George Washington was there to greet us. Kate is off to school now, so her Nana is finishing her blog posts about Yorktown.
Militia training was the main event when we visited Yorktown. Kate signed up for the militia because she was very willing to be trained. She had heard about the training from her sisters who had trained in years past.
There were tents to learn to put up and cannons to learn to fire. Rifle practice and marching in straight lines were part of the day's events. Kate even had to fill her own cartridges.
Commands are shouted and spoken quickly.
In another area we found the punishment signs.
We found out the punishment for various behaviors were well-advertised as to what you do wrong. We used all that were available. Do you qualify for any of these signs?
The cooks were within each unit. They took turns cooking for each other. Our guide told us that the biscuits which are also known as hardtack were used at each meal. The meals were a pound of meat, vegetables and water. The meat had been stored in salt so no salt needed to be added, but the men got to be used to salty food, so if they were eating fresh meat, they would want to add salt.
Breakfast was the leftovers from the night before with the congealed fat floating on top. Next to the pot is a grill for cooking large slabs of meat.
Each unit had their own opening in the mound for their fire and the opening for the fire's heat to rise to heat the pot.
The leftover biscuits were stored and brought out of storage in the War of 1812. Mmmm, tasty!
A very large Daddy Long-legs was crawling up the officer's tent.
The officer's tent is very large so meetings could be held there.
Kate helped prepare camp by assisting in the raising of the tents and filling the floor with straw. Six men would share a very small tent. The floor space of the tent seemed no wider than a full-sized mattress.
We watched a woman spin wool and prepare flax for weaving. The flax was beaten and then brought through a block with large nails. When the flax as softened to feel like hair, it is called tow. This is where the term tow-headed comes from with its soft yellow color. Who in this picture is tow-headed?
This woman is preparing a duck for roasting. The roasting took place in the building behind Kate.
We found out that cannons are not only loud and heavy, but very hot when you are firing them. The soldiers who worked with the munitions were more important than the cannons and were told to save their lives and not to worry about the cannons when the enemy appeared to prevail. Before they were to abandon the cannon, the practice was to put a metal spike into it so it could not be used by the enemy.
Looking at the medical tools made us very glad we are living now. The tooth pulling instruments would be used with out pain killers. The scalpels did not look very sharp either. The drill for the skull was never sanitized as well as the other instruments. At that time, no one knew of the necessity of doing that type of cleaning.
We have gratitude to all of the volunteers who made this event possible for us to enjoy. It gives us the understanding of how challenging life was for our ancestors.
This was the last event of our Colonial Trip. It ends at the celebration of the anniversary of the surrender at Yorktown.
We flew home and landed safely. It was lots of fun and very educational!
Kate would put something clever here, but we will just bid you farewell and God bless!
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