Saturday 31 October 2009

Mississinewa War of 1812 battle re-enactment - 2009

This is a well-made film of this year's event. The blurb says it all
Mississinewa 1812 is the largest War of 1812 re-enactment of its kind. The battlefield is about 6 miles north of Marion, Indiana. It is the site of the first American victory in the war. This re-enactment is accurate to the time period, but they tell you up-front that it is not accurate to the battle itself, as no British were present at the battle, but Indians who were British allies

Ray Mears Northern Wilderness Hudson Bay


If you live in the UK you might want to see this programme on canoes and the Hudson Bay company. If you miss it you may find it on the i-player.
Tomorrow, 20:00 on BBC Two (except Northern Ireland (Analogue), Wales (Analogue))
Synopsis
Ray Mears goes on an epic adventure into Canada's unforgiving, yet stunning wilderness.
As Ray travels across land and by canoe, he tells the story of one of the greatest companies the world has ever known - the Hudson's Bay Company that opened up Canada.
Ray discovers how those early traders were pioneers who laid the foundations of the modern Canadian state. He also demonstrates local crafts and bushcraft skills that bring the landscape to life.

Sunday 25 October 2009

Battle of the Chateaugay 1813

A battle fought today when mostly French Canadians and Mohawks beat an American invasion force. Wiki here
More on the War of 1812 website, More here.
Image of a Mohawk warrior 1813 here,

Saturday 24 October 2009

Strange burial of 'Mad' Anthony Wayne in 1809

A commemoration takes place this weekend to mark the bicentennial of the strange burial and exhumation of this legendary Indian fighter. News article here

Thursday 22 October 2009

Forgotten War: The Struggle for North America (trailer)

This is a documentary produced by Mountain Lake amd commemorates the French and Indian War by telling these powerful stories through this documentary: * Story of Robert Rogers and his rangers * Abenaki and Iroquois nations * The massacre at Fort William Henry * Battles of Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point * Tragic expulsion of the Acadians * Fall of Quebec and Montreal * Brutal destruction of the Abenakis at Saint Francis by Rogers Rangers * Iroquois diplomacy of Sir William Johnson that helped turn the war

Forgotten War: The Struggles for North America will have its broadcast premiere on November 16, 2009 at 9:00 p.m. on Mountain Lake PBS.

Brant's Volunteers (Oquaga)

Interesting Loyalist unit based around the men who fought alongside Joseph Brant's Iroquois in the American Revolution. It looks like they took part in the recent Newtown reenactment as featured on this page. Website here.

Wednesday 21 October 2009

Huron!


Some new 28mm Huron command figures are about to be released at Galloping Major wargames. There are also some new painted Mohawks, some Huron 'Greys' and an updated Link list and much more on the webpage.

Tuesday 20 October 2009

Raid at Martin's Station

Interesting film of a reenactment at this fort in the Cumberland gap region - the attackers are Cherokee reenactors. You might want to turn the music down on it though.

Thursday 15 October 2009

Battle of Quiberon Bay

Talking of 250ths I wonder if anyone has anything planned to celebrate Quiberon Bay in November - a naval victory for the British that scotched French invasion plans and was a major turning of the tide? to quote the wiki

The power of the French fleet was broken, and would not recover before the war was over; in the words of Alfred Thayer Mahan (The Influence of Sea Power upon History), "The battle of 20 November 1759 was the Trafalgar of this war, and [...] the English fleets were now free to act against the colonies of France, and later of Spain, on a grander scale than ever before". For instance, the French could not follow up their victory at the Battle of Sainte-Foy in 1760 for want of reinforcements and supplies from France and so Quiberon Bay may be regarded as the battle that determined the fate of New France and hence Canada.

Museum of the battle of Cardinaux as its called in France

Fort Ligonier Days Battle Reenactment - October 11, 2009

Well shot sequence of the recent F&I event in the Laurel Highlands in Pennsylvania - worth watching till the end to see the Brits up close. I got recently invited (on the French side of course) to take part in two of the big European 250th anniversary Seven Years War battles coming up next year and the year after...Warburg and Vellinghausen - it would be great to get some Americans over for one of these battles - I could imagine those guys in the bearskins would look good on a European theatre battlefield - if they got them through customs!

Sunday 11 October 2009

Battle of Valcour Island

Today is the anniversary of this action in the American Revolution that took place on Lake Champlain between naval vessels. This image is of the Philadelphia which was raised in 1935. Wiki article on the battle.
Image of Arnold's fleet.

Friday 9 October 2009

Recruiting


Interesting image from 1778 showing a Manchester lad encouraged to join the army.

Thursday 8 October 2009

Eastern Woodland Sutlers

One of you was asking about this subject - I don't have much experience of using sutlers but these might be worth looking at
Blue Heron Mercantile
At the Eastern Door

Though I've never seen it and have no idea whether it's any good or not I noticed on the Smoke and Fire website
Stock #:VID-045
Warriors Path DVD3-DVD Set includes: Step by step instruction on how to portray an Eastern Woodland Indian including segments of dress, paint, weapons, trade silver, constructing moccasins, & other clothing. Also includes tips on research and sutlers for all native re-enactors. This series is designed to explore the material culture of the Eastern Woodland Indians.Price: $44.00
http://www.smoke-fire.com/videos-2.asp

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has seen it.

Rogers Island 2009 Reenactment

Well put together film of the recent reenactment of the French and Indian war at Rogers Island.

Wednesday 7 October 2009

French and Indian war at Terezin fortress


Images here of an excellent Czech F&I reenactment held last weekend at Terezin fortress. It seems that the Seven Years War is a growing period over there and one of them reads this blog - that's how I know about it - so thanks. Possibly with German and French F&I reenactors there is the potential for some really awesome events in Continental Europe.

Bushy Run reenactment footage

Quite a pleasing film shot from the crowd line of this battle fought between Natives and Redcoats in 1763. It shows that it makes a much better spectacle to have F&I reenactments take place in woodland - it looks more realistic than on some well manicured lawn.

Tuesday 6 October 2009

Capture of Manila 1762


Today is the anniversary of the capture of Manila by Sir William Draper - pictured here by Gainsborough. He raised the 79th foot and was also instrumental in establishing the leg before wicket rule in cricket! Buried in Bath Abbey. Maybe I'll go and pay my respects at his memorial.

Friday 2 October 2009

A couple more images by Benjamin West

Depicting events around the time of Pontiac - one of returned captives and the other of an Indian oration to Bouquet.


Thursday 1 October 2009

Ranger 'greens' from Galloping Major







A BIT OF AN UPDATE from GALLOPING MAJOR WARGAMES

We set out with our 28mm French & Indian War range to create the sort of range we'd have loved to be able to buy: well researched with attention to correct period detail and feel, no "generic muskets", and no "generic Indians". I sculpt our own figures, and as Ralphus mentioned, he and I share an early influence in the work of Ron Embleton. Here’s another of RE's wonderful illustrations from Look & Learn.
We’ll have our first three packs of Huron available in the next few weeks, to be followed by our first couple (at least) of packs of rangers. Our first two Ranger packs will be a pack of Rangers in caps, and one in Scots bonnets, enabling better control of the mix to represent the unit(s) you wish to recreate.
Any Francophones among us may be interested to take a look at the next issue of Vae Victis, which will carry an interview article on Galloping Major, and reviews of some of our figures. And if, like me, your French is more than a little rusty, it’s always worth a look; a really classy publication, which we’re pleased to be associated with. New pics of greens on our website: http://www.gallopingmajorwargames.com/ have been a bit restricted lately as we don’t want to pre-empt the VV article, but here are a couple of ranger greens to be going on with. Concept art for some of our first rangers is on the website.
Cheers,
Lance

Second Saratoga: Battle of Bemis Heights (October 7)

  Here . A defeat for the British forces.