consisted of dried fruit, pretzels, nuts, and beef jerky. We were told to bring a lunch that could be put in their haversack, so this was a great choice and very accurate as well.
Since this was a pretty small event, there weren’t many kids. Actually besides Kolby and Jeffrey, there was only one other kid there. But the boys still had a lot of fun playing. I think it’s nice that Kolby and Jeffrey always have at least each other during these events, especially at small ones like this.
Early in the morning, the boys lined up to get checked in and debriefed for the upcoming battle. The first thing they did was march through the graveyard and had a ceremony there. Then they got bussed over to where they would be battling.
The women stayed behind and just hung out. I tried to get some portraits of the women, but I don’t think they appreciated having the camera around. I can’t say I blame them as I don’t particularly enjoy having my picture taken either, but I just thought they all looked so beautiful in their clothes sitting there just chit chatting and I wanted to capture that feeling on film.
Kitty took the free time to get her tape loom ready to use. She spread out across the dining fly and had a few instances where people walked right into her strings, but overall it went well and she was able to get it all wrapped and ready to use.
Down the road a few miles the boys had a small skirmish, after which they were all hanging around talking.
Hey aren’t you supposed to be fighting those guys, not talking to them!?
The battle drew a decent sized crowd. It probably could have been bigger if it hadn’t been so darn hot out!!
I guess I would rather have heat then mud, but neither is fun. Lori, Debbie and the boys tried to combat the heat by having some ice cream.
After lunch the boys had the real battle. Since I wasn’t there, I can’t say if it was good or bad, but I am sure of one thing, I am sure it was hot.
Now this is how we like to see the British!!
After the battle they got a ride back to camp with the UTA who had their truck with them.
while the boys were standing around camp recounting the latest battle …
Officer Tony stopped by to share some stories with us and Janie kept us in stitches as usual.
These are the last pictures I have of the night, but I can tell you that the rest of the night involved a great ham and bean dinner, a walk to the liquor store, followed by a ride back from the liquor store provided by a very kind fellow reenactor, and some drinking, that part of which is a bit hazy for me for reasons that you can guess.
Overall it was a fun and relaxing day, stay tuned for pictures from Sunday when we break camp and head home! If you want to see the rest of the pictures from Saturday (there are many more from the battle) check out my gallery here.
Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel
Posted 3 years, 7 months ago. Add a comment
I have a pretty shocking photo to show you, if you don’t think you can handle it, feel free to skip ahead a few. It won’t hurt my feelings in the least bit.
Why is this so shocking you ask? Do you notice what I am doing (setting up my tent) and how light it is out? That’s right people, we arrived at the West Boylston event in the DAYLIGHT! We weren’t setting up in the dark, we weren’t rushing to finish, and everyone wasn’t already in bed by the time we were done. It was a miracle!! And I was able to catch some nice pictures of the tents going up (which is hard to do when you’re always arriving after dark and you’re pretty much the only one setting up).
After we got our tents up, Kolby and I went to register. Here is the lovely woman who signed us in, I am sure I am the only one who got her picture today, but it was a part of the whole experience!
Our tents were set up right next to a graveyard. I was hoping that some of the stones would be from the 18th century, but all of them pretty much were born after 1800. Still very cool to look at though, and a great backdrop for pictures as well.
After registration, the trailer got unpacked …
The dining fly got set up …
Firewood got hauled …
The fire pit was dug …
And the camp was sufficiently protected from pirates …
Once everything was set up, we all headed out for Friday night dinner. I believe this is a tradition at every weekend event, however this is our very first one because, well frankly as stated at the start of this post, we have never arrived before dark before!
Lori and Debbie started the drinks at dinner with some yummy looking margaritas.
And hopefully this doesn’t become a First New Hampshire tradition, but after dinner we headed over to Wally World to pick up a few necessities.
We then arrived back to camp and enjoyed a roaring fire, good drinks, and lively conversation with friends late into the night.
Stay tuned for Saturday’s activities. If you want to see all the pictures from Friday check out my gallery here.
Believe me yours faithfully,
Rachel
Posted 3 years, 8 months ago. Add a comment
