In 1771, numerous American newspapers ran this excerpt of a “Letter from a Gentleman in India”: On our arrival here, we found a river full of dead human carcasses floating up and down, and the streets crowded with the dead and dying, without anyone attempting to give them relief; so horribly has the famine raged …
Author Archives: Michael Carver
Historical Tidbits — Williamsburg Gunpowder Incident
When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. April 20, 1775 Williamsburg Gunpowder Incident. On the night of April 20, Royal Navy sailors went to the Williamsburg powder magazine, loaded fifteen half barrels of powder into the …
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Clive of India: Literally a Robber Baron of the 18th Century
Robert Clive, the 1st Baron Clive is also known as Clive of India and is widely credited for laying the foundation of the British East India Company (EIC) rule in Bengal after winning the Battle of Plassey in 1757. When Clive left India in January 1767, he had a fortune of £180,000 (equivalent to £25,700,000 today). On 22 November 1774 …
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Basic Colonial Brewing #8 — Malting the Grain
Before grain can be used to make beer, the starches stored in the kernel must be converted to fermentable sugars. The grain does this naturally as part of the germination process, so the brewer need only harness this process and then stop it before the grain sprouts to capture the sugars they need for their …
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Historical Tidbits — Lexington Green
When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. April 19, 1775 Shot heard round the world. About 700 British Army regulars were given secret orders to capture and destroy Colonial military supplies stored by the Massachusetts militia …
Basic Colonial Brewing #7 — Adapting Historic Recipes to your Brewery
When we find actual recipes from the 18th Century, whether they are for food, beer, or even chemical substances like gunpowder and soap, the recipes are vague and ambiguous by modern sensibilities. These instructions were clearly written for experts. Below you will find an example of George Washington’s Small Beer recipe, and unless you are …
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Historical Tidbits — The Midnight Ride
When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. April 18, 1775 The Midnight Ride of William Dawes and Paul Revere. Thanks to Longfellow, hardly a scholar or school child alive does not know the name of Paul …
Hop Water
Let’s start this article out with an absolute disclaimer. THIS IS NOT A COLONIAL BEVERAGE, it’s a very modern 21st Century invention but still fun. You won’t see the Regimental Brewmeister serving this or making it at demonstrations but sometimes we drink this at home. Most of us associate hops with beer, and unfortunately beer …
The danger of always marching in lockstep
If you’ve ever been part of an organization that marches — not just the military but even marching bands and re-enactors (sort of) — you know what it means to march in lockstep. Everyone steps in precision to a standard cadence (usually 120 steps/min, 28 in/step) and one person takes a step with his left …
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Blacksmith On Duty
April 16 — 11am to 4pmFort Mifflin Come to Fort Mifflin on Sunday as we attempt to build field tables for our new portable bar wagon. This project is really coming together. We still need painters and artists who want to help us make this somber wagon into a festive bar. We also need people …
Michael Carver -- Historical Interpreter/Reenactor 