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During Saturday morning's drill, we suffered our first casualty as Bob Stone deserted us to fight with Butler's Rangers. The rest of us King's Rangers, along with DeLancey's and the Queen's Rangers (including Ray), made up the Provincial Brigade. We were meant to be the first onto the field as skirmishers, securing a bridge that led onto the left side of the battlefield. So we practiced the inspection drill and then practiced rushing the bridge in advance of the main forces. Later, at the formal Brigade inspection, we also demonstrated this maneuver for the Brigadier General and all of the opposition who happened to be watching.
Shortly after lunch, all three Brigades lined up for formal inspection. The officers marched on quite formally and we fixed bayonets when the music came on with the trooping of the colors. It was all very formal and polished -- a grand spectacle! We then peeled off to secure the bridge for the regulars, as planned, and the battle was on. That was at about 2:00.
We then went through the woods at the bottom of the lower field and came up being toward the far right. The British troops came in over a period of time behind us. The Continentals meanwhile were spread out at the top of the lower field and within the redoubt there. When everyone was on, and we had been firing for nearly an hour already, the 42nd Highlanders, Grenadiers and the rest of the regulars marched forward and took the redoubt. We moved forward, then back, then forward, then back again. The Continentals eventually regained the redoubt and the British troops, having taken heavy casualties, retreated.
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The battle's end turned into a very realistic rout, with the Major trying hard to keep the Provincial Battalion companies in their lines, which tended to fall apart. We Rangers were meant to be last off, again protecting the regulars, but by that time all the Rangers had died except one. I am proud to say that with my Major, I, the Lone Ranger, protected the entire British army's retreat, and I fired the last shot on the field. My little musket was like the Eveready bunny ... it just kept going and going... It wasn't over until about 3:45 -- nearly 2 hours of battle and more than 60 rounds fired. And I was the last one off the field!
Saturday evening, Ed R. arrived and Mel came to visit, since Mel had been in the opposition with the PA 5th Regiment. That traitor!!! But that too was a bit unsettling to think about, since men who fought together in the F&I war surely fought against each other 15 years later! Meanwhile, Fred H. bought a drum for himself from one of the sutlers. It turns out that's actually a pretty good drummer -- good enough that as he sat playing around with it, the Drum Major came over to recruit him! Rumor has it that Fred joined up and played with them for the Sunday morning wake-up call but no one was up to confirm that rumor.
Sunday's battle was somewhat different. We were led by one of the Loyal Americans, and while Paul was Sergeant, Mike was a private soldier. And this time, when crossing the bridge, we were met by fire from a half-dozen Doodles, who quickly retreated when they saw they were up against the King's Rangers. Wise men. Also this time, the Provincial Brigade stayed to the far left flank, angling up-field to corner in the enemy. It didn't take more than half an hour for the regulars to capture the redoubt and this time we kept going forward to the upper field. There, Private Mike took a hit, while the rest of us kept going up, continuing to corner the Continentals. Eventually, we were walking through a large number of their dead and wounded, and began taking hits there. When faced with a company volley from a sizable group of Yankee riflemen, both Ed and I fell, and I found myself in the eerie position of being 10 feet from the enemy, with more nearby. I lay there and imagined what it must have been really like 225 years ago, when this must have been common: me and my enemy dying side by side. A very strange feeling. Well, the battle was soon over and the Brits won. This battle was a mere 65 minutes.
After that, we had a few drinks, packed up, and headed home. Four of us stopped in Bordentown for dinner and to let the traffic go by. Seems everyone from the NorthEast was at Whitpain that weekend!
All in all, I thought the entire thing was splendid. Very impressive in a grand, formal kind of way. I know you all really like (and even prefer) the field tactical -- I really like them as well, but I also really like the big events, with all the pomp and ceremony, the massive numbers of people, and guns and smoke in the air, the smoke rings from the artillery coming downfield nearly to envelope us, the variety of battle styles... Events like this add variety to the schedule, and add an element of grandeur that I very much enjoy; so I, for one, was very happy to be there!
See you all soon, I hope.
YHOS,
Pvt. Chauncey