Patriots Day Re-enactments

[lakechampainer]

Lexington Green, 2004 Re-enactment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPzfEOu0MlY

Lexington Green, 2011 Re-enactment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jv_e...eature=related

Concord Bridge Re-enactment, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN9DJ...eature=related

Concord re-enactment, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy4kV...eature=related

Battle Road re-enactments, 2004
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5uq6...feature=fvwrel

Re-enactment from 2008 at Menotomy (now Arlington, MA) which is between Lexington and Cambridge) - this was the site of the bloodiest fighting on April 19, 1775 - high numbers of militiaman from the hinterlands converged here, and the British had to send a huge rescue column out to rescue the detachment.

http://www.youtube.ug/watch?v=IEB6-p...eature=related

An alternate history moment - link to earlier thread:
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forum...ight=arlington

You Tube video from 2008 called "The Shot Heard Round the Round" put together by a young woman from the University of Maine who worked one summer for the National Park Service at The Minuteman National Park

http://www.youtube.ug/watch?v=7tF2vT...eature=related



Wikipedia article on the Poem "Concord Hymn" by Ralph Waldo Emerson, about the events at the Concord Bridge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord_Hymn

Excerpt below:

Poem

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Concord Hymn
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those spirits dare,
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.

(Note: This version is from The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1904), edited by Edward Waldo Emerson, who noted, "From a copy of this hymn as first printed on slips for distribution among the Concord people at the celebration of the completion of the monument on the battle-ground, I note the differences from the poem here given as finally revised by Mr. Emerson in the Selected Poems."

[lakechampainer]

Some you tube videos showing the uniforms and kit of Revolutionary War soldiers - from Jas Townsend & Son

Uniforms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--mGNt-t0PI

Canteens
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao1fH...feature=relmfu

lanterns, etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUPic...feature=relmfu

Caring for leather shoes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCKkG...feature=relmfu

Throwing tomahawks and knives:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4lZZ...feature=relmfu

Fishing Tackle set:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kzgE...feature=relmfu

[lakechampainer]

From the National Park Service, at the Minuteman National Park - a very interesting 7 page article with excellent pictures - Just The Essentials: Clothing and Equipment of Revolutionary War Soldiers

http://www.nps.gov/mima/forteachers/...essentials.pdf

More Revolutionary War equipment info from the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park - a lot of interesting text and especially pictures: http://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/r...coweapons.html

Excerpt about the Battle of Guilford Courthouse:

On March 15, 1781 Major General Nathanael Greene and his army of 4,400 Americans contested the British invasion of North Carolina at Guilford Courthouse. Lt. Gen. Charles, Earl Cornwallis, commanded the tough professional force of 1,900 British soldiers. Greene deployed his men into smaller groups to take advantage of the terrain.

he Courthouse battle was fierce. The veteran British troops were severely crippled. Cornwallis lost a quarter of his army and almost a third of his officers. Greene lost only six percent of his men. With greatly diminished ranks and depleted supplies, Cornwallis withdrew to the coast, 200 miles away.

he battle fought at Guilford Courthouse was the largest and most hotly contested action of the Revolutionary War's Southern Campaign. It is considered the high-water mark of that campaign in that it changed the course of the war and contributed to the eventual American victory at Yorktown seven months later.