New Book: "Farmers and Honest Men"

Good Day,

I am very happy to get to tell you about a new book which came out at the end of the summer: "Farmers and Honest Men" by long-time reenactor, Horst Dresler. The book tells us about Henry and John Ruiter -- descendants of the 1710 wave of immigrants from the Palatine -- through their life as Loyalists in the King's Rangers during the Revolutionary War to their settling Upper Canada and the War of 1812.

You can get the book here: http://farmersandhonestmen.com/index.htm

Most interesting to myself, who portrays a Loyalist, is the evident civil war these people were caught up in and which is so little talked about in our history books -- the stories of what Loyalist families suffered at the hands of their friends, neighbors, and local governments. I also found it interesting to learn about some of the great names of Loyalist history: Peters, Sherwood, and more. I recommend it to all people who portray Loyalists because it is guaranteed to enrich the story you can tell the public.

For people interested in Loyalist genealogy, Horst included extensive reprints of original memorials naming many of the early Upper Canada settlers, and a full genealogy of the Ruiter family.

Horst Dresler portrays Capt. Henry Ruiter of the 3rd Co. of King's Rangers (as well as James Rogers of Rogers' Rangers). He has been researching the Ruiters for many years, and it shows.

I hope you will contact Horst directly and get your copy, which you are sure to enjoy!!

Cheers,
Sarah / Chauncey

Website of the day: 17th of Foot

Dear all,

We are going to be turning our attention to new and very important 250th Anniversary events, one of those of course being the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, aka Quebec 2009. That means people are going to start to hear or want to hear more about Gen. Wolfe and exploring who he is.

I've been doing a bit of that myself and stumbled upon this site of the 17th of Foot (Wolfe's regiment). The website owner admits that ongoing research will keep the history and information updating regularly. Indeed, that is what we like to see in this hobby -- continuous learning and sharing of new knowledge. For that reason, I want to make sure people know about this website.

YH&OS,
Sarah / Chauncey

Fort William Henry's 250th Anniversary Event Part 2

Dear all,

One thing that is quite different today than when I started reenacting just 8 years ago is the number of movie clips available. Thanks to someone from the French side at the Fort William Henry 250th Anniversary event, you get to see not only more action but, as is rare on my website, something from both the French as well as the English!

Here are a bunch of videos for you to enjoy on YouTube. My thanks to the anonymous videographers.

Seige of Fort William Henry

250th Seige of Fort William Henry

Pan Across the Battle

Redcoats Process off the Field (I'm actually in this one!!)

Night Barrage 1

Night Barrage 2

One of the Big Guns

Behind Militia Lines

YH&OS,
Sarah / Chauncey

Fort William Henry's 250th Anniversary Event

Dear all,

I know it's been awhile since I posted here and I have a lot to say. I also have an overhaul of the website to take care of but who knows when that will be.

This past weekend I attended a fantastic event to commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the Siege and Massacre at Fort William Henry. I hate to have to say this but the event is best known because of the Last of the Mohicans.

The most exciting part is that I was there with a new unit, the Quintin Kennedy Detachment, making our debut. But more on that later.

The event itself was fantastic. I got there Thursday to help and also because Capt. Quintin Kennedy's marquee takes a very long time to set up. On Friday, the event held the Sabbath Day Point massacre. More on that later too.

New twists were that Indians were on both sides!! Also, during the day, British cannon were up on the hill to the east and the French cannon were on the west and fired at each other frequently. That was great!

Saturday was essentially a line battle between the Brits and French. Here's something new: I was with the Redcoats! (Back to the "more on that later"). The French were meant to win and I have to say, I had never seen Brits die in the numbers they did. It was impressive, and hair-raising!

On Sunday, we again had the line battle and again the Brits lost, with many deaths. Following the battle, the British forces clubbed their muskets and marched from the facines that had been built out to along a road southward toward Fort Edward. Once the Redcoats had past, the French Natives attacked the Provincials and the camp followers. The spectacle was amazing. I was on the hill with the cannons we had been sent to defend (until getting overrun by the French) and so got to see it. What a site. According to the records, more people were captured than killed (as portrayed in the movies) because a live captive was more valuable than the scalp of the dead. So they took booty and captives away.

That is a quick synopsis. If you are interested in highlights, click on the following links.

http://news.webshots.com/album/560739989vxBekQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7Aqs-6UChA

Someone's personal pictures

PostStar Photo Gallery

YH&OS,

Sarah / Chauncey

About the Lake George Tactical 2007

Dear all,

I know this will look remarkably like my tooting Chauncey's horn and I admit that there is some of that in this posting. I want to share with you a recent email that went out to the participants of the Lake George Tactical (the premier reenacting event for "hard core" reenactors).

Strictly FYI.

YH&OS,
Sarah / Chauncey

Gentlemen,
Although it doesn't seem like it with the hot weather these days, it's time to start planning for the Lake. Earlier this year I put out the word that I would like to have someone new take the reins on the British side this year. I still plan to be there and will support in all manner possible, but I think it would be good for others to gain some command experience as well as bring some fresh ideas to the event. I had several volunteers, some more reluctant than others, but in the end I chose the person with the most experience on the Lake -LT Chauncey Goodrich. LT Goodrich has served as LT of Rogers' Rangers and my second for a couple of years and I expect will do an excellent job this year. To that end, I am going to turn over all pre-event coordination at this point to him.

As always, the event is the week of Columbus day (8th – 12th) in October. This is a preliminary call to arms. Please talk to your units, pass this to your friends, etc., and get back to the LT. Once he has a feel for who will be going, we can establish a command structure and start disseminating specific information. As in the past, I expect LT Goodrich will encourage you to come and fight as your own, autonomous unit. The commander's role is to provide overall coordination of the event. If you or any of your men want to participate but are unable to do so as a unit, we encourage you to come as individuals and we will coordinate with you to get you hooked up with another unit. We need men of all talents whether it be leading a patrol, scouting by canoe, or protecting the camp. I have enjoyed the honor of fighting alongside many of you in the past and am looking forward with great anticipation to having you join us in making the Lake George Tactical a great experience this year.

General information, along with after-action reports from the past several years, is available at: http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif .

The event officially starts Tuesday morning (after all the leaf peepers have gone) and goes through mid-day Friday. If you would like to extend your time at the Lake, coming in early is certainly an option. I anticipate that LT Goodrich will disseminate further information shortly. I respectfully request that you contacht LT Goodrich at your earliest convenience and let him know what your intentions are and, as always, we want to keep any plans from here on out off the egroups and just in private emails. I also ask that you pass along this invitation to all that you feel appropriate. The LT's email address is [removed].

YMHOS,
Wade “Capt. Quintin Kennedy” Stoner