Yours truly at the event last weekendNow that I've finally gotten caught up on things, I have time to write a post about last weekend's War of 1812 program at Fort Macon State Park. Our unit hosted the weekend-long event, the first War of 1812 event ever held at the park. We selected a date in June for numerous reasons, but one being that the weather is usually pretty good in June. It is normally warm, but not unbearably hot. Unfortunately, it seemed that August arrived early and we were hit with sweltering heat and humidity all weekend. The reenactors took it in stride and carried on in fine fashion despite the high temps. The other setback we encountered was the somewhat last minute loss of two units who had planned to attend. Although this cut our numbers nearly in half, we still had 20 reenactors for the weekend.
Our unit provided naval displays including medical kit, small arms, navigation, and rope work, as well as swivel gun demonstrations. Two folks from our unit also did the cooking in the fort's kitchen casemate, as we provided breakfast and lunch both days. Representatives of the 9th, 10th, and 20th US provided uniform talks, infantry drill, musket demonstrations, and period music. Civilian reenactors (aside from the cooks) demonstrated children's games and sewing. Each day began and ended with a dress formation for the public.
Our sailing master explaining how a speed log is used
Dress formationVisitors seemed to generally enjoy and appreciate what we were doing, especially because it was so different from the usual Civil War programming at the fort. The park staff seemed very pleased about the whole thing. The reenactors all had a ball and plan to return for future programs. For our first effort, this program was a great success. Preliminary planning is already underway for a program next year. Hopefully, word will spread among the reenacting community about what a good event it was and we'll get even more participation next year.
A parting shot: the entire group of soldiers and sailors assembled at dress formation
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