Miasmatic Review

The French are coming! The French are coming?

This weekend will be the one weekend every year that I bypass my moral and ethic of not fighting under a British flag… and fight for the Brits. The truck is loaded, cartridges rolled, jerky ready to be gnawed on, and I’m ready to fight! Theatiki, here we come!

First matter of business to get out of the way, weather. There is a 60% chance of rain on Friday; there is only a 20% chance of rain the rest of the weekend. That’s not too bad. Anyone want to wager that it’s going to rain sometime Saturday or Sunday? I can’t have an event that it doesn’t rain on me! Actually this weekend I’d probably welcome the rain, it is supposed to have a high in the 90’s, low in the 70’s with about 68% humidity. That’s right, it’s going to be ball sticky hot. At this event last year I had a case of heat stroke due to marching in 95-degree weather in dark wool. It would have been improper of a gentleman to take off his waistcoat in public, and since that weekend I was portraying a gentleman (It’s cooler then wearing my hunters frock!), I didn’t dare go improper!

I love this event; I have a lot of fun every year. Unfortunately, if I want to fight in the battle, I have to fight with the Brits. The French and the Indians have such a large contingency at this event that the Brits are outnumbered 3-1. They look for as many people as possible to fight with the Brits. It also doesn’t help that one of the largest British encampments is generally so hung over on Sunday that letting them fight would be like giving a straight razor to a retarded 9 year old. You know someone is going to get hurt.

Plus this event has one of the best battle scenarios I’ve ever done. They have two battles during the day. The first is called “The Woods Walk” They re-enact the battle from Last of the Mohicans when the English are leaving Fort William Henry and are ambushed by the Natives. Except here it’s the public with English guards being attacked by the French and Indians. It’s fun to play in and to just observe. The public gets to be right in the middle of the fighting. No other re-enactment I’ve heard of does that. If you’re in the area of Bourbonnais, IL this weekend and want to check out a little history, I’d recommend the visit just for the first battle.