Mount Independence - Reenactment

 This weekend, July 19 – 20, is the Mount Independence Encampment and Re-Enactment “Soldiers Atop the Mount”. If you haven’t been to one of these before, don’t miss it. You can walk through the American and British camps, see the reenactors in action, watch them execute some military tactics and artillery demonstrations, listen to a couple of concerts (a short concert by Seth Warner Mount Independence Fife and Drum Corps on Saturday afternoon at 2:15 pm or the professional brass quintet Brass Connection on Saturday night at 7 pm, for Dixieland, swing and Broadway tunes). And if you enjoy walks and hikes, check out our upcoming posting on the trails we hiked there a few weekends ago. The new Baldwin Trail is particularly remarkable. It now has great interpretive signs along its 1.6-mile route (it even got an award for it recently!). It is wonderful.
This event is really a continuation of the wonderful Hubbardton Battlefield reenactment which we attended on July 5 -6. While no “field battle” actually occurred on Mount Independence (since the fort was abandoned during the action starting with the capture by the British of Fort Ticonderoga on July 5-6, and culminating with the Hubbardton battle mentioned above), the fort is a fascinating story.
The fort was built as an enhancement to the French-built Fort Ticonderoga by the US revolutionary army. The encampment and cannons were impressive and the fort design really interesting. The encampment this weekend will not only provide real life portrayal of the camp life as it would have been in 1776 – 1777 but will also include some artillery demonstrations, including probably some cannon firing demonstrations (if they get the cannon), just like the action the fort saw during the American Revolution war. Such action did not take place early July 1777, as we all know that the fort was abandoned at that time, but later that fall of 1777 when the Americans tried to recapture the fort from the British. There was cannon bombardment from the lake and across the lake from New York State as well as return fire from the British, probably using US cannons.
Major General David Bernier will be providing a wonderful narration of military tactics as well as the story of the abandonment of Fort Ticonderoga across the lake by the Americans, fleeing across the bridge between the two forts (did you know that this bridge ever existed? I didn’t), and the “botched” mid-night escape of the Mount Independence fort. Discussion of the range and strategy of the cannon fire of the period will also be discussed as only the Major General can do. Hope you enjoy it!
The official site of Mount Independence State Historic Site.

Battle of Hubbardton - Reenactment

July 5-6th week-end is this year’s date for the reenactment of the American Revolution Battle of Hubbardton. Every year, some 300 to 400 reenactors spend the week-end in these fields around the Hubbardton State Historic Site,  to reenact the only battle of the American Revolution which took place in Vermont. Every 5 years, there are even more people coming, around 1000, to commemorate the battle (next time should be in 2012 for the 235th anniversary of the battle). When did the battle take place? July 7, 1777. What happened then? The British who just came from Fort Ticonderoga, NY and Mount Independence, VT fought the American troops, the famous Green Mountain Boys. The battle was short on this early morning of July 7, 1777… approximately 2 hours, from 8AM to 10AM and the American troops had to withdraw, but the British losses were high. It is said that it was the “beginning of the end” for the British General Burgoyne! So for the pleasure of both the reenactors and the visitors, adults and children, every year, the battle is being replayed. This is what Carl Fuller, site interpreter at Hubbardton Historic Site is sharing with us about this wonderful event: “The reenactors themselves have told me many times they love it because they are allowed to camp in the same fields and portray the battle on the same fields where it actually happened.  They like the idea of having the room to do this portrayal without being stuck in a small area between buildings or off somewhere where people can’t find them.
Reenactors come from all over New England, New York and sometimes Canada.  Once they arrive at Hubbardton and even though they may not have been here before everything seems to fall into place.  Camps are set up and everything becomes 18th century.  Everyone remains in costume the entire weekend, eating, sleeping and fighting as they would have in the year 1777.  Some of the reenactors have found ancestors who took part in the battle of Hubbardton and for this weekend they become that person.
On this weekend, you may see American, British, German and Native American camps.  During the day, tours are given through these camps by the reenactors themselves.  Children are taught drilling and marching and told about other things children did to help out around camp.  The women in the camps show people what they did as part of the camplife.  Sometimes, prisoners are taken and court-martials are done.  Tours of the battlefield are done throughout the weekend.  Narrated tacticals are done on both days with the big reenactment on Sunday morning at 8 AM.  There are even sutlers selling their wares.  There is something here to see and do for all ages.
Make no mistake, this is hallowed ground but weren’t these people fighting to allow us to do what we do today.  We honor them by doing these portrayals.  Our freedom was won by many battles such as this one and in numbers participating it may be considered small but it was an important stepping stone in determining the British downfall in the northern colonies during the American Revolution.” Hope you will join us there!

Schedule for Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th
Post-event: Check a selection of our photos of the Battle of Hubbardton Reenactment - July 6, 2008
More on Hubbardton Battlefield State Historic Site