We Were Soldiers Once...

[revwardoc]

Attached is a photo of some of us members of The New England Patriots' Milita. We're the idiots who fire our muskets whenever the Pats score, which means we'll be burning a lot of powder this year. I'm the fat guy on the left. You look at this kind of representation of America's past and you kinda wonder how we won the Revolution!

[BLUEHAWK]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PATS!!!!

I'd rather have you'uns on our side than on the other.

[SuperScout]

Great photo! Keep the shots above their heads, as some of the PC crowd doesn't like smoke in their eyes.

I now have a much better understanding of why the Revolution was conducted up north, as opposed to down here in Texas. Knowing that you good Yankees hid behind trees and shot at the Redcoats, and seeing now that it took a rather large tree to properly conceal your rather substantial corporeal being, our general absence of trees of girth would have made you a sitting duck or a standing target!

[Seascamp]

Great pic Dan, thanks. At a time I became interested in firearms of the Revolutionary War era and built a quality kit Pennsylvania long rifle and along the journey became very familiar with the legendary British ?Brown Bess?. One thing led to another and I looked into combat norms of the time and what actually happened during the Revolutionary War. Fascinating for sure. After learning to load and fire both the Pennsylvania and the Brown Bess one lasting impression sticks in my mind. I believe that any militiaman that took a shot at the Brits had better be a good runner and know how to haul buns. The cycle time of a rifled musket is forever as compared to a Brown Bess and if the Lobster Backs got hot on the trail of a shooter and within Brown Bess range, the news probably wasn?t going to be so good. But then on the other hand, a Brit conscript wasn?t noted for being the best of physical specimens so the chase was probably as big an advantage for the militiaman as was the range and accuracy of the rifled musket. And I?ll be darned, but it looks to me like the Minuteman of the time actually used a Brown Bess or something like it. Interesting topic for sure and keep up the good work with the living history. By the way, who gets to be the Brit Red Coat when ya?ll have your reenactments? Just curious.

Scamp

[revwardoc]

There are several Brit units in the re-enactment community, including the 5th Regt. of Foot, The Queen's Rangers, the 10th Regt. of Foot and several artillery units plus Hessian and Jaeger units. The other guys in the pic all carry Besses but I prefer the French Charleville. Its a .69 cal. as opposed to the .75 Bess. Since I used to portray a French grenadier corporal with le 85eme Regt. de Saintonge, the "Charley" was more appropriate. Since my spinal surgery last year I can't take the field as a solder anymore and the only time I fire my musket is at Pats' games and on our April 19th march from Sudbury center to North Bridge in Concord. Actually, on the 19th, I ride in a wagon with the rest of the walking wounded but do march down to the bridge from the Buttrick mansion and fire salutes there.

Yeah, many of the Massachusetts minutemen of 1775 were armed with contraband Besses, some of which were purchased from foreign arms dealers, some were stolen from Brit supplies.

I also have a Penn rifle and the loading times are significantly different. I've been doing this hobby for 16 years and can now load and fire my musket 4 times a minute and have, on occaision, loaded and fired 5 times a minute.

Scout: Don't worry, we've got some big trees here in MA and lots and lots of stone walls. If you ever get to watch The American Revolution on the History Channel, I'm in that twice; as a minuteman early in the show and later, at Yorktown, as a French grenadier. I don't know why they call us minutemen, I'm good for a half hour...ask my wife!

[MORTARDUDE]

Good stuff ! Thanks for posting.

Larry

[philly]

Great photo!

[Seascamp]

Thanks for the info Dan. While living in Eastern Tennessee I caught up with a couple of re-enactment battles between Union and Confederate forces and I was both surprised and delighted at the scale, attention to detail and safety aspects of the re-enactment. Any given battle would have opposing Horse Cav, Arty, foot Infantry and supporting aspects. But one thing that wasn?t necessarily accurate. The protocol between the re-enactment groups seemed to be that Confederate forces won when below the Mason Dixon line and Union forces won when above the line or something like that. I don?t recall any admission fees to witness the re-enactment and that has to be expensive for the participants, so there is a story there.
The only thing we have out here that is even close would be the mountain man groups that have an annual rendezvous in Carson City. There is a Virginia City Miners Militia that more or less celebrates the Confederate sympathizers of Virginia City during the Civil War. There was never any battle with the Union Troops at nearby Ft. Churchill as the miner?s militia was more about talking, drinking and fussing than fighting. But the re-enactment group shows up at rendezvous and at parades and it?s kind of an interesting mob to look at as you might guess.
Oh, another question for you Dan. I started out with real black powder but soon shifted to Pyrodex for general safety reasons. What is the deal with re-enactment groups? Real black powder or other?

Scamp

[DMZ-LT]

Load two pyrodex and a sabot round and get pleanty of rest. Great pic's , thanks !

[Andy]

I love the fact you guys fire after the Pats score but have an improvement on the idea. Each time Miami scores, you should also shoot, at them. Volley Fire Present!

As far as that Texas comment I?ll make a short note. Here in Massachusetts most cops no longer use radar units, they use Laser. Laser has a secondary use that can be very helpful in all sorts of ways. You can use them as range finders and their very accurate. I took one of those units up to mom?s farm and went for a Long walk. We have 7,200 feet of stone fences on the property. Along with the 3 foot diameters maple trees us stout ?original rebels? had plenty of good hiding places with very good cover. So long as the bad guys were using the Brown Bess, which you can?t hit anything with anyway.

Stay healthy, stay shooting,
Andy