It’ll be a march in time, as the annual reenactment has returned to Country Park. A few years ago, the tactical demonstration was moved to Price Park as an attempt to improve the public viewing of the both the encampment and the battle reenactment. A disadvantage was the removal of the link to the original battlefield that Country Park offered. While not on the National Park itself, Country Park is near enough to allow 4th Coy to march along the path the two Guards battalions took in 1781.
4th Coy will still be camped in Tannenbaum Park, with the 64th and 7th Foot. Be sure to stop by on March 13th and 14th for the event! Visit www.brigadeofguards.org/guilford-courthouse for more information on the Battle of Guilford Courthouse and directions to the reenactment.
In 2009, it was the rain. In 2010, it will be the snow. The city of Alexandria has canceled all major outdoor events this weekend due to the snow emergency in the Washington DC area. Unfortunately, our Fort Ward reenactment is considered a major event so we won’t be doing battle with the Continentals on St Valentine’s Day.
This is probably a good thing since one member was trying to figure out how to cook all the pasta for the company social without power. Like that was an issue in 1781…
More information about the schedule for Alexandria’s President’s Day celebration is available on their website.
Britain formally ends hostilities on this date in 1783.
The Battle of Yorktown is generally considered to be the end of the war, but Crown forces were still located in the American colonies for some time. These forces ceased offensive operations, and were slowly being withdrawn from the colonies while the various parties to the hostilities negotiated separate peace treaties. In the weeks leading to this date, a preliminary peace treaty is signed between America and England in Paris, and England signs separate preliminary peace treaties with Spain and France.
General George Washington, at his headquarters in Cambridge, hoists the Continental Union Flag on this date in 1776.
This flag is generally thought to be the first flag of the United States of America, and had flown from an American warship (the Alfred) the previous December. It is generally believed that the thirteen alternating red and white stripes were meant to represent the thirteen colonies, with the Union Jack is the upper left corner acknowledging the British origins of the colonies. General Washington flew this flag high over the Continental positions near Boston, high enough that the Crown forces in Boston could see it.
A year and a half later, the Union Jack was replaced with the now familiar field of blue marked by white stars.
The Continental Union Flag is very similar to the flag used by the East India Company during the 18th century.
If you would like to learn more about the Continental Union Flag, there are several good websites, including here and here.
Its been a long time since there has been a post on this blog. Hopefully that will change over the next couple of weeks, but just to show that we haven’t been completely inactive, a few of the photo gallery pages have recently been updated with additional photos.
Check out the 2008 Jerusalem Mills, the 2009 Under the Redcoat, and 2009 Carlyle House galleries for additional photos. And a new gallery has been added for the recent event at Jerusalem Mills.
As another public service announcement that might be of interest to our readers….
University of Notre Dame - Assistant Professor, Military History.
Location: Indiana, United States
Institution Type: College/University
Position Type: Assistant Professor
Submitted: Thursday, June 18th, 2009
________________________________
Main Category: Diplomatic/Military History
Secondary Categories: None
Military History. The University of Notre Dame Department of History invites applications for a tenure-track position in military history at the assistant professor level. Geographical and chronological specialty open, but applicants must be prepared to offer survey courses on modern military history. Review of applications will begin on October 1, 2009.
Candidates should send a letter of application, c.v. and three letters of recommendation to Professor Linda Przybyszewski, Chair, Military History Search Committee, Department of History, 219 O’Shaughnessy Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556. The University of Notre Dame is an affirmative action employer with a strong commitment to fostering a culturally diverse atmosphere for faculty, staff, and students. Women, minorities and those attracted to a university with a Catholic identity are especially encouraged to apply. Information about Notre Dame is available at http://www.nd.edu.
Contact Info:
Professor Linda Przybyszewski, Chair
Military History Search Committee
Department of History
219 O’Shaughnessy Hall
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Website: http://www.nd.edu
If any of our readers ultimately apply for and are selected for this job, please e-mail the webmaster for instructions on where to send the football tickets.
We came across the embedded video on youtube. Its an animated map of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. Not sure when exactly it was put together…it uses pictures (check out the photo at 2:29 that prominently feature 4th Coy) from a reenactment at the site from a few years back. The author fully admits that the movement of the forces and timeline has been generalized and is likely to not be 100% correct, but its close. Additionally, the intent was to show the flow of the Crown and Continental forces across the battlefield and through developments that surround the battlefield today, and we believe it does a good job of putting the events of the battle in the context of the area. Please take a few minutes and view the video.
The photo page for last weekend’s Under the Redcoat event at Colonial Williamsburg is published within the gallery. An additional link is available on the right side of this page. For those of you that closely follow the pictures, you might notice that not nearly as many involve someone spread out on the ground, looking like they just got out of a shower. Friday was a hot day, but the rest of the weekend was surprisingly mild. Not that anyone would describe it as cool, but nothing like what we’re used to seeing at Under the Redcoat. After all the rain-outs that have been suffered this year, it was great to be able to get an event in.
As always, if there are other photo galleries from the event that should be included in the links, please provide the links in the comment section below or e-mail the webmaster. Thanks.
The reenactment of the Battle of the Hook at Glouster Point took place last October. A documentary of Glouster Point’s significance in the American Revolution has been put together using footage from the event. While 4th Coy is not prominently featured, its still worth a viewing. You can catch a quick glimpse of us at the 7:50 mark of the video; one of our fifers makes another appearance at the 9:15 mark. Can anyone tell us what is wrong with the firing sequence at the 8:00 mark?
