A Revolutionary Idea––

Travel Back In Time To Tavern Night

By Jan Howard

On April 25 and 26 Newtown will be transported back to a time of minuets, loyalists and patriots, and Revolutionary War battles.

As part of the Newtown Reads program, a Revolutionary War Tavern Night will be held at the C.H. Booth Library on Friday, April 25, from 7 to 10 pm. A Revolutionary War encampment will take place April 26 from 9 am to 4:30 at the Fairfield Hills campus with a battle between Brigadier General DeLancey’s Brigade of American Loyalists and 6th Connecticut Brigade of patriots from 2 to 3 pm.

About 65 reenactors will take part in the two-day program, according to Michael Alcock of Trumbull, a major and commander of DeLancey’s Brigade. About 35 soldiers will take part in the battle with another 30 people participating in the encampment.

Tavern Night will include dancing on the main level near the circulation desk and card and board games at tables throughout the library. One game is called “Goose,” and is similar to today’s “Sorry.”

Gaming was only for adults, and some people frowned on it, according to Patricia Campbell of Newtown, a dancing mistress with the loyalists.

People also lost a great deal of money gaming, Mr Alcock said. “They took gaming very seriously and drank punch. That didn’t enhance their playing at all,” he said, laughing.

 Children’s games and toys will be offered during the Tavern Night. “No toys will have batteries or electronic noises,” Mr Alcock said. “We will have people to instruct on how to use the toys. An 18th Century top was quite different than those today.”

While Tavern Night and reenactment attendees may wear colonial attire if they wish, it is not a requirement, Mr Alcock said. The reenactors wear authentic reproductions of Revolutionary era clothing. They also take on the persona of an 18th Century person with no knowledge of today’s modern technology.

Ross Kenney of New Milford, a private in the 6th Connecticut, said it is difficult, however, not to be able to use current frames of reference, such as television, when answering questions. Mr Alcock said reenactors would slip into the present if they feel it is important to answer a question in today’s terminology.

“We will interact with the public,” he said.

“One of our goals is to educate the public about what took place during the Revolution and the sacrifices on both sides,” Mr Kenney said. “I always loved this era of time. I caught the reenactment bug when I was 14 on a trip to Fort Ticonderoga with my parents.

“Sometimes it feels really real,” he said of the reenactments. “I think I was born in the wrong era. On the battlefield, you get caught up in it. I’m having so much fun.”

Because uniforms of Revolutionary soldiers on both sides are sometimes similar, Mr Kenney said he is often asked how he knows who the bad guys are during a battle. His answer: “If they’re shooting at you.”

The Reel Thing, professional musicians with a passion for folk music, dancing, and performing, will provide the music and dancing for the Tavern Night from 7:15 to 9:15 pm. Frances Hendrickson, who is usually the keyboard and accordion player, will lead the dancing that evening. She has more than 20 years’ experience in 18th Century dance, music, song, manners, and deportment.

“Gaming and dancing and things will be going on all the time,” Ms Campbell said. “Back then everyone knew how to dance, from royalty down to the servant. A dancing master would have asked the highest-class woman to call out what the first dance would be.

“It would be a faux pas not to know how to dance,” she said. “There were lots and lots of people teaching at all levels.

“We will create as much of the atmosphere as we can but we will also be teaching dancing,” Ms Campbell said.

“In the 18th Century, they would not have started the card games until the first minuet had honored the most prominent person so everyone could see,” she said. It would be the equivalent, she noted, of Washington, D.C., cocktail parties. “People wanted to be seen and recognized.”

Presentations will take place from 7:15 to 9:45 pm. They are as follows: a presentation about 18th Century cooking and food; a discussion about the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons and the part they played in Newtown history; a debate between commanders of each brigade; an 18th Century surgeon who will explain medicine and surgery in a military camp setting; and representatives from each regiment will discuss the history and uniform of their regiment. “They’ll be looking for recruits,” Mr Alcock said.

Each program will take about 40 minutes, he said.

DeLancey’s Brigade and 6th Connecticut will recreate the life and times of Revolutionary War soldiers and their families during the encampment off Mile Hill Road on the Fairfield Hills campus. It will consist of two separate but distinct camps with tents, fire pits, cooking demonstrations and basic camp duties, and a battle reenactment from 2 to 3 pm.

The encampment will include camp followers, women and children who followed the soldiers around.

“The soldiers had to share their rations with their wife and children,” Mr Kenney said. “If the husband was killed, the wife and children could stay but they had to perform work to benefit the Army.”

“You will be seeing a typical camp. Men will be drilling and practicing maneuvers,” Mr Alcock said. There will be at least two dragoons on horseback providing demonstrations, he added.

Battles may be scripted, where there is a basic scenario, Mr Alcock said. But Mr Kenney said those that are not scripted “are the most fun” because of not knowing what will happen.

Kim Weber, program coordinator of the library, said light refreshments would be available from 7 to 10 pm. Cider, nonalcoholic punch, and authentic Revolutionary era desserts will be served in the library’s meeting room, which will be transformed to resemble an 18th Century tavern.

The library will also offer a video on colonial times for younger children and handmade games and puzzles, she said, adding, “We’re hoping it’s a real family night.”