Upcoming excitement

We missed the Corydon event this year, but from what I hear, next year is something we definitely don't want to skip. This year the number of reenactors attending almost doubled from 35 to nearly seventy. The number of vendors also increased from only 2 last year to 7 this year. Chuck White gave me these numbers. Next year he tells me will be even larger. From what I hear, the festival will be held 4th of July weekend and there will be a professional fireworks display to commemorate the founding of the City. Not sure if I have the details completely correct. See the Indiana Territory Festival website for details as they come.

Our next event will be the Mississinewa event in Marion IN, October 5-7. We probably won't be camping since we'll have a 2 month old by then. Jessica is planning to make some clothes for our little girl so I'll have her take pictures of the process.

So for our most important next big thing. The birth of Adeline. Our due date was July 21st. It is now July 28th. So if she doesn't come naturally by Monday the 30th, the doctor will be inducing. That's not how we would choose for it to happen, but we realize it's the safest way to go. So by this time on Monday we will hopefully be enjoying the results of all this waiting. Our hospital says they have wireless available, so I plan to post pictures from the hospital.

Ft. Meigs 2007

For this post, I'm just going to put up some pictures from the Ft. Meigs 1st Siege event from this past May. It was a great event. Got to meet a bunch of great people from Northern Ohio and Ontario. The weather was pretty good and the Fort served some great food on Saturday night. The photo above came from Jessica's dad Jeff. I liked the way he got the obelisk monument with the cannon in the foreground.
This picture is one I took of the Indiana and Kentucky militias. This was just after they did a mock ambush on the American forces who were taking some spectators on patrol.

So this happens every year I think. The visitors get to sign up to take a tour with the American forces to experience how a patrol would typically work. The visitors think that they'll be taken all the way around the perimeter of the Fort. But what happens is they are taken on a short hike on a trail in the woods. When they get to a tight spot, suddenly there is a group of British troops up ahead and they open fire. Then off to the right up a hill you hear war cries and hoots from the guys pictured above as well as some of the native interpretors. The Americans retreat after a short scuffle and the tour ends with some Q&A. It's pretty fun to watch. I went along to take pictures, but didn't get any good ones on the trail. The picture above was taken right after firing had ended so there was still smoke hanging in the background. I used Picassa to sepia it up and add some contrast just to see if it would look good and old timey.

This was taken by Jeff. No powder down the barrel, just in the pan. He's trying to get me worked up to firing in an actual mock battle.

The Group

As I mentioned before. I don't have a full group picture, so we're settling for a picture of me. Stare, I don't mind. That's not my hat, but on that trip I think I stole it a few times. That picture was taken on our 2005 trip to Put-in-Bay, OH. Another place I'd recommend going. It has an excellent bit of history with Perry's Memorial, but I think most people go there to party, which isn't a bad idea either.

Now on our group. Chuck White is the leader of the group. I'll probably get him to do some postings later. He's working on getting a website together, so that link will be available once he has it ready. (Right now, there is just a sepia toned picture that looks like Chuck is trying to slit someone's throat. So I won't subject anyone to that yet.) Along with Chuck there are his wife Trish and Chuck's parents Ernie and Anna and their friend Lee. They all live in Huntington, IN and I suppose they like it there.

Also we have the Brothers Jeff and Rick who I believe live around Ft. Wayne with their respective families. Rounding out the group are Jeff and Terri Smith my parents-in-law and my wife Jessica and finally me (Paul Shreve). Jeff and Terri live in Noblesville/Alexandria and we live in Indianapolis.

Our group is also related to the Kentucky Militia (not sure of their official name) and the 1st Indiana Light Artillery.

We're actually in the off season now, so not a whole lot going on. I'll post as things happen there should be more this summer. Though we won't be as active as normal summers due to 1/2 the ladies in the group being pregnant (Trish and Jessica). So we're very excited for these new members. I should post more soon. Future posts being on past events we've been to; hopefully a calendar as events come up; and recommended reading.

Finally starting

Well after much procrastination I've decided to start this thing. The goal is just to keep up on what we've been doing in this hobby, the 1812 reenactment. I think a blog is the best format since the tools are so available and I don't have to worry about the hosting stuff.

The picture above is from our trip to the 2006 Grand Tactical that this year happened at the (Genesee Country Village and Museum) located in Mumford, NY. The picture at least shows a good portion of the ladies in our group. If there have been any full group pictures, I don't know of them. Must put that on the to do list.

If you happen to be anywhere near the Genesee Village, I'd recommend a trip. The museum is comprised of many historic buildings that have been collected from around the state of New York. The website will give you a lot more information. I'd just say that they have a great staff. Everyone we encountered there is very knowledgeable and happy to answer any questions. And the grounds are very well kept, resembling a small town much more than just a group of buildings.