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Just so everyone has the same information to start off with: All Peters' Corps men were Americans by birth or had been here long enough to have been enrolled in the local militia, where ever they lived. It took every male from 16 to 60 so no one, unless he had a very bad cough, was excused duty. About the only things that the militia did on their regular training days was to hold an inspection, practice the manual of arms and do some drilling. Therefore Peters' Corps men would have had this fundamental knowledge before they ever put on the Red Coat at St. John's. We may not have been required to do much formal drill in 1777 but we could do it, if politely invited to do so.

We are called upon to do more marching at certain events than our historical counter parts did. Our secondary personas, a typical New England militia section, require us to march well and do things that the typical parade unit would never think of doing. Thanks mainly to Mark Cafazzo, we have a good reputation in Enfield that helps us stay afloat. Even though we do a great job there it does not hurt to go over some basic elements of drill so that everyone is on the same page.

There are three elements for our consideration: Dressing, Covering Off and Sliding (right or left).

Dressing is simply that adjustment whereby everyone shuffles and wiggles into a straight line as if the Serjeant held his piece horizontally and everyone moved up to it, thus forming a line of men "as straight as a string." Unless told otherwise by the unit commander the ranks align themselves with the man furthest to the RIGHT. This gives rise to the order, "THE GUIDE IS RIGHT!" which alerts everyone to the fact that some disorder is causing the formation to look like a gaggle of geese heading for the feed trough. The only man responsible for giving this reminder is the Corporal who being at the left end of the second rank has a vantage point. He can see more than the Serjeant and is actually responsible for the cadence and alignments. For everyone else the rule is Silence in the Ranks.

Covering Off is related to dressing in that it forms straight lines of men, but this time as "files" instead of "ranks'" as in the case of dressing. Covering simply means that any one in the second rank must be aligned perfectly behind the man directly in front of him. It is not good enough to have the notion that the man in front is out of alignment and that you, in the second rank, are actually in the correct position. If the Corporal sees a problem with the alignment of files he may say any of a number of things like, "Cover", "Cover Off", "Mind Your Cover".

Wheeling in two ranks (the usual formation during the Rebellion, on both sides) has its own special problems. Something strange happens for which a reasonable explanation has yet to be heard. The first rank comes up to the point where the pivot man marks time as he re-orients himself to the right or left according to the order, "To the Right WHEEL!", or To the Left, WHEEL!" The second rank pivot man aims for that same pivot point and invariably the whole second rank finds itself uncovered. They are, of course, all confused and embarrassed for making the unit look like a gang of recruits. They immediately look for someone to blame, which is the Corporal in the case of wheelings to the left, or someone else when wheeling to the right. The remedy is simple. When wheeling to the left the second rank slides to the right as they wheel, and vice versa. This movement involves taking longer steps with the leg opposite the turn. As you know, we are required to turn our heads toward the Latch man during a wheeling movement but we can keep ourselves properly covered during the wheel by using our peripheral scanning ability, a skill highly developed in Rangers. Properly done a second rank will find itself looking very professional and therefore something impressive.

YOS,
Bill Wigham
Private Sentinel

I've found the only reliable and comprehensive history of the Campaign is Col. John Elting's, The Battles of Saratoga (Philip Freneau Press, 1977), and he was not only a superb historian, but was gifted with a wonderful "turn of phrase".

Jane was the sister of Capt.(John?) McCrae who commanded the company of the 13^th Albany Militia from the Saratoga/Stillwater district (yes, the same one Anson, Mulligan & Company used to recreate). Capt McCrae was a weaver. His house was located a few yards South of present day Rt.32 on the South side of the Park, almost in line with the Neilson farmhouse which still stands. McCrae's Hose was used as Gates' headquarters. John Neilson was a sgt. in McCrae's Company. Jane was engaged to a Lt. David Jones who, I believe was an officer in your unit (Peter's Corps) or maybe Jessup's (for the unannointed, they were loyalist units with Burgoyne, made up largely of loyalists from upper New York State and Western Mass.). In July, she had been staying near Ft. Edward at the home of a Mrs. McNeil (whom Elting tenderly describes as a "big, loud, grossly fat, and wrathful" woman.) who was a cousin of British Gen. Simon Fraser (Lt. Col., 24^th Ft., serving as Brigadier of Burgoyne's Advance Corps). Things getting a bit incestuous for you?

On July 27^th, 1777, a party of Indians, apparently attached to the Advance Corps (apparently Ottawas), raided the outskirts of Ft. Edward (which was a village with an old ruin of a fort in it), just as the Continental rear guard was leaving. They Seized Jane and Mrs. McNeil, and were pursued a little way by some of the rear guard. Some shots were exchanged, it's possible she was caught in a crossfire, but, in any case, she was scalped and the scalp was later identified. On the same day in the nearby town of Argyle, other loyalists, John Allen, his wife, three children and three slaves were also killed. Almost naked (oh, what a charming sight that must have been), Mrs. McNeil survived and reached her cousin, Gen. Fraser, and "denounced him, the Indians, and the entire British war effort before his shocked staff".

Burgoyne was angry, Fraser didn't want to get involved, Mrs. McNeil apparently was the source that blamed the Continentals for the shot that killed Jane, and Burgoyne treated with the Ottawas who eventually gave up the supposedly guilty Indian (probably the one who scalped her) but after pleading for his life, they succeeded in getting Burgoyne to spare him.

She did not immediately become the "cause celebre" that fired local resistance to Burgoyne, her death appeared in New England newspapers only in the regular obituaries, then, five weeks later, Gates mentions her in his Tickler Upon Scalping" he sent to Burgoyne.

I'm not aware of any exhumation of her body or discovery of the musket ball. If your source was Bill Meuse, I'd consider him very reliable.

The best "Jane McCrae Story" I have was from back in 1982 or '83. When I was working at the Park, it was one of those weekends that Peter's Corps and Jessup's (which by that time was Phil Dunning) had spent doing a program about the loyalists at the Park. Sunday late afternoon, Phil and I spent quite awhile talking before he got a late start for home. As was his wont, he hadn't changed his clothes and was still wearing that red short coat you guys wear.

It was a dark and stormy night (seriously, I mean you just can't make this stuff up). Phil was driving through Ft. Edward and thought about stopping at the cemetery, having never seen Jane McCrae's grave. He couldn't find it, decide to check with the caretaker in his cottage, goes to the back door (which was to his kitchen and the old man was frying something), forgets how he is dressed, and starts knocking hard at the door. The old caretaker turns around to see Phil's ghostly countenance peeking through the door's window, drops the frying pan, and starts grabbing his chest like Fred Sanford. Phil goes in, calms the man, and explains his clothes, the caretaker telling him he'd not had an experience like that in the 25 years he'd been there. Phil went on his merry way back to Canada, Land of Comedy, content that he'd inadvertently pulled a stunt that rivaled the best collective efforts of the Royal Yorkers at some of our Grand Encampments.

Rich Patterson

Mother Nature did not favor the Brigade on the weekend of June Second and Third. But that did not deter Peters' Corps, the largest unit on Saturday for the Crown Forces, from showing how to weather (sorry for the pun) the storms. Members in attendance for Saturday where Marcia, Nancy, Carol, Diane, Mark, Chris, Justin, Bill, Tom, Cliff, Bruce and Brian. Sunday saw the addition of Neal and Shelley and Dan and the subtraction of Cliff.

The showing of the Brigade was not as strong as in past years especially on Saturday. The rain was steady until Noon, and the weather broke in time for our tactical. The crowd, considering the darkness of the clouds, was pleased with our small engagement. Wethersfield ALWAYS has great crowds who appreciate what we offer.

Sunday started out foggy and rainy but the sun did make an appearance as did more Brigade re-enactors. But Peters' Corps cannot be outdone. Thanks to more additions to our merry little band, we had an impressive four-rank deep unit. We were STILL the biggest unit for the Crown Forces! Our tactical was grand and the crowd fielded more spectators than on Saturday. Again, Wethersfield is ALWAYS appreciative of what we have to offer. Huzzah!

Much thanks to Tom and Bruce for setting up camp on Friday evening. That made things so much easier on a very wet Saturday morning. Mark and Carol's fly kept us dry as well. Bruce's church services were impressive too. Peters' Corps always impresses. In fact, in many local papers and antique flyers, we had double billing along with the Brigade! We can attribute that fine honor to our performance for Wethersfield Days last May. Again, we braved the weather last year and Wethersfield appreciated that so word spread in we are in good with the Wethersfield festival planners. This is not a bad thing at all!

It is always nice to reenact in my hometown. It means a great deal to me as I am sure it does for Tom.

Pvt. Linseed

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