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. January 17, 1781 – BATTLE OF COWPENS: Brigadier General Daniel Morgan conducted a double envelopment of Lieutenant Colonel Sir Banastre Tarleton British forces. Morgan’s forces suffered casualties of only …
Author Archives: Michael Carver
No, He’s Not Carrying the Wrong Flag!
At this year’s “First Crossing” at Washington’s Crossing, I got into a conversation with a reporter from Malibu California who was trying to reconcile what he was with the well-known Washington Crossing the Delaware painting by Emanuel Leutze. I am amazed at the number of people who see things like this famous painting and fail to understand …
Could one of our Founding Fathers have been a Jew?
While writing the blog on Chanukah in Colonial America, I came across some lectures and articles by Andrew Porwancher, a professor at the University of Oklahoma, who has an interesting hypothesis. It seems that while researching the early life of Alexander Hamilton, Porwancher uncovered some interesting facts. Alexander Hamilton is the son of Rachel Faucette …
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One Two Buckle my Shoe, Three Four Fall on the Floor…
So, I bought myself some new period correct shoes – straight lasted with new leather soles. My other period shoes are military shoes with metal heel plates so the last thought I had was the coefficient of static friction between leather and carpet… Yes, I fell down the stairs! Nothing was hurt but my pride. …
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Chanukah in Colonial America
What religious story most resonates with the spirit of the American Revolution? Yes, there are many stories in many religions that people overcoming atrocities and oppression. But consider for just a moment the story of Judah Maccabee. In the late 6th century BCE, the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great let the Jews go home after …
Pottsgrove Manor Candlelight Program
Last Sunday, I participated in the Candlelight program at Pottsgrove Manor. Everyone should attend an evening reenactment event as it has a very different atmosphere than we have become accustomed to in our over illuminated, “blandscaped” twenty-first century. Even with the crowds and constantly being “on show,” there is something about candlelight that is soothing …
Clothing makes the Man
I was asked this year to demonstrate how gentlemen prepared and dressed for the 12th Night as part of Pottsgrove Manor’s Candlelight Program. Clearly for many of the people who come consider 18th Century attire to be somewhat alien but the theme suggested in the program was that dressing in the 18th Century was more …
Crossing the Delaware 2019
For me this year’s crossing at McConkey’s Ferry was special. I have done the Crossing many times but always as an infantryman. This year, several of the 14th Continental Regiment failed to show, and the organizers asked for volunteers to join Col Glover’s famed Marbleheaders. I stepped up and was a rower, ferrying the army …
Bring Documents to your Reenactments!
Today Americans boast a whoppingly deplorable literacy rate of about 86% depending on how you measure literacy. Compare this to Colonial New England where, discounting slaves, women, indentured servants, and indians, in a time when books, newpapers, and magazines were largely unobtainable, the literacy rate was almost 60%*. Today with telephones, television, radio, and various …
You are Invited to 12th Night at Pottsgrove Manor!
What is Twelfth Night? In the 18th Century, the coming of December meant short days and long winter nights. Colonist to America brought traditions that had been long cherished as a means of bringing light and gaiety to an otherwise drab time of the year. The six weeks from early December (Advent) to the sixth …
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