Call To Arms: Mount Vernon Revolutionary Weekend

This past weekend was the battle reenactment at George Washington's Mount Vernon; where the Continental Army with the aid of Spanish forces, squared up against the British and Hessian forces. With the weather surprisingly on our side this year, the event turned out to be a very successful and educational experience for all.

Working on the numbers

This year I debuted my newest impression Mrs. Charlotte Carter, a wife of a merchant who operates a local trading company in Alexandria. With supplies dwindling, the British Brigade had contracted us out to replenish their food and uniform rations. Originally, my husband Jonathan was supposed to accompany me with this impression (in an attempt to break him into the wonderful world of reenacting), but had actual military duties this weekend and couldn't make it (the life of an NCO is never dull, I tell you!). 

However, what I've learned through my research and from the scenario my Lieutenant and I did for this new impression, is that the military went through a LOT of provisions. First, food was provided for each INDIVIDUAL man to last them for a whole month (and that's per pound per day); the camp followers were included as well, but the priority was mostly on the soldiers. The uniforms that these men wore, and needed astonished me. When I would portray a camp follower, I never really payed any attention to the detail of their uniforms other than what needed to be patched up or what button needed to be sewn back on. However as a merchant, I had to follow particular regulations as far as what grade of fabrics were needed to make their breeches, what size and type of buttons were used, and what weight and specific color of wool was needed to make their coats. And since they were all uniforms, all of the coats needed to be the same. Meaning, I would need a lot of bolts of fabrics (100 yards), 500 small brass buttons 3/4 width, and 500 regular sized brass buttons 1inch width. Given the monetary value for each of the items, I will say that I found it pretty hard to convert USD to the 18th century British Pound. So with Lt. Ward's help, he was able to walk me through it. But I think for the sake of visual interpretation of book keeping, I may buy an abacus instead of sneaking my cellphone to use the calculator (lol).  

Royal Artillery gal all the way <3

After watching the first skirmish and battle, my friend Stephanie and I walked around the Gardens and took some photos. Later we ran into my wonderful cousin Brenda who portrays Caroline Brannon, the enslaved seamstress to George & Martha Washington. After our jovial reunion, we talked about the Ona Judge performance I was preparing, and also spoke with a few visitors about our experiences with being African American interpreters and some of the challenges we sometimes face when portraying and teaching sensitive topics such as slavery. 

I spoke with one particular visitor (a father with his young son) about the parallel lives of a freed woman and a woman in bondage. There is a lot of information out there that offers explanation of the differences: An enslaved woman was bound to her masters by law and valued as property rather than being valued as a human being. She and her family always ran the risk of being separated and sold to settle the master's financial burdens, and at times risked traumatic ordeals such sexual violence. An enslaved woman would work for the rest of her life, unless she was manumitted. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a freed woman, was not bound by law. She was her own individual;  She could own property (there are accounts of free women owning taverns, and shops, and though not entirely common, sometimes freedmen/women would also own slaves), have a family without the fear of being separated at her master's financial expense. While the same went for freed men as well who were able to make a living in their community, however there were still some obstacles like racism and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 that loomed over them (12 Years a Slave is a great example).  

Beautiful Ladies! 

After a wonderful lunch at the Mount Vernon Inn, Stephanie and I reunited with my cousin again and visited the Slave Memorial to pay our respects, we also got a sneak peak about the new excavation project the Archeologists were working on. As it so happens, they have found more than 25 + grave capsules and are in the process of running threads to check the size and location of each grave before they dig. I don't know if they plan to have a forensics team involved but I am very excited and looking forward to knowing more in the future. 

Stephanie and I also visited the famous Lives Bound Together exhibit that honored the enslaved men/women/children of Mount Vernon. Sadly I was not permitted to take photos inside, but I will say it is a very powerful and thought processing exhibit that I highly recommend visiting. I do plan on going back again myself and just spend a little more time reading and note taking (especially for my research). 

Sunday proved to be a huge surprise. The forecast predicted rain and a possible thunderstorm in the area, however that certainly wasn't the case. It was very sunny with periods of overcast, and a nice breeze coming from the Potomac; for those wearing several layers of linen, cotton, and wool, this proved to be a great relief for all of us. Sadly Stephanie could not accompany me today, as she had other commitments, so I went with my good friend Vicki. We arrived to Mount Vernon around 8:45AM to help set up for the church service that they were going to have around 9:30. While I did want to participate, I was a bit nervous about the conditions of the bowling green (if it had rained the night before), so I opted to just walk around and talk with friends and visit the sutlers section. I purchased a really nifty pamphlet about the Masonic book for Ladies (aka as the Eastern Stars) from the Common Hands Studio (Mr. McClintock's bookstore), and then headed over to the Mount Vernon gift shop and bought a "No Stamp Act" Teapot for (drumroll please....$29.00! - this is a big deal, because Colonial Williamsburg sells theirs for $125, and for a bargain hunter like me, this is a great find.)

As 3PM rolled around, the battle reenactment started. I was so excited to watch the mock battle that I video taped and snapped so many photos of my Royal Artillery unit firing their cannons as the infantry took the lead with their assault. It was pretty awesome, but I will say it was pretty awesome to meet the Gilbert du Motier, aka the Marquis de Lafayette. I'm not sure who was portraying him, but he was a very amiable guy whose French was so on point that my elementary level french couldn't keep up. 

After the battle, Vicki and I were pretty much ready to call it a day but we ended up having a pretty neat conversation with an interpreter named Mr. Beau Robbins. As we chatted more, I learned that he was also a Thomas Jefferson impersonator and really knew his stuff. I was pretty impressed and continued to pick his brain about Jefferson facts. It was awesome.

Also, I wanted to share this little PSA for all of my readers, and those who are just coming on board. There was one minor incident with a visitor, where I was grabbed from behind. She was very curious about the bum pad, but did not ask me if it was okay to inspect. While I did use the embarrassing event as a teaching moment, I informed her that if it was tied around my waist, it's part of my body-so please ask next time. 

So that being said, this is what I would like to point out- please do not take it the wrong way, but it's just a word of advice. When you are visiting a living history site and you see a costumed character, for the sake of their personal space and the amount of hard work they put into their outfits (they are pretty expensive), please ask if it's alright to touch their outfits. It's quite embarrassing to be poked, prodded, grabbed and inspected without permission and depending on the type of outfit the interpreter is wearing, let's say silk for example, fingerprints could sully the outfit. So just a little PSA, please ask first.     

In retrospect, I had a wonderful time at this reenactment. The weather was very cooperative, I got to see a lot of friends and meet new ones and learn more about African-American history as well as delve into the history of Merchants and Trade Companies (now that I'm doing a new impression). This was a great experience and I cannot wait to come back and do it all over again next year and hopefully have a little station set up to show what a trade company looked like in the 18th century. Now that my husband is off duty, we're working on a few things :D

See you next time.