If there was ever a time in history that I would love to go back to and live in, it would be this time period. I suppose there is a certain romance about it that just draws me in.
I think I have found my new calling and would love to serve as a reenactor. Men, women and kids all participated and after watching these people and seeing their campsites, I had to wonder how many of them are in the prepper community. I was amazed at the level of self sufficiency. I felt like we in our preps are no where as prepared or organized as some of these people. Made me take a step back and reevaluate my own preps.
Here are some pictures :
Senior did a panoramic of the entire battlefield
Our mouths began to water when we smelled this chicken on the spit:
Lining up for Muster:
A smoke ring after a cannon blast:
I love this flag:
That is the Cornwallis house..it was featured in the movie "The Patriot"
After the smoke cleared for this particular battle, the British accepted the Colonial surrender. And another history lesson was in the books. Our boys were amazed at the rifle fire, and cannon blasts.
I stood for a few seconds and wondered what the real battle scene back in 1780 must have looked like. I tried to imagine the scene in my mind, but could not come close to the real thing.The reenactors were lucky, they could get up and go home. But for those brave souls who fought for the freedom of this country they were not so lucky. I am so thankful for those patriots, how sad they must be for the way our country is now.
-JUGM
A lot of missing heads and legs. Both on the battlefield and around the field hospitals. I have never done Revwar enactments but I have done Medieval/dark ages, frontier, civil war and even got to participate in a Waterloo enactment because of a friend I met in Germany who was big in the Napoleonic enactments over there. Those Europeans really pull out all the stops on their stuff. For instance in the US it's hard to find a full and complete battery of artillery, usually it's a mish mash of gun types from the general period but in Europe they had matching batteries even including the howitzer sections. You also rarely see complete ammunition trains with all the horses either.
ReplyDeleteI kinda stopped doing the re-enactment scene about 10 years ago though when I began prepping more full time. It's a very expensive and time consuming hobby. I was in several movies and TV series though over the years. I still look at some of them and try and see if I can find me but no luck to date.
We picked a reenactors news paper called "Smoke and Fire News" it is an international paper..and they had an article about the European reenactments. It is a huge deal over there.
DeleteTalking to the actors it is expensive... They had shops set up so they could buy period clothing and etc...holy crap!
That's cool you used to do that, what an awesome experience.
99% of the shops or vendors at those events are way over priced. If you wanted to get into re-enactments the best way is to find the local chapter of what ever period you are interested in. They typically have a welcome wagon (for a generic term) that will loan you period garb and stuff to get started and then show and help you make your own at a fraction of buying the stuff.
DeleteEach period group will have it's own set of craftsmen and women. You might be surprised that it is a pretty closed loop group in many ways and sometimes tightly connected into the movie business. For instance I have many friends that routinely work on items used in movies like "Lord of the Rings". I even submitted a few items myself in hopes of landing a props creation role with them back when they first started the films. It's a good thing I didn't get a position cause I would have punched Peter Jackson in the nose for what he did :)
As I said if you contact the local group they can usually get you set up for a fraction of what it would cost to buy everything. Even then the real expense is the time and fuel in traveling to the various events.
Thanks PP for all the advice. I figured just like with anything that vendors at the sites would be higher priced.
DeleteI have always been impressed with reenactments and think being an actor in one would be really cool and educational.
It's a time and money sink, but you tend to learn a TON about the specific period you are re-enacting...
ReplyDeletefrom walking around among the various crafters, I did gather the hobby would be quite expensive. But dang ! it look likes a ton of fun.
DeleteI enjoy reenactments. My brother was a Confederate reenactor for years, and his group was in the filming of "Dances with Wolves." The scene where the Confederates are coming through the corn field, that's him in the pork pie hat.
ReplyDeleteI've visited Cowpens and Kings Mountain. I had a great great ( I think that's right) grandfather at the battle of Monmouth. He and his son fought there, but he was captured and died on a prison hulk in Boston harbor. His son survived. Monmouth is reenacted annually, one day I would like to go.
Senior just said to me this morning that we should see if Kings Mountain does anything. We both had ancestors in the revolution and civil war.
DeleteNext time I watch Dances with Wolves I will look for your brother.