Revolutionary War at Ridgefield, CT
July 1-2, 2006

This one is a salute to the women!

I am a member of the BAR (Brigade of the American Revolution) as a Citizen Class Member, which means I can be a member without being part of a unit. This is a wonderful thing because it allows me to go to BAR-only events, of which there are several each year. In 2006, one such event was at Ridgefield, CT, near the New York border. This is one of the locations where Rochambeau's forces camped on their March from Newport, RI, to Yorktown, VA. The reenacting event was in fact on the 225th Anniversary of that march and we were camping about 1/4 mile from where the actual camp was (it's now a golf course, I believe). (Read more about the March to Yorktown!)

This was a very small event but very interesting.

One of the first things I noticed about this event is that the women of the BAR are very much present and a part of the event. I've seen this somewhat in the past but it became very obvious just how involved they are, well beyond the norm, in the telling of the story about camp life. My own impression of the British Brigade, the umbrella organization my King's Rangers are under (the BAR being one umbrella organization, and the third being the Continental Line), seems to look on the women in the camp as an unwelcome necessity (no wives and children = no one to cook dinners and possibly no getting away for the weekend), certainly never part of the actuallities of a Loyalist (or Continental) army encampment.

There is no end to documentation about women in the camp hired to do laundry and other chores, and of women, children, and old men in the camp as refugees fleeing starvation or worse from their Rebel neighbors (or, in some cases, fleeing retribution by the Loyalist Armies). The BAR embraces this, while the British Brigade seems to apply white-out to that part of the documentation, as does more of the French and Indian War organization. That is not to say women aren't working hard, sewing, cooking, and cleaning, but they are doing so at the kitchen area of their own unit, which is not period correct. This Ridgefield event was the first time I had seen women at work in a period correct setting within the military camp.

I should note that this event was strictly a Contintenal camp, with forces from the Rebel (Continental) and French armies. The French were represented by the 85th Regiment of Saintonge. And in this case, I was crossing over to the other side, as I'm typically a Loyalist. And, I was only there for Saturday.

So this event was a great joy and very enlightening. The first thing I did when I arrived was wander over to the sutlery of Deb and Cleon Grover of Historical Reproductions. Deb is the woman who painted me doing laundry in a large copper pan, a take on Chardin's The Laundress (or is it The Washerwoman?)—she called her painting Daily Chores. 

While I was inside their tent, some of the BAR women wandered in and we chatted. A couple of them were looking at me and looking at some note cards in they held, on which was written the name and description of various fictitious 18th century characters that they assign to some reenactors who then portray those people for a talk/demonstration scheduled for the public. They assigned to me the role of a refugee from a well-to-do family, now all deceased except for myself, and I managed to escape to the army with little but a valuable memento, a miniature pendant. That sounds good!

Then I wandered over to where they were doing the laundry and sewing. And yes, they were actually doing laundry and sewing! Just as they would have in the 18th century, the camp followers (no, not harlots! camp followers were wives, widows, and daughters) earned a small sum of money by doing the soldiers' laundry and repairing their garments. In the process, that weekend, they were able to demonstrate not only this integral support system for the army but also the techniques of laundry and the importance of repairing even the largest rip in any garmet.

While sitting under a fly out of the hot sun, I sewed in a huge patch across the shoulders of one man's shirt, while Becky Fifield (wearing a striped gown in this picture) sat to my right and repaired a huge gap in the crotch of someone's breaches. A girl to my left had a box loom and was weaving tapes. As people came to see what we were doing, we were able to explain to them the real reasons why women were in the camp, and Becky did a great job talking about the value of clothing and fabric back them (thus the reason for our massive repair jobs). Also you can see in this picture a tailor working on a regimental uniform for a drummer.

At 1:00, all the people with roles assigned to them (men, women, and children) came to another small fly and the public were rallied to come sit on the hay bales under it. Katie Caddell introduced each person and told their story, talking about their clothing, accourtrements, etc. to explain to the public what various people in various situations in life, soldiers and civilians, would have have looked like. For the public, this was far more interesting than reading about it in a book!

Along the way, I also took my turn at doing laundry. (Compare this picture to that of Daily Chores! Different striped petticoat but otherwise this looks like I was posing for again for that painting.)

I noticed that the men formed up, were inspected by George Washington, and did a little tactical, but otherwise I paid no attention to the men's scenarios.

All in all, this was a great learning experience for me in terms of what the women reenactors COULD do if (1) the men considered it in their event planning and (2) more women stepped up to do this. One woman who did more for the other reenacting women than I've ever seen in the F&I is Kathryn (Kate) Keel, who put together a number of special programs for the women at the Fort Ontario event in August of 2006.