Catching My Breath

The month of April was a complete blur. In the first two weeks of the month I was on the road 9 out of 10 days, driving over 1,600 miles in that time. It all started with the Two Weeks of Fury bus tour sponsored by Bentonville Battlefield, a three-day tour that explored the 1865 Carolina Campaign. I played chauffeur for Eric Wittenberg and drove the chase vehicle behind the bus all weekend. Much fun was had with some good history buddies, particularly Chris Meekins, Wade Sokolosky, Colby Stevens, Derrick Brown, Amanda Brantley, and Chad Jefferds. The highlight for me was touring the Monroe's Crossroads battlefield, which is aboard Fort Bragg and not generally accessible to the public.


Next up was North Carolina's Independence Day, better known as Halifax Day, April 12. After doing musket demonstrations for school groups on Friday, we settled in for living history and a small skirmish reenactment on Saturday. The program was titled The Road to Yorktown and highlighted the forces of Cornwallis and Tarleton as they moved through North Carolina toward Virginia, coming through Halifax along the way. Good times were had once again and even the bad weather didn't dampen our spirits.


I managed to work in a couple of concerts at the end of the month with my good buddy Jim McKee, which was a much needed respite from the craziness of this month. After seeing Umphrey's McGee and Widespread Panic at the Trondossa Music and Arts Festival in Charleston, SC we made stops on our return trip in McClellanville and Georgetown to check out the SC Maritime Museum, the Gullah Museum, and some old churches. Then it was back to Wilmington to see Gov't Mule. Both shows were great and the side trip for history stuff was fun as well.


As I move into May, I am working on a book review for H-CivWar on Philip Gerard's The Last Battleground: The Civil War Comes to North Carolina.


I will also be involved with a number of programs, including the annual meeting and symposium of the NC Military Historical Society, of which I am Treasurer, and the annual Fight for the Backcountry event at Alamance Battleground. As usual, there will be some concerts and disc golf events scattered in as well. It might not be as busy as April, but it will be plenty busy enough.

Rowdiness and Revolution are Calling

February has turned out to be a busy month for me. Last weekend, my shipmates and I participated in a War of 1812 living history program at Tryon Palace in New Bern, NC along with the gents of the 10th US and Wake Volunteer Guards. As far as standard living histories go it was a really good program and we saw about 1000 visitors. Here's a photo taken of me at the program; I'm really getting the grumpy old sailor look down, I think.

The rest of this month will consist of general rowdiness and revolution. On February 18, I will be participating in a program at Brunswick Town-Fort Anderson State Historic Site that focuses on the Stamp Act Crisis. We will be doing an evening torchlight program where we reenact, through scripted vignettes, the protests that took place in the Cape Fear region.

On February 25-26 I will be joining other members of the Craven Regiment of militia for the annual anniversary of the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge. This program is in sort of a transition period right now due to some changes being made by the park staff, but we are looking forward to helping make this a better program in years to come. This year will be a big test of how things are going to shape up.

I might as well get used to this kind of schedule because March is even more hectic.

Trying to Get Into the Spirit

The holiday season is upon us, but today I am having a hard time getting into the spirit. I am doing things that I always do at this time of year, i.e. grading final exams, preparing for Christmas programs at historic sites, decorating the house, etc. However, no matter how much decorating I do, how many Christmas cards I write, or how much Christmas music I listen to, it is hard to get into the spirit of the season when the temps are in the mid-70s and I am wearing shorts. I guess its a good damn thing I don't live in Florida or some other such place. I'm sure all you folks up north who have already had a couple of snows this year are cussing me right now, but damn it, it isn't supposed to be 75 in December! At any rate, I think Mother Nature will take care of all this for me in rather short order as the temps are supposed to be a good 20 degrees cooler starting tomorrow.

This weekend's activities should also help get me in the spirit. We will be partaking in our annual tradition of Colonial Christmas at Historic Halifax. As always, we will be set up in the Tap Room at the historic site, with some form of holiday refreshments, tavern games, and of course the usual swivel gun and musket demonstrations throughout the day. Some of our members will march in the town's Christmas parade as well. We always have a ton of fun at this program and if you find yourself in or traveling through northeastern NC this Saturday, you should stop on by Historic Halifax. Its a short six mile drive off of I-95 and well worth the time.

Now, back to grading final exams, putting up a Christmas tree, and maybe getting some of those cards done!

Switching Gears

Or at least time periods. Three weekends of colonial events are finished and now I have to retool and gear up for the annual Confederate Navy weekend at the CSS Neuse State Historic Site and the Carolina Living History Guild annual business meeting. It appears that most of our members will be present this year and we certainly have lots to discuss, including a very busy schedule for 2012.

The Colonial Heritage Day at Brunswick Town went very well. Though the weather was cool and overcast at times, on Saturday afternoon the sun came out and it warmed up quite nicely. I enjoyed my day spent with the fine fellows of Capt. William Dry's Company of New Hanover County militia.

The men of Dry's Militia assembled for the manual exercise (yours truly closest to the camera)

The Celebrate NC program at the NC Museum of History was a great event! There were more artisans, craftsmen, historic sites, and entertainers than I've ever seen and the museum staff estimated 5000 visitors for the day. We saw plenty of those folks and had great conversations with a few of them, while representing Historic Halifax.

Yesterday's "Bath in the American Revolution" event went very well. Though I was only one of two militia men present, His Majesty's 64th Regt. of Foot had a very good turnout. Bath is a very small town that is off the beaten path, but they still managed to get 250-300 visitors out for the day. I talked to a lot of fine folks about militia service, both Loyalist and Patriot, in Revolutionary era North Carolina. The Brits did a fine job of drill and musket demonstrations, and musician Simon Spalding kept our ears perked up all day with his lively tunes.

All in all, its been a really fun three weeks.

Lots of Colonial Stuff on the Horizon

For the next three weeks I'll be immersed (at least part of the time) in colonial North Carolina history. Three events in three weekends should prove to be interesting and fun.

October 28-29, I will be at Brunswick Town-Fort Anderson State Historic Site assisting with their Colonial Heritage Days. Friday I'll be doing maritime interpretation for fourth grade students and Saturday will be open to the public. I will likely put aside the maritime interpretation and fall in with the militia company.

November 5, I will be representing Historic Halifax at the Celebrate NC program at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh. Me and my messmate Chris Grimes will be discussing the recruitment of Continental Line and militia units at Halifax during the American Revolution. Even better, our display will be set up at the entrance of the museum's "Call to Arms" military history exhibit. And what's even better still, is that right outside the entrance to that exhibit is a mannequin dressed in the uniform of the 6th NC Continental Line, recruited at Halifax. Should be a great venue for a display!

November 12, I wrap up my three week whirlwind tour of colonial North Carolina at Historic Bath. I will be working with the Craven Regiment militia and His Majesty's 64th Regt. of Foot to present a living history program titled "Bath in the American Revolution." It should prove to be a great ending to this run of colonial/Revolutionary programs.

I'll try to be better about posting event reports and photos as we go, instead of waiting a month to get caught up. Stay tuned!

Couldn't Finish a Book

Last time I updated the What I'm Currently Reading section, I was working on T.H. Breen's American Insurgents, American Patriots (see previous post). I'm sad to admit that I couldn't finish it. I don't know if I just couldn't get into the material, or if it was Breen's writing style, or what, but I just had to put it down. This was particularly discouraging because I got more than a third of the way through it before I quit. The book received a lot of favorable reviews, but I guess it just couldn't stand up to the previous two books I had read (David Goldfield's America Aflame and Stephen Budiansky's Perilous Fight)

After putting down Breen's book, I decided to read a short work by Gordon Wood, The American Revolution: A History. Though it is only 166 pages, this book is an excellent, basic history of the Revolution. If you are looking for an in-depth study this certainly isn't it, but it is a well-written overview that highlights the causes of the war and the development of republicanism in America. There's very little military history here, aside from the one chapter that deals specifically with the conduct of the war. This book can be purchased from Amazon for well under $10 which would make it a perfect book for an undergraduate class on the time period. If I were able to select my own books for my classes I would seriously consider having my students read this as a supplement to their textbook. I am almost finished with it and getting through this book has made me feel better about not finishing American Insurgents, American Patriots.

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!

AAR for a Busy February

February is finally over and I have a month to relax a little. I figured I'd post a report from the field, so to speak. The February 19-20 program at Brunswick Town-Fort Anderson went very well. I was concerned that blending two separate programs on the same weekend wouldn't work so well, but it went off much better than I ever expected. In fact, the evening Stamp Act Defiance program went off better than I could ever have expected and should only need minor tweaking in the future. I'd like to see them conduct that program as a stand alone program eventually and I think they will.

We had a great time last weekend at the 235th anniversary of the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge. We had a decent turnout from the Craven Regiment and probably had the best looking camp out there (at least in our opinion). We participated in musket demonstrations all weekend and ate A LOT. We had more food than we could ever have eaten and it was all good. The crowds for this event were larger than I've ever seen for Moores Creek National Battlefield, so the park staff and support group should be well pleased. There were some changes this year that ruffled some reenactor feathers, but then again reenactors are slow to change when they've been doing things the same for years and years. I personally saw no issues with the changes and hope that some of the grumblers won't stew about it all year long. Following is a photo (or maybe two) from the event. Next up, commemoration of the scuttling of the CSS Neuse on March 12!

A Busy February

This month is setting up to be one of a number of very busy ones on my calendar. There just seems to be a lot going on in terms of meetings, workshops, etc. But there are also a lot of events this month that are occupying my weekends (except for this weekend).

Last Saturday, members of the Craven Regiment held a militia muster at Tryon Palace in New Bern as part of their "Free Day." Eight members showed up to drill in the rain and hang out in the stables. A great lunch was provided and good fellowship was enjoyed by all. I'm hoping to have some photos soon.

Next weekend I'll be taking part in an interesting program at Brunswick Town-Fort Anderson. Not only are they marking the 146th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Anderson, but they are also commemorating the 245th anniversary of the Stamp Act Defiance. I'm generally not in favor of blending two totally different programs, but we'll see how well they pull it off.

Finally, on the 26th and 27th the Craven Regiment will take part in the 235th anniversary of the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge, one of the earliest battles of the American War for Independence. The weekend will feature the normal living history, wreath ceremony, etc., but this year they are having more musical performances and a couple of guest lecturers including the ageless wonder Ed Bearrs. He will speak on Sunday afternoon, the topic being military tactics during the American Revolution.

Lots of fun stuff going on, but I'll sure be glad when March arrives and I get a break.

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope all of you have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. It is the official start of summer and the kickoff to the next 8 very busy weeks for me. Just to bring everyone up to date, the event at Alamance Battleground was nice, if not well attended. A lot of our guys dropped out at the last minute for various reasons and we ended up with three guys there. Saturday night thunderstorms flooded us out of our tents, but otherwise we had a pretty good time. Hopefully we'll get more guys to go out next year.

The next few months will be extremely busy with lots of programs, including two cannon shoots at Fort Macon (the first of those being tomorrow). Throw in a five day vacation to Pennsylvania, a big War of 1812 living history, a big Civil War living history, and a smaller Civil War living history and you have the makings of some very busy times for me. Luckily, some of these events are one day affairs, making them a bit less time consuming, but there's still a lot on the plate. I'll explain in more detail as these things occur. But for now, it's off in the morning to shoot the cannon for the first batch of summer tourists, then we'll see what the rest of the holiday weekend holds. Stay safe everybody!

Two Down, One to Go

The colonial Christmas program at Historic Halifax this past Saturday was a lot of fun. As always, we set up shop in the Tap Room. We did some cooking outside, as well as the usual musket and swivel gun demonstrations. My new 1728 French musket was fired for the first time and fired flawlessly all day. This Saturday we head to Tryon Palace for the muster of the Craven Regiment of Governor Tryon's militia. In the meantime, here's some photos from Halifax.

Teaching Home Schoolers About Gov. Tryon's Militia

This Saturday, I will be assisting Tryon Palace with their annual Home School Day program. Along with a few others, I will be portraying Gov. Tryon's militia of 1771 that marched west to Alamance to put down the Regulator rebellion. We will also be firing the 3-pounder cannon from Alamance Battleground for the first time on it's new carriage. The galloper style carriage has been constructed over the past six months by David Stone, the blacksmith at Tryon Palace. This has been an exciting and interesting project, and I'm glad to say that it is almost complete. Once we test things out and make sure no alterations need to be made, the cannon will return to Alamance Battleground, just in time for their Colonial Living Week program the week of October 12.

A Somewhat Disappointing Book

I just finished reading Captains Contentious: The Dysfunctional Sons of the Brine by Louis Arthur Norton. I've written a review of it for the Company of Military Historians publication, The Dispatch. I was pretty disappointed when I got to the end of this book. I slogged through five chapters that were brief biographies of early American naval officers to get to the final chapter that supposedly would analyze each of the characters psychologically in order to explain why they were contentious. The book failed in that regard, focusing mainly on two of the five figures (admittedly, the two best-known of the group) and saying very little really about the other three. The book was interesting enough, but I found the analysis to be a let down. The hardcover sells for $30, so if you want to read it I suggest waiting for a paperback version or try to find a used copy.

Brandywine Battlefield to be Closed - Please Help!

Here's a link to the article in the Philadelphia Enquirer

Here's a link you can use to help Save Brandywine

In an update I saw yesterday, it appears that there's been a tentative agreement reached to keep the site open. Unfortunately, staff members are "volunteering" until a long-term agreement can be worked out. Please also see Eric Wittenberg's comment on this matter.

And, further updates found in this article. (8/21/09)

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!

Back to the Colonial Era this Weekend

This Saturday I will be joining some of my shipmates from the Carolina Living History Guild at Historic Bath for a one-day living history program. Our focus will be on the town of Bath (North Carolina's first incorporated town) and its function as a port in 1771. Why 1771, you may ask? Well, in 1771 Bath was one of North Carolina's five official ports of entry, albeit a small one, ranking fourth out of the five in trade volume. However, in 1771 the Beaufort County Militia, based in Bath, sent 35-40 men on an expedition west with Royal Governor William Tryon to put down the Regulator rebellion at Alamance. By focusing on 1771 we were able to not only provide a sailor's perspective, but also a militia perspective, thereby increasing the number of our members that might attend the event. So aside from talking to the public about trade, commerce, and the life of a sailor, we will also be talking about the duties of colonial militia service and how the local militia took part in a pre-Revolutionary action in the state's history. Of course, we'll be doing the usual musket and swivel gun firing demonstrations and things of that nature. The folks at the visitors center will be doing a rope making activity as well. So if you're in the vicinity of Bath this Saturday please stop by Bonner Point and chat for a while!

A Brief Book Review

I've just finished reading Robert Dunkerly's Redcoats on the River published by Wilmington-based Dram Tree publishers. I know the publisher well, and the author is also an acquaintance. Still, I hope to provide an objective look at this book.

The information in the book is excellent. There was certainly a need for such a book in the catalog of works on the American Revolution. More attention has been focused on the southern campaigns over the past decade or so, and this book focuses specifically on the region of the Cape Fear River and its tributaries. The book is extensively illustrated with both period images and modern photographs of locations and reenactments. There are abundant maps included, mainly reprints of historical maps. The book is chock full of good information and is very comprehensive. End notes are extensive, there is an Appendix listing all engagements in the region, another listing historic sites and markers, and the book includes a glossary. The book is thorough to say the least.

My issues with the book are mainly issues of editing. The quality of the individual chapters is very uneven. Some chapters are excellent, while others could have used more editing. It is readily discernible what material the author was most comfortable with because those sections of the book read much more smoothly and efficiently. However, there are a number of things in the book that really bothered me. There are numerous instances of redundancy; the author will make a statement twice within the same page, sometimes no more than a paragraph apart. Often the phrasing of the repeated statement is verbatim. The author sometimes uses the same phrase or combination of words in the same paragraph. Also, the author sometimes repeats definitions within the text. The most obvious example is the word "abatis." It is defined the first time it is used, which is appropriate. However, it is redefined almost every subsequent time it is used, which is unnecessary. I would be willing to bet the definition is in the glossary as well. These instances of redundancy should all have been edited out.

The chapter that deals with the internal civil war within North Carolina during 1781 is tedious and many of the books shortcomings are present within the chapter. While I realize there was a lot of material to cover, this chapter is much longer than any other in the book (approximately 40 pages) and reads like a seemingly never ending stream of small skirmishes and horrible actions against civilians. Eventually, it becomes confusing. Also, the author has a tendency to rely on a lot of anecdotal stories and incidences to make his points. Some of these are well documented, while others are not documented at all as far as I can tell. In one instance, the author admits that an anecdotal story is attributed to a less-than-reliable source and is probably not true. I appreciate the author's honesty in sharing this information, but I wish he had done it a bit more.

Finally, there are minor errors that could be easily corrected. There are typographical errors throughout. There are also a number of instances where a term or name is spelled differently at different points in the book. Even if there are different contemporary spellings (and the author points many of these out), the author should pick one and stick with it; furthermore, the editor should ensure this consistency.

Though I've nitpicked this book to death, I really did enjoy it and think it's a valuable contribution to the history of southeastern North Carolina. I should frame the book in the context of the publisher's mission. Dram Tree aims to publish correct, factually based history that is not academic or scholarly in nature. They do this pretty well. Their books usually contain End Notes and other academic trappings, but the books they publish are not considered scholarly. Dram Tree wants good historians who can write like novelists and tell a good story. Rather than subscribing to the old idiom "don't let the truth get in the way of a good story," Dram Tree believes that sometimes the best stories are the truth. Taken in this context, Bert Dunkerly's book is one that should be read by anyone interested in North Carolina's revolutionary era.

Interesting Meeting Yesterday

Yesterday I attended an informational session regarding the proposed Southern Campaign of the Revolution Heritage Area. If you click on this link, scroll to the bottom of the page, and download the PDF file you will get a general idea of what the proposed NHA is all about. They have just finished taking their first round of public comments. They will now finalize what will be included in the NHA, prepare a draft report for Congress, and go out for a second round of public comment. It was interesting to hear what the potential is for such a Heritage Area. I hope that it will come to fruition.

Up Early Today

I'm up early today, at least for a Saturday. I'm heading to Moore's Creek National Battlefield for the anniversary living history program. In all the years I've lived in eastern NC, I've never actually been to this historic site, so I'm excited not only to participate in the program, but just to see the site for the first time. I have met a couple of park rangers from Moore's Creek on numerous occasions, and am glad to finally see the place.

Two Anniversaries Today

On this day in 1776, the first Continental Navy squadron was put to sea. And...

On this day in 1865, Gen. W.T. Sherman's army burned Columbia, SC to the ground.

For what it's worth.