Reenactors constantly hear from friends, acquaintances, and site visitors something like, "Where do you sleep?" or "Do you really sleep in the tent?" Well, yup, we do. The tents, of course, are part of the total
re-enactment picture. We are recreating military life or life in the wilderness
and the tents are essential for that.
For the military events, we use white canvas wedge tents. When we are out in the wilderness, we
make primitive tents out of painted canvas or other fabrics (often referred to as "trek tarps").
I wish all of you who have not seen it could see the site of the military camps at the big
Grand Encampment events.
It's really amazing to see waves of white tents covering an open field.
A picture of Fort Ti from the distance gives you a hint
of the real thing, being up close is even better.
Depending on how many people we have,
our own area of the camp will consist of single tents for each
of us, although our Indian Scout Jonas, and occassionally a couple of other guys who don't
own tents, will put up their trek tarps with some stout sticks or tie them
up to a tree, and sleep under those.
The tents are set up as close to each other as possible and with the fronts all in a line.
People tend to have their own tents, either as individuals or as spouses/families.
I've had to share mine once already and it won't be the last time.
Another row
will be set up with the backs to the first row,
and each row opens out to a "street" with another
row of tents opposite, also facing onto the street.
Of course, all the modern stuff such as the cooler and the ground pad
must be kept hidden. This
is especially true for those events where the public is invited,
because people stroll up and down the streets to see what we do, so if
someone's tent door is open, then their modern stuff had better be hidden.
The Indians
tend to camp by themselves, but near to the units of the country they are supporting.
They usually put up teepees and longhouses which are shared by many.
They are said to be warm and welcoming, as they will have the fire inside.
We are likely have a large dining fly (a canvas tarp set up as a "roof" only,
open on all sides), and if we have enough people
we will also have a kitchen tent. The dining fly is out front of the tent or stands
alone to provide
some shade and comfort
for those doing the cooking or cleaning up, or merely to provide some relief from the sun
during the hours we are not in battle.
Each military unit will have all the private
soldiers together on one side of the street (with the sergeant at the top of the street),
and the officers are usually set up at some distance from the lowly privates.
Here is an example of our street at Battle Road.
The wedge tent is tall enough for me to stand in,
but most of the guys have to bend down a bit (or a lot).
It has plenty of space for my bedding on one side,
miscellaneous stuff on the other side, and
usually spare space at the back of the tent, especially if it has a "bell"
(a rounded extension rather than a square end) as many of them do.
My bedding usually consists of my trek tarp, which servers as a groundcloth and outermost
cover, and two blankets (three in the winter). And I bring a ground pad for me old bones
(but that's cheating, of course).
Also, I have my camp box which holds all the loose pieces,
such as my lantern and candles; wooden bowl,
eating utensils, and mugs; bayonettes and war belt equipment; scarves and neck stock;
spare stockings, camp caps, and other clothing items; etc.
And I generally have a cooler for food.
The combatants always camp separately: for the F&I War, we will have
a French camp and a British camp, and obviously for the Rev War, we will
have an American camp and a British camp. The two camps will be separated
by some space. Click
here to view a period image of a British military camp.
