Reenactments - Mississinewa 1812

Last weekend (Oct. 8-10) we made our annual pilgrimage to Marion, Indiana for the premier War of 1812 event south of the Canadian border.  (They really do it up grand in Canada.)  As usual I fell in with the 95th Rifles and enjoyed the five battles, evening festivities, good shopping and unseasonably high temps Friday through Sunday.  We had our best turnout for Rifles with 11 in the ranks on Saturday.

I am the middle rifleman in the front row on Sunday morning.  Temps ran from around 90 during the day to the 40s at night.

Artillery was in abundance on both sides.  The public is kept safely at bay by the fence you see at the bottom of the picture.  Larry Lozon provides an entertaining narration of each battle for the spectators.

The natives largely fought with the Crown Forces against the Americans.  A fearsome and very serious lot.

Some US regulars pictured here, led by my old friend James Lundgren.

And of course les belle femmes.  (Emily Rosewitz and my wife Peg.)

The hospitality and quality of the regimental mess of the 95th is well known and many people enjoyed our hospitality over the weekend.  So long as the rules of the mess are observed all are welcome.  A seven hour drive home left us both very tired but sans regrets over another great weekend spent with quality folks.  It seems that for some reason the British reenactors have more of a sense of "family" with each other than on the American side of things.  Everyone is always truly glad to see each other and sad when it comes time to strike camp.  I do not see this same sense of family in other time periods among British reenactors.  Cheers!

Yours truly.