Book Updates

If you have looked at the "What I'm Currently Reading" sidebar you'll see that I listed Robert Ramsey's Carolina Cradle: Settlement of the Northwest Carolina Frontier, 1747-1762. I can say that I honestly did not read this cover to cover. The first half of the book or more is great if you are doing genealogical research, but other than the chapter introductions I found little of use. However, the last few chapters that deal with the society, economy, etc. are very good and worth a read.

I have now switched gears and started reading T.H. Breen's American Insurgents, American Patriots: The Revolution of the People. I haven't really gotten far enough into this one to have anything meaningful to say yet so stay tuned!

Fort Dobbs Event Report

The weekend of April 9-10 I attended the annual War for Empire event at Fort Dobbs State Historic Site in Statesville, NC. This was scheduled as a Craven Regiment event. Four of us attended, portraying North Carolina militia. This year saw a huge reenactor turnout for the event which was set in the year 1761. Along with the regular garrison from Fort Dobbs, other units present included the South Carolina Rangers, the Washington County Regiment of NC Militia, Ballard's Virginia Militia, and the Independent Company of South Carolina out of Fort Loudoun, TN. Of course, there was also the Cherokee representation by His Majesty's Southern Indian Department.

There were many sutlers and vendors this year, and despite a forecast of bad weather the visitation was good. Most of the bad weather occurred in the evening so the program was not affected. We took part in the battle scenarios both days and manned an artillery piece for demonstrations on Sunday. As always, Fort Dobbs put on another very high quality event. This site does some of the most authentic and progressive programming in the state. Though it is a long drive for most of us, it is always well worth the trip and we enjoy ourselves whenever we go. I look forward to many more quality events at Fort Dobbs in years to come, as they continue to build both the site and their reputation.

War for Empire, 1761

This weekend I'll be heading off to Statesville, NC and Fort Dobbs for their annual War for Empire event, this year focusing on the year 1761. Fort Dobbs is probably the most progressive historic site in our division and does some of the best programming, in my humble opinion. I first took part in this annual program last year and I am looking forward to doing it again this year. If you are in the North Carolina backcountry this weekend and looking for something fun, educational, and historical to do, look no further than Fort Dobbs. You can find a link to the weekend's activities HERE.

This One's for You, Eric Jeanneret

OK, so it's been three weeks since my last post. Last weekend at the Plymouth reenactment, one of our shipmates from the Tidewater Maritime Living History Association (TMLHA), Eric Jeanneret reminded me of how slack I've been on the blog lately. So, this post is for Eric (and all the rest of you who may have been wondering what the hell happened to me).

April was definitely a busy month. The Fort Dobbs event, War for Empire 1760, was a very good event. I spent much of the weekend with friends from Tryon Palace and was given the opportunity to run the swivel gun during the battle scenarios on Saturday and Sunday. Aside from the fact that I was sick all weekend (either from allergies or a spring cold, I can't tell which) my first French & Indian War event was great and I hope to do more at Fort Dobbs in the future.

As previously mentioned, last weekend was the annual reenactment at Plymouth, NC. We were joined by our shipmates from TMLHA, had a generally good time in camp, enjoyed some of Eric's excellent cooking, and got to work on the 30-foot steam launch, which is always a pleasure. A damper was put on the whole weekend, however, when one of the artillery crews had an accident during the land battle Saturday afternoon. Two crew members were injured, one of the seriously. I've spent much of this week trying to answer questions that I can't because I didn't actually see what happened.

So that pretty much sums up my month. The Stanley Cup playoffs are in full swing. My Pens are in the second round. Me and the boss starting painting our new offices today and will hopefully be able to move into them soon. May is going to be busy, but maybe I can keep up a little better. We'll see.....

Heading West Today

I am leaving this morning to head west to Statesville, NC and Fort Dobbs for their annual War for Empire event. Fort Dobbs is the only French & Indian War site in North Carolina. It is a site in development, with plans to build a reproduction of the original fort in the works. And it is situated in some of the most lovely countryside to be found in the western Piedmont of the state. I've been wanting to attend this event for a number of years, but this is the first time I've actually been able to make it. This year's event focuses on 1760, the year of the Cherokee attack on the fort (the 250th anniversary of said attack was observed in late February). For those of you on Facebook, you may want to check out the Fort Dobbs Group page and become members. If that link doesn't work, just go to Facebook and do a search for Fort Dobbs; it should come up easily.

I've Been Busy

I didn't realize how long it's been since I've posted, but damn I've been busy! Our weekend in Historic Bath went very well. The site staff showed us the greatest hospitality and we really enjoyed ourselves. We had about 150 visitors, but it was a steady flow throughout the day. Those in attendance all agreed that we'd be willing to go back for another event in the future.
4/5 of our merry little band at Bath (Mike Williams was sitting under the fly at the time) L-R John Moseley, Myron Roltson, me, and Chris Grimes

On Tuesday and Thursday, I spent the day at Brunswick Town-Fort Anderson helping with an archaeology project. The site staff is working on rebuilding one of the fort's gun emplacements with a firing reproduction 32-pounder cannon. The archaeological dig was to try to find remnants of the original gun platform, which they did find. I did a little bit of everything from digging, to sifting, to serving as staff photographer. It was a very satisfying project for me, and my first archaeological experience.I am in the middle of the photo wearing a red hat and black t-shirt. We are listening to Assistant State Archaeologist John Mintz discussing some point about the excavation.

Finally, on Wednesday I went to East Carolina University to serve as a judge for their regional National History Day competition. Paired with a public history grad student from ECU, I judged middle school student exhibits. National History Day is something I've helped out with for the past three years and it's normally quite interesting.

So, I have been rather busy and I hope to get back to regular posting now. Of course, next weekend I'm headed to Fort Dobbs to help out with their annual War for Empire living history and reenactment event. Surely, an event that will be worthy of a post!

Cleaning Up the Reading List

If you take a look at the "What I'm Currently Reading" sidebar you will see that I just finished Colin Calloway's excellent book The Scratch of a Pen. In keeping with the theme, I have decided that I will now pick up Fred Anderson's The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War. I'm not exactly sure why I've gotten onto this F&I War trend, but I guess maybe it's a break from the type of stuff that I usually read. The Calloway book was really an easy read, and I'm hoping for the same with Anderson's work. Also note, that I have removed James Volo's Blue Water Patriots from the list. There's nothing at all wrong with the book, but almost immediately after I started reading it, other things caught my interest and I've not been able to return to it with any enthusiasm. I'll have to pick it back up at a later date.

On This Day in 1763.....

.....the Peace of Paris was signed, thus ending the Seven Years' War (or as we North Americans like to call it, the French & Indian War). On this momentous day in 1763, in historian Francis Parkman's words, "half a continent...changed hands at the scratch of a pen." Relations among all North American inhabitants was changed forever and the seeds of the American Revolution were sewn.

Nothing New

That's correct; there is literally nothing much new to report, which is why I've neglected the blog for over a week. Also on the topic of nothing new, I just finished reading Jack Larkin's The Reshaping of Everyday Life, 1790-1840. It was very well done, but certainly nothing I didn't already know. But, from time to time, its good to brush up on areas of history that we study very little. So I'm on to something new (literally). I just received this book last week from History Book Club. It is shorter than I realized, so should be a quick read. I'll be reading The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America by Colin G. Calloway. I haven't read anything on the French & Indian War, as we call it, in quite a while and this promises to be something more than simple military history. Once I finish this, I will probably return to my usual fare of Civil War and American Revolution oriented studies.

Just Arrived!

Over the past year I have been trying to expand my library in the area of colonial/Revolutionary/early Republic period history. Most of my purchases have focused on the War of 1812, particularly the naval aspects, as you might imagine. However, I have also found renewed interest in the French and Indian War (as we refer to it on our side of the pond). I grew up learning about F&I because we lived close to Fort Ligonier. My interest in that period subsided until just recently. This week I received The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War by Fred Anderson. At under 300 pages this should be a very manageable read that will reintroduce me to the conflict by which I was so fascinated in my youth.

French and Indian War Forts

Most folks probably wouldn't think about French and Indian War forts when they think of North Carolina, but we have one (or at least the site where one once stood). One of our least known state historic sites, Fort Dobbs is an interesting site with a lot of potential. Efforts are currently underway to raise the funding necessary to reconstruct the fort near Statesville.

On my recent trip to Pennsylvania I visited a terrific example of French and Indian War fortifications, Fort Ligonier. I had not been to this site since I was a child and boy has it changed! They have done a tremendous job restoring the fort, installing excellent exhibits in their museum, and putting together an artillery collection unsurpassed as far as I can tell. I was told by a staffer there that they've put $5 million into the work there and I wouldn't be surprised if they have $500,000 or more tied up in reproduction artillery alone. They've got everything from swivel guns (probably 20 of them) mounted on the fort walls to 8-inch howitzers on field carriages. They've got a mortar wagon, a howitzer mounted on a sled, and ammunition wagons. Its just plain damn impressive! The photos show a few examples.


One of the fort's many swivel guns



8-inch howitzer


Howitzer on a sled

Fort Ligonier was an active fort from 1758-1766 and was named for Sir John Ligonier, commander in chief in Great Britain. The fort restoration is excellent and is based on sound archaeological research. The museum exhibits are very nice and include two of the most unique artifacts I've ever seen - a pair of pistols given to George Washington by the Marquis de Lafayette. The same pistols were later owned by Andrew Jackson. The museum also has some other Washington artifacts. It is a unique site all around and well worth a visit if you are anywhere close by. The only downfall to Fort Ligonier is that they are only open to the public May through October. I assume this is a money saving effort as they are a private, non-profit and receive no government funding.

I think that the folks who are trying to rebuild Fort Dobbs could learn a lot by visiting Fort Ligonier and spending time with their staff. The staffer I talked to said he has had a number of phone conversations with the site manager at Fort Dobbs. That is a line of communication that will be beneficial to North Carolinians in the future, as the Fort Dobbs project moves forward.

For more information on the French and Indian War go to the website for the 250th anniversary celebration.

More F&I links include:
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