thedrifter
10-13-08, 05:29 AM
Re-enactors ready for Battle of the Hook
One of the largest cavalry engagements of the Revolution is coming back to Gloucester.
By JON CAWLEY
757-247-4635
October 13, 2008
GLOUCESTER
More than 1,500 Revolutionary War re-enactors are set to bring home to Gloucester this weekend a little-known, but pivotal, battle that helped soften British forces at Yorktown leading up to their much heralded surrender and the end of the war.
The Battle of the Hook — considered one of the largest cavalry engagements of the Revolutionary War — took place in the vicinity of Gloucester Point on Oct. 3, 1781.
Virginia Militia and French Marines defeated British forces and prevented them from assisting besieged comrades fighting against American forces on the far shore of the York River during the Yorktown Campaign.
All that remains of the Gloucester battleground is an unremarkable field marked by a small plaque beside a Hardee's at the intersection of Route 17 and Guinea Road.
Little had been done in Gloucester to focus attention on its Revolutionary War history, until county resident L.H. "Bucky" Burruss, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, and Chip Gnam, of Herndon — possibly spurred by a Battle of the Hook re-enactment that took place in 2006 at Endview Plantation in Newport News — pitched the idea of Gloucester having its own re-enactment for the first time.
Gloucester County put up $30,000 and Battle of the Hook organizers raised a matching figure from private donors and through business sponsorships, said Warren Deal, another chief organizer.
The nearly two-year process to bring it all together has been described as a monumental undertaking by a fledgling group with no prior experience putting on a re-enactment. More than 200 volunteers have spent at least 2,500 hours on the project, Deal said, and that was with more than a week of preparations still to be done.
The work culminates on Oct. 18 and 19 when Gloucester's most significant contribution to the Revolutionary War, and composites of several other battles, are resurrected for public viewing on about 100 acres of the Warner Hall plantation in Abingdon.
"Basically, for years, the biggest challenge has been in getting people ... to recognize what an important event the Battle of the Hook was in securing independence," Burruss said. "It really pleases me to see it is being recognized."
Finding the site to hold the re-enactment was in itself a major victory for event organizers. The waterfront plantation, where Troy and Theresa Stavens operate the Inn at Warner Hall, was created in 1642 by George Washington's great-great-grandfather, giving it an air of authenticity. The manor house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and as a Virginia Historic Landmark.
"It's an absolutely amazing site," said archaeologist Dave Brown, of the estate he characterized as being one of the largest in Gloucester during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Brown's Gloucester-based firm, Data Investigations, has worked on Warner Hall excavations for years and will have several people at the re-enactment manning an active dig with opportunities for public involvement and exhibiting Warner Hall artifacts they have discovered.
The battle re-enactments are expected to be more realistic because opposing sides won't be restrained from directly engaging as they are at many sites like federal parks. Even so, the Battle of the Hook activities will be strictly regulated for safety by established rules observed by all groups involved and through the use of multiple weapon safety checks — for rifles and cannons — that are mandated prior to each battle, Deal said.
Deal said those who attend can expect infantry and cavalry engagements as well as Colonial-era naval boats maneuvers in the Severn River. About 10,000 black-powder rifle shots and 100 cannon blasts are expected to be fired each day, he said.
Re-enactors from the United States and Canada, including 18 on horseback, will engage on a more than 50-acre field in battles that will be enhanced by volleys from 10 cannons. There will be several soldier camps, four mostly single-mast period boats demonstrating naval operations and two 30-yard earthen cannon and infantry fortifications. The sites will also feature about two dozen "sutlers" — or shopkeepers typical of the period — selling their wares.
An earthen bake oven measuring 30 feet in diameter, similar to what soldiers on both sides of the conflict would have used, is also being dug out for cooking demonstrations. But before that construction, or any others on the site, could begin, Brown's firm went in first to preserve anything that might have been lurking underground undiscovered.
"The planners wanted to make sure any time they dug into the ground they weren't destroying history in the process of celebrating history," Brown said.
Special guests during the weekend will include Gen. Ann Dunwoody, the U.S. Army's first woman to achieve the four-star ranking, Deal said. Also expected to be on hand to review troops will be French and British delegations, including France's ambassador to the United States, and several high-ranking military commanders, as well as various diplomats from each country.
Deal said organizers hope for about 1,000 visitors a day during the two-day event. Preparing for them and all of the participants who generally stay in costume and true to the period throughout the weekend in on-site encampments requires extensive attention to detail.
To start, 600 gallons of water will be available for re-enactors, and that figure doesn't include bottled water for the public. Other logistical details included 500 straw bales and 40 hay bales, 15 cords of firewood, 70 portable toilets, two large dumpsters, 300 bags of ice and 1,500 feet of safety rope to keep spectators off the battlefield.
Organizers also had to kill poison ivy, install foot paths, trim tree limbs and cut grass, among other labors. A cornfield also had to be harvested to make way for battle.
Almost 500 of the participants will be with British re-enactor groups who have real sister units in the United Kingdom's modern military.
"They do reinforce the spit and polish image," Deal said.
Key to the planners' success in assembling the large assortment of participants was a well-received pitch to the Continental Line, British Brigade and Brigade of the American Revolution — the controlling bodies of most Revolutionary War re-enactor groups. Their sanction meant "instant credibility" among member groups, Deal said.
Interest that was spurred resulted in what is now expected to be the country's largest Revolutionary War re-enactment this year and an unusual confluence of infantry, cavalry, artillery and naval re-enactors, Deal said.
For him, the reward for all the work put in to the effort will be realized later this week in seeing the white soldier tents go up.
"With each one that is set up, you take a step back in time," Deal said.
Battle of the Hook re-enactment
Total acreage: about 100, including encampments and other living-history areas
Battlefield: 50 acres
Ammunition: about 10,000 black-powder rifle shots and 100 cannon blasts each day
Re-enactors: 1,500-plus
Cavalry horses: 18
Cannons: 10
Want to go?
• When: Oct. 18 and 19
• Location: Warner Hall Plantation, 4750 Warner Hall Road, Gloucester.
• Parking: On-site parking is limited to handicapped-identified vehicles only. Shuttle buses to the plantation will be provided from three locations — Main Street Center, 6920 Main St.; Gloucester High School, 6680 Short Lane; and Page Middle School, 5628 George Washington Memorial Highway (Route 17).
• Time: A total of 15 buses will operate continuously from 8:45 a.m. until 5 p.m. each day at a $1 round-trip cost for adults and free for children and students with ID.
• For schedules and more information go to www.battleofthehook.com.
Ellie
One of the largest cavalry engagements of the Revolution is coming back to Gloucester.
By JON CAWLEY
757-247-4635
October 13, 2008
GLOUCESTER
More than 1,500 Revolutionary War re-enactors are set to bring home to Gloucester this weekend a little-known, but pivotal, battle that helped soften British forces at Yorktown leading up to their much heralded surrender and the end of the war.
The Battle of the Hook — considered one of the largest cavalry engagements of the Revolutionary War — took place in the vicinity of Gloucester Point on Oct. 3, 1781.
Virginia Militia and French Marines defeated British forces and prevented them from assisting besieged comrades fighting against American forces on the far shore of the York River during the Yorktown Campaign.
All that remains of the Gloucester battleground is an unremarkable field marked by a small plaque beside a Hardee's at the intersection of Route 17 and Guinea Road.
Little had been done in Gloucester to focus attention on its Revolutionary War history, until county resident L.H. "Bucky" Burruss, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, and Chip Gnam, of Herndon — possibly spurred by a Battle of the Hook re-enactment that took place in 2006 at Endview Plantation in Newport News — pitched the idea of Gloucester having its own re-enactment for the first time.
Gloucester County put up $30,000 and Battle of the Hook organizers raised a matching figure from private donors and through business sponsorships, said Warren Deal, another chief organizer.
The nearly two-year process to bring it all together has been described as a monumental undertaking by a fledgling group with no prior experience putting on a re-enactment. More than 200 volunteers have spent at least 2,500 hours on the project, Deal said, and that was with more than a week of preparations still to be done.
The work culminates on Oct. 18 and 19 when Gloucester's most significant contribution to the Revolutionary War, and composites of several other battles, are resurrected for public viewing on about 100 acres of the Warner Hall plantation in Abingdon.
"Basically, for years, the biggest challenge has been in getting people ... to recognize what an important event the Battle of the Hook was in securing independence," Burruss said. "It really pleases me to see it is being recognized."
Finding the site to hold the re-enactment was in itself a major victory for event organizers. The waterfront plantation, where Troy and Theresa Stavens operate the Inn at Warner Hall, was created in 1642 by George Washington's great-great-grandfather, giving it an air of authenticity. The manor house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and as a Virginia Historic Landmark.
"It's an absolutely amazing site," said archaeologist Dave Brown, of the estate he characterized as being one of the largest in Gloucester during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Brown's Gloucester-based firm, Data Investigations, has worked on Warner Hall excavations for years and will have several people at the re-enactment manning an active dig with opportunities for public involvement and exhibiting Warner Hall artifacts they have discovered.
The battle re-enactments are expected to be more realistic because opposing sides won't be restrained from directly engaging as they are at many sites like federal parks. Even so, the Battle of the Hook activities will be strictly regulated for safety by established rules observed by all groups involved and through the use of multiple weapon safety checks — for rifles and cannons — that are mandated prior to each battle, Deal said.
Deal said those who attend can expect infantry and cavalry engagements as well as Colonial-era naval boats maneuvers in the Severn River. About 10,000 black-powder rifle shots and 100 cannon blasts are expected to be fired each day, he said.
Re-enactors from the United States and Canada, including 18 on horseback, will engage on a more than 50-acre field in battles that will be enhanced by volleys from 10 cannons. There will be several soldier camps, four mostly single-mast period boats demonstrating naval operations and two 30-yard earthen cannon and infantry fortifications. The sites will also feature about two dozen "sutlers" — or shopkeepers typical of the period — selling their wares.
An earthen bake oven measuring 30 feet in diameter, similar to what soldiers on both sides of the conflict would have used, is also being dug out for cooking demonstrations. But before that construction, or any others on the site, could begin, Brown's firm went in first to preserve anything that might have been lurking underground undiscovered.
"The planners wanted to make sure any time they dug into the ground they weren't destroying history in the process of celebrating history," Brown said.
Special guests during the weekend will include Gen. Ann Dunwoody, the U.S. Army's first woman to achieve the four-star ranking, Deal said. Also expected to be on hand to review troops will be French and British delegations, including France's ambassador to the United States, and several high-ranking military commanders, as well as various diplomats from each country.
Deal said organizers hope for about 1,000 visitors a day during the two-day event. Preparing for them and all of the participants who generally stay in costume and true to the period throughout the weekend in on-site encampments requires extensive attention to detail.
To start, 600 gallons of water will be available for re-enactors, and that figure doesn't include bottled water for the public. Other logistical details included 500 straw bales and 40 hay bales, 15 cords of firewood, 70 portable toilets, two large dumpsters, 300 bags of ice and 1,500 feet of safety rope to keep spectators off the battlefield.
Organizers also had to kill poison ivy, install foot paths, trim tree limbs and cut grass, among other labors. A cornfield also had to be harvested to make way for battle.
Almost 500 of the participants will be with British re-enactor groups who have real sister units in the United Kingdom's modern military.
"They do reinforce the spit and polish image," Deal said.
Key to the planners' success in assembling the large assortment of participants was a well-received pitch to the Continental Line, British Brigade and Brigade of the American Revolution — the controlling bodies of most Revolutionary War re-enactor groups. Their sanction meant "instant credibility" among member groups, Deal said.
Interest that was spurred resulted in what is now expected to be the country's largest Revolutionary War re-enactment this year and an unusual confluence of infantry, cavalry, artillery and naval re-enactors, Deal said.
For him, the reward for all the work put in to the effort will be realized later this week in seeing the white soldier tents go up.
"With each one that is set up, you take a step back in time," Deal said.
Battle of the Hook re-enactment
Total acreage: about 100, including encampments and other living-history areas
Battlefield: 50 acres
Ammunition: about 10,000 black-powder rifle shots and 100 cannon blasts each day
Re-enactors: 1,500-plus
Cavalry horses: 18
Cannons: 10
Want to go?
• When: Oct. 18 and 19
• Location: Warner Hall Plantation, 4750 Warner Hall Road, Gloucester.
• Parking: On-site parking is limited to handicapped-identified vehicles only. Shuttle buses to the plantation will be provided from three locations — Main Street Center, 6920 Main St.; Gloucester High School, 6680 Short Lane; and Page Middle School, 5628 George Washington Memorial Highway (Route 17).
• Time: A total of 15 buses will operate continuously from 8:45 a.m. until 5 p.m. each day at a $1 round-trip cost for adults and free for children and students with ID.
• For schedules and more information go to www.battleofthehook.com.
Ellie