| Vol. 10 | No. 2 |
Meeting of January 30, 2000
On January 30th, Peters' Corps held its annual meeting for 2000. Peters' Corps members in attendance were: Bill, Diana, and Zachary Wigham; Cliff Nichols; Marcia and Chris Kennick; Carol Cafazzo; Brian Zawodniak; Dan and Nancy Moraski, and Tom DeLucco.
Subjects discussed during the meeting included an election of officers, member advancement, various officer reports, the schedule for 2000, and an amendment to our constitution.
Members advanced to Regimental/Civillian status under the provisions of the unit constitution were: Brian Zawodniak; Nancy Moraski; Cliff and Aaron Nichols; and Matt, Michelle, Angus and Cameron Ryan.
Members advanced to Probationary status under the provisions of the unit constitution were: Mike Williams and Tom DeLucco.
Nominations were made and elections were held with the following results:
An amendment to our unit's constitution was passed allowing for more flexibility in the area of event participation for our membership.
The meeting was enhanced by Nancy Moraski's culinary wizardry. We were treated with Brunswick Stew, Pumpkin Soup, breads, cheeses and veggies with crackers and dips. Desert was Diana Wigham's "Monkey Bread" and assorted cookies ala Nancy. Thanks to Nancy for making the annual meeting special.
AAR: Hartwell and Battle Road
Peters' Corps once again showed it prowess at the 225th Anniversary of Battle Road as its members portrayed locals at the beginnings of hostilities between the ministerial army and the colony of Massachusetts. Members in attendance were Tom DeLucco, Cliff Nichols, Bruce Wallace, Bill Wigham, Brian Zawodniak, Carol and Mark Cafazzo, Marcia and Chris Kennick and Nancy and Dan Moraski. Chris was sergeant du jour and Dan was corporal du jour. Lynne Camenga made her first appearance at the event as well.
Impressive is an appropriate adjective to describe the retreat and skirmish between the British forces of lights and grenadiers and the local militia units around the Hartwell Tavern. It was wonderful to see so many reenactors out there in front of throngs of bedazzled spectators. Yours truly was able to fall in with our friends from the Fifth Connecticut and fire at the Brits. This was hard for me to do, but it was for the good of the overall event.
Once the rolling battle moved on, Peters' Corps took the stage at the Hartwell Tavern along with members from Ward's Company. Our unit's attire and accouterments were that of local militia, and our drills were top notch. Chris and Dan did a great job of drilling, moving, and firing. The crowd was impressed. The ladies also contributed greatly by cooking, sewing and spinning and entertaining questions. Lynne Camenga was magnificent at fiddling, and yours truly was happy to accompany her on the bodhran.
Sunday's events were more relaxed. Tom and Chris helped prepare an excellent breakfast, as always. Bill drew many spectators over to his hat making demonstration which is always a big hit. Mark, Tom, Chris and Dan were skillfully fielding questions from the public about military matters. Nancy, Carol and Marcia spinned while Lynne and yours truly played some more with the help of Chris on second fiddle. The unit drilled some more and did some great field maneuvers and burned lots of government issue powder.
Most grand was the crowd. We did what we always do best as a multi-talented unit: we enlightened so many about so much.Bravo to you all.
Your must humbly linseeded,
Pvt. Zawodniak
To Wig or Not to Wig...
At the Brigade School and Battle Road 2000 last month we saw everyone looking their best in improved impressions created over the winter. Unfortunately, no matter how grandly authentic one's clothing appears, if one sports a standard modern haircut something is sadly lacking. Some BAR members who break trail for the rest of the Brigade have taken to
wearing wigs as a solution. 
Wigs were well on their way out by the time of the revolution but, no matter, we must have them unless we are rock musicians or other fun guys. The problem with the wigs we saw was that they remind one more of Ma Bates than General Gates. Many wigs were fashioned around the plan of dividing the hair into three regions, i.e., the rear, the top and the temples. The rear was left the longest and was gathered together in several ways at the nape of the neck. The Top, or pate, was often cut short while the temple locks (left and right) were allowed to grow as low as the earlobes. These Temple Locks could then be curled up for special occasions and treated with tallow and flour, or just left neatly combed back over the ears.
The point is that we have the prescription for dressing the hair, or wig, in this manner and it looks real neat. The British advised two messmates to work together by first taking a pack thread and placing it on the top of the head and passing down behind the ears. The owner of the head in question could grasp the two ends of the thread under his chin while his friend combed the hair behind the thread back to where it could be tied or braided. The temple locks could then be combed down and trimmed off as mentioned before. The wig can be managed in the very same way and makes for a very much better appearing coiffure.
If you do not remember Ma Bates from the movie Psycho, how about Jonathan Winters character Maudie Frickett and "her" wig.
There may be dozens of other ways to style a wig, all of which would be just as good. The point is that we just do not find any period depictions of hair or wigs starting from the very front and sweeping, uninterrupted, all the way to the rear binding.
The most comfortable civilian style hair (or wig) cut has to be where the is just evenly cut off at the collar and/or the ear lobe without being bound at all. However the very fact that some officers were complaining in General Orders that the men ought to cut their hair shorter merely seems to indicate that many hardly ever saw a barber.
Respectfully Submitted,
Bill Wigham, Private Sentinel
Some Thoughts From the Commander
After the last B.A.R. School, I was thinking of a few things that happened over that weekend and I'd like to pass along my thoughts on a couple of them. Feel free to disagree, and offer your own opinion. By the way, that last sentence has a lot to do with my thoughts.
At several classes, we were presented with information that made me think of different ways we COULD do our live interpretation of 18th C. life more accurately. A very good talk by Greg Therberg on camp cooking equipment. That has been the source of a few talks with our unit members already; how, and where, to lay our hands on some tin cook pails, instead of using our iron pot. The search for them is only inspired the more by Greg's talk !!! Thank you Greg !
Another thing that struck me that weekend, was the talk George Newman gave on Saratoga. WOW, he put a lot of things in perspective that you just can't see from the battlefield visit of today. And the part I loved the best, was about the boats that were constructed for moving everything down Lake Champlain. By the way, I've started building mine, how about the rest of you. The fact that everything was transported by water, when possible, was testament to the hard travel on land, and the constant search for the EASIER way of doing anything. As a Peters' Corps. member, I feel we would have had access to, and the use of, boats and sails for travel, and cover during the nights. And son-of-a-gun, guess what we've been sleeping under for the last few years. A SAIL, skillfully built by Red Bill himself.
There was a lot of talk about changing the things we have, and the way we do our impressions, and the way we look as a whole. I think that may have scared more people than it inspired! But the way I see it, the things we have learned and experienced regarding 18th C. life, should be treasured. We can bring all sorts of skills to all sorts of events ; we're a virtual treasure chest of information. Nothing we have done, should be thrown out wholesale. Nothing we are doing should be interrupted.
At any given event, we are capable of presenting a wide variety of skills and crafts. Let alone our stunning portrayal of regular everyday slugs, just trying to survive! We can pick and choose the events we attend. We can pick and choose the equipment, the clothing, the food, and the mindset, that we want, and need for each event. That is the beauty of recreating anything ; you're not stuck in it, you can step back from it, and take a good long look at it. And even if you're doing ,wearing, using, eating, things that COULD use upgrading; doesn't mean that what you've experienced up till now, is worthless. It just means you're constantly on the search.
Yer. Obt. Servt.
Chris Kennick, srgt.
Capt. Justus Sherwood's Coy.
Queens Loyal Rangers, Peters' Corps.
New Feature -- Quotes From the 18th Century
As relevant today as they were then --
As always,
Cliff Nichols
To view past editions of our unit newletter, The Loyal Gazette, click here.
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