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. October 17, 1777 Surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga In the summer of 1777, General Burgoyne led an army of 8,000 men south through New York in an effort to …
Continue reading “Historical Tidbits — Surrender at Saratoga”
In 2020, I tried to start a Jeffersonian Dinner program at Fort Mifflin. We had one “Jeffersonian Picnic” but the stringencies of the COVID 19 pandemic prevented this program from really taking hold. This year (2025), I want to try to reboot this program with a slight simplification. I am working to launch a new …
Well, I found this cool cocktail shaker. No, it’s not period correct but it’s cool. Looks like a bell. To that end, the Admiral of the Blue is adding the following “Bell Ringer” cocktails to our line-up for future Tavern Nights. You put your ice and spirits in the bell, assemble and ring the bell …
John Hunter Gave Himself Gonorrhea and Syphilis John Hunter was a renowned 18th-century surgeon in London and eventually become the most famous physician in all of England. Hunter made enormous contributions to anatomy and embryology through the dissection of cadavers pilfered by the professional grave robbers known as resurrection men. This knowledge of anatomy allowed …
Continue reading “Doctor Heal Thyself — 18th Century Medicine Gone Wrong”
Honey bees are not native to North America. They were originally imported from Europe in the 17th century. In a letter written December 5, 1621 by the Council of the Virginia Company in London and addressed to the Governor and Council in Virginia, “Wee haue by this Shipp and the Discouerie sent you diurs [divers] …
Continue reading “Mead was not Mainstream in Colonial America”
On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The mob sought to keep Trump in power by preventing a joint session of Congress from counting the electoral college votes. While still President …
Continue reading “The New Guy Fawkes — the real legacy of Donald Trump”
If you are serious about drinking cider, then you almost certainly know that US President John Adams also drank cider enthusiastically, and professed to consume a gill a day, before breakfast. Cider was John Adams’ orange juice, and in his day, it was understood that a good quantity of cider, and the Vitamin C that …
Do you consider Benedict Arnold a brilliant general or an evil traitor? Despite what you may have learned in school, the answer to this question is far from simple and highly political. Blessed with almost superhuman energy and endurance, handsome and charismatic, he was a successful apothecary and a seagoing merchant before the war. Unfortunately, …
13 October 1776 In the fall of 1776, the American Revolution appeared doomed to the ignominious fate of a suppressed insurrection. The invasion of Canada had collapsed with the assault on Quebec, where General Richard Montgomery was slain, and the ocher colonial commander, Benedict Arnold, severely wounded, was forced to flee southward with his men. …
Continue reading “US Marines in the American Revolution — Defeat on Lake Champlain”
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. October 13, 1775 — The acquisition of a fleet of ships that would become the United States Navy was authorized by an act of the Second Continental Congress. The …
Michael Carver -- Historical Interpreter/Reenactor 