Saturday my husband planned on doing more work on the house. (gasp) I was ready for a break and I knew he was too, even though he didn't realize that. I knew he'd enjoy a day at the Drummer's Call. Last autumn, he found a video sample of it at the Colonial Williamsburg website and enjoyed it immensely.  He could only see a portion of it and was greatly disappointed he couldn't find more of the video clip. We talked about a dream of living in Williamsburg someday and being able to go to special events throughout the year like the Drummer's Call. The next best thing was to order the Drummer's Call DVD for him for Christmas.  About that time he was beginning a job interview process with the Pentagon, which hired him in February when he retired from the USAF.  Surprisingly, here we are in Virginia with a golden opportunity to see the Drummer's Call for ourselves!  I convinced him that the house projects would wait and he would be refreshed going out for the day.  It turned out to be an incredible day!!!!

     Since Drummer's Call started around noon, we decided to leisurely make our way to the Capitol.  We went to the Governor's Palace kitchen and smelled delicious aromas. What a history lesson we got! I really like this particular cook who gives lots of history of food making. This time he focused on the history of the meat dishes.

  There was the Virginia ham, which was a colonial specialty of Virginia. Even Thomas Jefferson, a connosieur of the best European foods, made sure he always had a Virginia ham.  

     Most funny were the dueling meats, sitting side by side...the beef cooked English style and the beef cooked French style. The cook said it was to represent the rivalries between the two countries that had lasted for years.  We laughed, because it reminded us of my son's Hundred Years War question to Lafayette last summer! The cook went on to explain the difference in cooking methods. The English are known for roasting. Then he asked what the classic ingredient of French cooking was. I said wine. Correct!  Then he asked what they did with that wine. The guests really got into that one.  They drunk it!  He laughed.  He meant how did they cook with it. Saute?  No.  He told us they cook meat wet, as in a braise.  Of course.  I have lots of recipes like that and had never made that connection.

     I asked what he planned on doing with the crab. 

   I couldn't believe all that crab he was cleaning.  Sadly it would never be eaten. Crab is one of my favorite foods.  He said he was going to add some orange and wine to it, add a little nutmeg, and create a filling.  Oh I was getting hungry. I'm going to have to try creating a recipe like that.  I had never thought of those food combinations before. The goose was roasting and making the room smell delicious.  The hand crank rotisserie was working.

     Then we walked through town, enjoying all the sights and petting the horses.  One of these days we hope to get in on the Bits and Bridles Tour which is always filled! In the meantime, the kids try to pet all the horses they can. 

 Finally the moment we've been waiting for!  The drum and fife corps started arriving...

and arriving...

     Patrick Henry said a few words about Armed Forces Day. 

     I confess, I didn't catch much of what Patrick Henry said. (gasp)  Even though he's one of my favorites, I was trying to get the perfect picture of him.  My husband filled me in later to the connection with Armed Forces Day. He was elated!  Being retired USAF, that's a big deal to him. He was excited, as we all were! Anticipation was in the air as the first drum corps took it's place. Each corps unit took turns playing  music and marching down the Duke of Gloucester Street from the Capital to Market Square. At Market Square an announcer gave us the background of each corps.  I tried to remember the details of each and sadly I have forgotten some of the information. I will do my best to tell some interesting facts on each one.

     This group led off. I think they are the Colonial Williamsburg Junior Drum and Fife Corps.  They are dressed in regimental costume.  The youngest is about 10 and in their later teens they can advance into the Senior Corps.  I would love for my son to be part of this corps, which is one of the reasons I've always wanted to live in Williamsburg. Even though we have recently moved from Texas to Virginia, we are still too far away.  Only the local kids can join the corps. I taught my son to play a flutophone several years ago.  In 2004 when we visited Colonial Williamsburg, he bought a fife which he has since learned to play.  He had a lot of trouble at first.  He couldn't even produce any noise when he blew into it. One of the Senior Corps members gave him some tips to get started. Then when we got home in Texas, he compared the fingering chart for the fife to the one from the flutophone, and from there he's been teaching himself.  He now does a period piece for each of our unit celebrations. He gets frustrated because it still takes him a bit of effort to get started blowing a note.  He wants to be as good as the Colonial Williamsburg Corps.

    This group was fun to see, since we are preparing for our Civil War Unit Celebration now.  I'm always analyzing costumes and I definitely paid close attention to the drum major for ideas for my son's costume!  My son was too!  Because of our recent research, we were able to pick out important details to the uniforms. 

     I think this is the Drum and Fife Corps from Yorktown. They were great!  I'm going to look for them at special events in Yorktown.

     This is the First Michigan Drum and Fife Corps from Detroit.

   This group attracted a lot of attention!  They are the Colonial Williamsburg Drum and Fife Corps Alumni!  This drum major is also the drum major for The Old Guard, which will be described next. He was stupendous!  He was definitely the best drum major of the day!

     This is The Old Guard, which dates back to General Washington. They are part of the US Army and perform for the president and dignitaries from around the world.  They even perform in San Antonio for Fiesta! They were incredible to watch.

  I think this group was from Massachusetts?  

    Finally, the Colonial Williamsburg Senior Drum and Fife Corps played.  They attracted a great deal of attention too, being a hometown favorite!

   Since they were the last, we all followed them.  As we walked further down the Duke of Gloucester Street, more and more people followed.  The crowd was huge.  Whenever we follow the fife corps, I always feel like we are following the Pied Piper of Hamlin. We weren't told to follow.  We are simply drawn and fall in step behind them.

     After we arrived at Market Square, the Colonial Williamsburg Senior Drum and Fife Corps played the National Anthem. Today's American flag was flying. The guys had the cannon ready to go off at the end of the anthem.

   Midway through the Corps' presentations of music and marching, the Second Virginia Regiment came on the field.  We learned about them in the Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trip: Soldier of Liberty.  

They showed us how they loaded their rifles...

and after the firing, they showed us how they practiced with their bayonets. Huzzah!

     We had a terrific time! My husband, especially, was in his element!  He told me more than once how glad he was that we had come.  I told him they were performing again that night for the Tatoo.  Oh?  He decided we had to stay for that!

     Lunch was past due.  We were hungry!  We went to Raleigh Tavern Bakery and sat on some benches out front where Revolutionary City takes place. We did not plan on doing Revolutionary City, since we had seen the day 1 program several times already.  I had some unit celebration shopping to do and that was on my schedule. 

     While finishing our lunch, "someone" came to visit us!  It was "Heckler #2".  I found out his character name was actually Mr. Hardcastle. (Uh oh...I think he's the one who will get tarred and feathered later on.)  When the kids and I came a few weeks ago and booed the govenor with the rest of the crowd, he was the one who told us we sounded like a bunch of cows!  He's my favorite to stand next to during the governor's arrival at the Capital.  He makes the time very interesting. He talked to us as the actor for a bit and asked where we were visiting from. We always find ourselves stumbling over the answer to this, since we have very recently moved to Virginia from Texas, yet we don't feel qualified to say that we are Virginians yet.  (When do we become Virginians?) 

     He moved on and then "Heckler #1", who heckled my husband last month, came by to talk. I found out he was the character, Capt. Ennis.  He spoke to us from the persona of Mr. Ennis.  It's always hard to start talking to the actors because we never know what types of questions to ask, since we don't know if they are speaking from a 18th century point of view or a 21st century point of view.  My husband was very open to listening to Capt. Ennis this time, no need to receive heckling comments.  In the process, we learned more about the other viewpoint before the war, that of those who were uncertain about heading into rebellion against the king. We talked about this amongst ourselves later, and everyone thought we'd surely be Patriots.  I'd like to think so, but I reminded my family that it's easy for us to choose sides now that we know the outcome.  But what would we have decided back then, in the days of uncertainty and difficulty?  As many times as we've seen Revolutionary City, we continue to understand the history more and have new memories. Soon Mr. Nicholas came over to talk and later Mr. Peyton Randolph came to visit. It was a lot of fun! 

     Revolutionary City got under way and this time Mr. Nicholas and another man taught us some songs. We were taught some refrains to sing at the appropriate time.  Then it was time to head down to the Capital for the arrival for the angry Royal Governor Dunmore.  We hadn't planned on doing this, but the interaction with the actors pulled us in. This time my son wanted to stand next to Patrick Henry so we did that.

     Later when the tar and feathering scene was done, sure enough, just as I thought. There was Heckler #2, Mr. Hardcastle, paying his dues for all his heckling.

   He was accused of speaking against the Patriots and for the King and had to stand an impromptu trial with Capt Ennis and Mr. Nicholas. 

A few men from the audience were asked to serve as jury.  

The jury found him guilty so everyone decided to tar and feather him.

Finally, Mr. Hardcastle agreed to retract his previous statements.

     After this scene, I told my husband I really needed to get some shopping done for our unit celebration. I told him I didn't mind if he watched the next scene and met up with me later, but he decided to come with me. Somehow before we started shopping, we started talking to one of the characters carrying the tar and feathers.  We learned a little about the props that are used. I asked where the practice of tarring and feathering originated and he was stumped. I teased him that they are supposed to know everything! He made an educated guess that it goes back to the Middle Ages, which I can believe.

     Finally we got moving. It was almost time for the stores to close and I was rushing to find this one item we needed.  We got to the Greenhow Store right at closing time. We were told (with a smile) that if we didn't leave by 5pm, we'd become indentured servants for the next seven years.  They don't realize that for me, that is no threat.  It's an invitation! A chance to live at Colonial Williamsburg and work for good masters.  =)

    I ended up finding the perfect lanterns at one of the Williamsburg stores in Merchant Square.  My daughter will use one for the unit celebration and afterwards the rest of the set will make nice decor in the family room. (Can you guess why she needs a lantern?) After eating delicious sandwiches from the Cheese Shop (I got a Virginia Ham sandwich with watercress because Virginia Ham is definitely a treat.)  Then we went to theTatoo.

     The Tattoo marked the end of the soldiers' day. Starting at the Governor's Palace, each drum and fife corps would march down the Palace Green, then the Duke of Gloucester Street to the Capital, with torchlight.

     Although the day had been warm, I was getting cold as the sun was going down. It felt good to stand near those warm torches.

 We were all getting fired up with the different tunes!

You just can't help getting involved...

Our enthusiasm kept building...

    The Colonial Williamsburg Senior Drum and Fife Corps were last and once again, we followed them, as if they were the Pied Piper of Hamlin.  It was so much fun and the crowds were larger than earlier in the day.  Finally we reached the end, where cressets were burning.  I had seen pictures of these and I think they are great! I was wonderfully warm around them! 

  Then one of the drum majors led the drummers in some fast and furious beats.  It was amazing to hear the different corps play in unison.  I loved how the kids shared drums!

    What a day!  I hated to see the day end.  Homesickness which had been forgotten when we arrived, started to creep back in as we prepared to go home.

     We walked back to the visitor center and walked by the pond. When the kids and I were here a week and a half ago, we were delighted to hear Mr. Bullfrog. We heard him every night we left CW last August. Well tonight we heard a chorus of bullfrogs. It was a cacophony! We laughed and said they must have wanted to participate in the Drummer's Call.