The Festival of the Strawberry Moon

So now that I've caught up on my vacation pictures, I can return you to my regularly scheduled programming.  A couple weeks ago, I went up to Grand Haven with a friend.  He had a friend that was a re-enactor in a group that depicts a Massachusetts Militia Unit from before the Revolutionary War.  So without further adieu....

 Every so often the town crier would wander through the place announcing the upcoming events.  I figured that he would make a nice first picture.  I kind of wish that I could have gotten a decent picture with him and his bell though.

 This is the group depicting the Massachusetts Militia Unit.  As I said, they would have pre-dated the Revolutionary War.  Later in the day, we would see a re-enactment of a battle from the French-Indian War.  The French-Indian War is the American name for the North American Theater of the Seven Years War.  When I was a freshman in college, I took a World History Class and if I remember correctly, the professor called this war The First World War because it was one of the first wars that was close to global in scale.

 This would be a typical soldier of the Massachusetts Militia.  He had a musket, overcoat and tri-corner.

 As you can see there were a variety of uniforms for the soldiers of the colonies.  The North American Theater was mostly fought between the French and British Colonists with the infusion of some units from the respective homelands.

 The Festival also had some other boothes depicting period items.  I guess this could be a depiction of a fur trader.

 Another group of items that might have come from a fur trader.

 This guy had a little display in support of the Michigan Historical Museum in Lansing (I will have to go there someday I think).  He seemed pretty knowledgeable of the era.

 Some of the items from his table.

 A blacksmith practicing his craft.

 We went back to the camp for the re-enactors.  It was a pretty good representation of camp life back then with one major exception.  Where the guys here were sleeping with person per tent, back then you would have about six men per tent.  Judging by how crowded the tent looked with one person, I can only imagine what it would have looked like with six.

 This would be a depiction of a junior officer's tent.  Again in this case, imagine that there is another bed in this tent.  Even the bed wouldn't be typical unless the unit was in the field for a while.  It wasn't a particularly easy life for a foot soldier back then.

 This would be representative of a voyageur (fur trader) camp.  It could also resemble a native American camp of the era.

 They ended up doing a demonstration of a swivel gun from a ship.  This weapon would typically be mounted on a ship and would be used to repel boarders.  I think the cannons for a land unit would be bigger (but this one was more portable...so).

 A fiddle player.

 One of the reasons why it was called the French-Indian War was because both sides had their Native American Proxies.  I think they would have typically been used as scouts and guides for either side since they tended to know the land better.

 This group was depicting a regular French Unit.  They were actually pretty cool because they gave out commands in French, so it sounded sort of authentic.

 The Massachusetts Group setting up their line.

 And advancing.

 The guy on the left would have been depicting a ranger, so he wasn't dressed as formally as the other members of the unit.

 The group depicting the regular British units.

 A closer shot of them.

 And a group depicting French irregulars.

 I think this guy would have been a Huron (or Wyandot) but this would be the typical look of a Native American from this area.

 Another shot of the Brits.

 And the French.

 One of the officers for the Massachusetts Group.  I kind of liked this shot because I got the smoke coming out.

 And our ranger friend.  I managed to get muzzle flash in this shot.

 Things didn't go to well for the Americans or British though.

 The Massachusetts Unit coming back to their camp.

 A quartermaster's table.  There was sign that showed what the rations for the day would be like along with their pay.

 I would imagine this was replica of a Spanish coin.

 This guy was pretty cool, he was talking about money from the American Revolution.

This was an actual note from the American Revolution.  It could be turned in for Seven Spanish Dollars.  Sadly, that didn't hold up after the war and screwed over a bunch of veterans.

At any rate, the French-Indian War lasted from 1754 to 1760.  The war ended with the British Capture of Montreal in 1760, however the peace was not declared until 1763 in Europe (making it actually a 9 year war..but who's counting).  As a result of the War, Britain got the colonies all the way to the Mississippi and most of Eastern Canada.  France still had colonies west of the Mississippi and New Orleans.  France ceded Florida to the Spanish.  Many of the officers that would later fight in the American Revolution got valuable experience from fighting in the French-Indian War.  One of those officers in particular would lead the Continental Army and eventually would become the first President of the United States.