Arriving in Colonial Williamsburg from Yorktown, my son hurriedly called me to join him at the capitol where the traitor Benedict Arnold was speaking to the town he had taken.

     A few months after the British occupied Williamsburg, the American and French armies moved in to occupy the town.  Reenacting that time, Prelude to Victory is a special annual event where hundreds of Continental Army reenctors arrive in Williamsburg. 

     Ending Revolutionary City that Friday afternoon, was a special scene to open events for Prelude to Victory weekend.  We assembled at the courthouse where we met the mayor (CW had a mayor?) and General Nelson, whose house we had just visited in Yorktown. This was great! We had never met either one of them before!

Then General Lafayette spoke about why and how he came to fight in America on the American side.  He had been in Williamsburg with his dragoons, awaiting the arrival of Generals Washington and Rochambeau.

     Afterwards we watched the Continental Army arrive in town and set up camp.  Then we went to dinner.

   Being my birthday, my husband made reservations at Christiana Campbell's Tavern and told them it was my birthday.  A historic musician, playing a tiny violin, about 6" long, played several songs for us. Then he walked to our table and explained the traditional "Happy Birthday" song had not yet been written, so he played the 18th century traditional song, "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" which my husband sang.  Later another historic musician played a hurdy-gurdy, a type of guitar that has a hand crank and sounds like a set of bag pipes. Later he came back with a lovely medium sized guitar, walked right over to me and announced he was going to play a popular 21st century tune.  He plucked out "Happy Birthday" while my family sang for me. Now I've been sung to before at a few other restaurants, but this was the most unique. =)

       The next morning we arrived at the Courthouse for roll call.  

 Generals Washington and Lafayette arrived on horses with the dragoons, and joined the other generals in front of the Courthouse. Knowing that Williamsburg had been previously occupied by the British, General Washington assured the town a brief occupation while all the troops gathered, before moving on to Yorktown.

   Here's one of the dragoons...

Generals Washington and Lafayette leave with the dragoons to scout the town.

       Then we went to the Wythe House to meet with the generals. This was a surveyor. It was fascinating to see real equipment and learn how it was used.

Here is another type of survey equipment my son got to inspect.

     Colonel Pickering is the quartermaster, in charge of gathering supplies, none of which can be found. He showed us the supply list and explained how it was next to impossible to work with Congress, much less to gather all the necessary supplies and food for so many from so few.  He also showed us the route they had journeyed from New York. When he learned we had recently moved from Texas to Northern Virginia, he realized why we seemed so unfamiliar with the terrain and explained in more clear terms. The importance of supplies came to light while he described the journey.  What happens when his troops come to a bridge? I replied that they have to make sure it is sturdy for all the men. Then he rolled his eyes, handed us his supply list, and asked us where in the world was he to procure these supplies?  (Hmmm, I suppose I can't tell him to talk to Tony Curtis from "Operation Petticoat".)   He was a lot of fun to engage with, as he portrayed a truely exasperated supply officer.  I definitely felt his frustration, which came to life from many of the books I had previously read about how Washington's army was short on supplies.

     Then we met with General Nelson. My husband told him we had been to his house the afternoon before. I had forgotten he thought it was Cornwallis' headquarters.  I knew the enemy was camped close by and I could honestly admit I had been terrified by cannon shot (safely fired from the nearby living history museum). Then I asked him about his double duties as governor of the state while general of the militia. He spent quite a bit of time sharing about this. He didn't seek to become governor. However the delegates felt a need for a strong military presence in the position and selected him.  General Nelson made comment on my son's costume, saying the only other general close in age to him was Lafayette. Lafayette joined the American cause when he was 19. My son said he was merely dressed as such to support the troops.  After we talked a while, General Lincoln, Washington's second in command, came over and asked Governor Nelson to introduce him to the young general.

General Nelson introduced my son as General Lafayette! My son quickly replied, "No, I am here to support the trooops."    

 Next we got to meet with General Hand, who was Washington's Chief of Staff.  He oversaw all the other departments. 

While we were talking, guess who arrived?  None other than Generals Washington and Lafayette!

General Lafayette announced Washington's presence and gave a brief speech.

 All activity stopped while we stood in awe of the moment. It seemed so real. One doesn't merely chit chat when General Washington is around. General Lafayette told us they didn't come to stop activity. We were to resume what we were doing. That was difficult! Washington inspected the work of the different men.

 Finally we pulled ourselves together to resume talking to General Hand.  Before long, we were surprised by an exuberant General Lafayette who quickly strode over to my son and exclaimed something to the effect of,  "My friend, I see you have been promoted to major general! I commend you for that!" My son smiled and replied that he was supporting the troops. Lafayette knodded his head in acknowledgement and said that is to be commended as well.  He asked my son if he had seen the town yet.  No, we had only been here to meet the generals so far.  Ah, Lafayette understood, as it was still early in the weekend. Lafayette said it was important to learn the war strategy and he discussed that at great length.  Then he said it would be good to go around the town to meet the different soldiers, etc, etc, etc.  Hmmmm, was he talking to my son as if he was a general and these were his duties as general?  It sounded a lot like what Lafayette himself was doing!  It finally occured to me I had a great picture moment and took out my camera.  Wow is he observant! He caught me doing that out of the corner of his eye!

 Then without my even asking, he volunteerily stepped over to pose with my son.  Now that I see their costumes side by side I can critique the differences in my son's costume. I used Lafayette's costume as a guide with contemporary patterns I had, which I made last year for him to portray Lafayette for an EFT project on Yorktown at home. My son needs a new costume as right now this is the only one that fits. Nevertheless, this is great to finally have the two of them side by side in the major general costumes, considering that Lafayette's was the inspiration for my son's.  Never did I expect them to stand side by side in similar costumes!  The entire experience was truely wonderful! 

     Lafayette left to attend to his other official duties.  We then got to meet the mayor!  I told him we have made many trips to town but had never heard of a mayor of Williamsburg before. I asked if this was something new since the provincial government left. No, there has always been a mayor and he spent quite a bit of time explaining that and various other things to me. One explanation led to another question and it went on and on.  Quite fascinating!

Somehow we got onto the topic of distance of shooting range. Maybe my husband or son was asking that. He said 80 yards was good. Or is it feet?  Hmmmm, anyway, he asked what was a good way to judge that distance. Now this I know!  By the whites of their eyes! Yes! He explained that was not first said at the Battle of Bunker Hill, as it is often credited, but goes back many years. Then I asked about Baron von Steuben's work with the soldiers.   After much discussion of him, the mayor brought out the baron's guide book for soldiers. Ahhh, I remember reading that he was responsible for this important manual which has been used through the years. The mayor offered the book to my husband for his perusal. Now my husband is not really into books, but having been recently retired from the USAF, this book caught his eye.  He flipped through a few pages and recognized some stuff, then he pointed out some differences. That's when things got interesting!

  Colonel Pickering overheard the conversation and he came over and joined the mayor in reeducating my husband in the art of soldiery and trying to convince him to join the militia.  I tossed out the fact that my husband had recently retired from the USAF in Texas and is now living in Virginia. They said that was not an excuse for not joining the militia. Men in Virginia move from county to county all the time and are still expected to join the local militia.  When my husband mentioned that he marched "1-2-3-4" they exclaimed that that made no sense whatsoever. Who has four feet?  Then they found out my husband didn't efficiently right turn or about face.  Colonel Pickering set out to demonstrate for my husband the proper method while the Mayor read from the baron's instruction book...

       After the drills, we decided to leave for lunch.  The family wanted to eat on Botetourt Street, where we saw the generals and the dragoons pass by.

After lunch we walked around the camps, where I met a seamstress. I learned how to make buttonholes by hand and we talked extensively about draping for gowns and how to use all of the accessories. I plan to make this a separate blog entry.

We talked to many interesting people and my kids played a lot of colonial games. He was roasting something highly unusual. He asked me to guess what it was and I guessed a cow's udder.  Yes, to render the fat for the soldiers' diet. Can you imagine?

At these tents I met some cooks of more appetizing food. Actually they  cooked for the officers. They had recently roasted a hollowed pumpkin full of apples and spices. 

 Then we went to Revolutionary City which had special scenes just for Prelude to Victory. First we met with General Washington.  Afterwards men were recruited to join the army, and my husband did join. Col. Pickering and the mayor should be delighted. They went through their drills and my husband probably snuck in some 21st century about-faces which were better than some who did 360 degree about-faces!  We missed the next scene about Barbary Hoy, because my kids insisted on going to the print shop to buy a birthday gift for me. However Babary Hoy's story became more real to me after having had talked to the cook for the officers. She said the safest place for them was often in following their husbands in camp. However they were never given tents. They slept wherever they could find a spot. Babary Hoy comes back to Virginia after being a camp follower with her husband, who has been captured in South Carolina. This is a regular scene from RC. 

The next scene, "The Court Martial of Private Grant" was emotionally rough to get through. He was accused of treason after nearly killing his officer. 

Although he was able to prove it was not treason, and he acted alone, he admitted to premeditated murder.

Why? Because this officer was having his way with the soldiers' wives of the camp, and was caught by the private with the private's own wife.  Here is his wife surrounded by friends, in tears at her husband's trial.

Angered, the private shot the officer in the eye. He was found innocent of treason but guilty of premeditated murder. He was sentenced to execution. While studying WWI, my kids and I have been discussing this kind of tightened up rules during war time, to keep order in the ranks to remain focused on winning the war.

 After watching another poignant scene, regularly in RC about slaves contemplating escape to freedom, we met Washington in front of the Capital and followed him to the Courthouse for a review of the troops.

There are also some Shawnee Indians in town. More about them later.  Looks like these Indians are helping the Continental soldiers.

Then we followed Washington to the Courthouse for his review of the troops.

There is General Washington, Lincoln and Lafayette.

The next morning we attended the drumhead church service.  Because there is no pulpit in the field for the minister, drumheads are used to represent the pulpit. Baptist preacher James Ireland delivered the sermon while the generals sat in front.

Then Generals Washington and Lafayette joined the dragoons to tour the town.

We returned to the Wythe House to meet with the generals again and met different surveyors. This time I got to talk to a map maker. I've always wanted to see how the art of surveying went hand in hand with cartography. Although I did not enjoy math in school, I always liked geometry and cartography looked like fun. The surveyor admitted to the same and said he found map making to be quite relaxing. General Washington arrived again, alone this time, and inspected each of the projects. He told the surveyor he needed the maps as soon as possible. After Washington left, the surveyor told us maps could be made quite quickly and these particular maps were like today's triptiks from AAA, focusing on the roads themselves.  

    After lunch we met the singer from RC.  He walked by my son and stopped and said, "Yes, we were all wondering what your rank was." He chuckled when he saw the rank and said, "That's pretty good that you made yourself a major general." My son said it was to support the troops. The singer said my son might be a spy for all he knew.  What?  Not my son! He took a close look at the stitching and said it was too precise to be American. He said it looked like it came from Britain. Really? (I stitched it but I'm not British. Afterwards my son came to me and asked if the singer was complimenting me or not. I have no idea!  I was wondering the same thing myself!) We  got to talking about Under the Redcoat and I said my kids were nearly imprisoned. He was surprised to hear that and said he was captured. We said we knew because we were there.  (I blogged all about it!) He told us the real story of why he was captured and that was interesting because we didn't know the details at the time.  He related it to things in our current time. 

     Then we met with some officers who were British prisoners of war under house arrest. They have a small bit of freedom about town. The one on the left engaged with my son a lot!  He was a bit laid back and resigned to his condition, and a bit philosophical in that he was able to argue the Continental view alongside the British view. While discussing the Boston Tea Party, he talked about the savages running through the streets and dumping tea into the harbor. He asked my son why the townsfolk did not get upset about the savages running through town. My son simply replied, "Because they were not Indians. They were the men of the town dressed as Indians." The man on the right, who was extremely frustrated at being cooped up and imprisoned, said that was an astute answer. He had been taken prisoner at the Battle of Saratoga (which Benedict Arnold won for America) and was later exchanged. After Arnold became a turncoat, this man fell under his command but he didn't trust him much.  They were very interesting to listen to. 

 Next we saw the newest RC program, "So Far from Scioto," about the Shawnee Indians in Williamsburg. Since it is set in a different time frame than Prelude to Victory and because it is a unique program, it deserves a separate blog entry which will be forthcoming.  Afterwards we got to meet with the actors and they were wonderful.

We learned more interesting information about Native American culture. Additionally I discovered one of the actors (the one in the white shirt) had the same educational philosophy that I had and we had a great time talking about that. Then one of their friends, another Native American in 21st century clothes (the one covering the non-historic Denver Broncos logo on his blue shirt), asked me if I had a camera. When I told him yes, he said I should get a picture of my kids with the actors. In fact, he'd stage them. How nice of him! Here they are! My daughter said the man next to her was making her laugh by whispering in her ear, "I bet you're scared of me.  Grrrrrr. No not really. Grrrrr."

 Next we went to Revolutionary City. The first scene was of Loyalists sneaking out of town.

Here's his slave loading the Loyalist's wagon with his personal belongings. 

Then we saw a demonstration of the dragoon's skills while Lafayette narrated. 

This was the first we ever saw horsemanship like this demonstrated at CW.

 Lafayette led these dragoons through the war. My daughter and I had gotten separated from my son and husband during the Dragoon event. She and I went behind the Coffee House to wait for the next scene and to wait for my husband and son. When they arrived my son was grinning and said, "Hey Mom, guess what?"  Lafayette had seen him and asked if he had been learning how to be a general and if he was ready to lead his own group of dragoons.  My son told him yes to both.  I knew I could lose my son to the dragoons. He's always had a thing for horses.  

 Afterwards we watched a meeting of the generals as they planned their seige on Yorktown. As Washington arrived at the meeting, there was a loud gunshot. He was told that was the execution of the soldier who had been convicted of premeditated murder the day before.  During this scene, a wagon pulled by horses and followed by soldiers in arms went up the road. The wagon had a casket.    

The next scene, usually seen in RC, was The Promised Land with pastors Gowan Pamphlet and James Ireland. Afterwards we met with General Washington who announced that all of the troops have arrived from the north. They were now prepared to leave Williamsburg and engage with Cornwallis in Yorktown.

 After Washington reviewed the troops at Market Square, the army left town for Yorktown.  Today we know the rest of the story.  America, with France's help, successfully lays seige against the British, Cornwallis surrenders, and England prepares for peace talks which conclude two years later. Yorktown was the final major battle of the American Revolution. Huzzah!