Fort McHenry and Koh-Koh-Mah

I must divulge again into my actions on the re-enacting front. Two weekends ago I was in Baltimore, Maryland, for Defender's Day at Fort McHenry, which is one of my favorite events. Last weekend I was much more local, going to a French and Indian War event in my own state of Indiana. I don't have a lot of pictures from either event, but I have a few amusing ones that I thought might be enjoyed by more than myself. First, Fort McHenry:

The boys - I love this group of musicians. I always have a good time with them, and they always make me feel like part of 'the gang.' It's a shame we live so far away from Maryland!

We get "The British are coming!" a lot on account of our red musician's coatees (musicians of the period dressed in the opposite color of their unit, so the dark blue of the American units was countered by bright red in the American field music) - so we frequently hold up our canteens - like the one above - or packs when people ask if we're British. The "U.S." always throws them for a loop.

Bass drummer and dear friend, Aaron Bradford. Aaron (also known as "Smiley") is always an encouragement and an inspiration to me. His cheerful disposition and Godly attitude are great testaments to his faith!

While waiting to march through the streets of Baltimore, we hit on this bocce ball court in Little Italy. We enjoyed watching some possibly native-born Italians play this game, even if we didn't understand all the rules.

And the best picture I got from the whole weekend. Running short on time in order to make it to reveille that morning, Phillip appeared on the bastion dressed enough that, from the ground, you couldn't tell he wasn't fully dressed. I snagged this picture of him when we lined up in front of the barracks for roll call. I love it.

So that was the weekend of Defender's Day in Baltimore. As I said, always a good time. We had a few days to rest and recover, and then it was off to Kokomo, Indiana, for Koh-Koh-Mah and Foster. I only have a few pictures from this one:

The rangers decide to take a page from their manual for supporting firearms and instead support themselves. At one point I had crawled underneath, but we didn't catch that part.

And the rangers - this is everyone minus Ranger Gerret, who disappeared with his honey before we got this picture. What a bum! Can't say I blame him though - if I were him I'd probably choose my honey over this motley crew too!

This year, for the first time ever at Koh-Koh-Mah (to my knowledge) we actually had English field music. We're a rag-tag bunch, but I'm proud of each one of our musicians for showing up and giving it their all! I'm really excited about our group expanding in the future.

And finally, a quick shot of our camp set-up. We had to double up Gerret's and Robert's tents because we were tight on space, but the result was a pretty nice little area for our kitchen between Gerret's tent and our officer fly, with the "girls' tent" in the back. Our ladies made wonderful food for us over the weekend, and I think we're starting to get the knack of this camp management thing - we were even complimented on our camp by another re-enactor - it was a great weekend!

P.S. We purchased a tin kettle at Koh-Koh-Mah, and I'm completely thrilled about it. Hence, my next legitimate post will be about kettles of the time period - stay tuned!