An immersion event is different than most reenactments.  At most reenactments you have varying degrees of authenticity.  Some reenactors strive to do everything exactly as it had been done 230 years ago, while others will defer to personal comfort and forego some authenticity.  Examples of this is bringing a sleeping bag to an event instead of sleeping with just a single blanket, or having the women cook elaborate meals, instead of eating in a “mess” of five men.   In an immersion event everything is done in an 18^th century manner.  The only exceptions to this were having a port-a-john close to the camp, instead of using a slit trench.

Over the last couple of years an organization was created to immerse the reenactor into the 18^th century military life.  The name of this unit is simply known as The Model Company.  It is made up of reenactors from several different units and from all corners of the country.  The Model Company is not  a normal reenactment unit, that meets several times a year, but instead only does two events a year.  Last year several of us in the Carolinas decided to do a Model Company event after hearing good reviews of one of their events.  To participate in a Model Company event we had to create their portrayed uniform.  The Model Company has portrayed several different units over the years, but for the event we were going to they portray Captain Heart’s Company of the 4^th Connecticut Regiment as it appeared in 1781 during the Yorktown Campaign.  

To prepare myself for the event I had to make a pair of linen trousers, a linen hunting frock, and a light infantry cap.  All items had to be hand sewn.  I had the rest of the uniform all ready, since much of what we wear in the 2^nd North Carolina Regiment is used by the Model Company.   There were five of us in three different units who planned to attend.  Bert Puckett, Zack Pace and Joel Anderson of the 2^nd South Carolina, Luis Cruz of the 6^th North Carolina and Myself from the 2^nd North Carolina Regiment.   We would become Mess Number 1.  We had one workshop at Bert’s house in December to make the pants so that we would all be on the same page. 

The event was to be held at Scotchtown in Virginia, which was the home of Patrick Henry.  The site has Patrick Henry’s home and outbuildings and is surrounded by relatively pristine land.  The only modern intrusions were a line of telephone poles running near a modern road.   We left early on Friday, May 13^th, and drove up to Virginia all in the same vehicle.   Gas prices have effected reenacting, so trying to car pool to events in the cheapest way to do the event.   None of us knew exactly what to expect.  We did not know if we would be inspected before we could come into the event or if vehicles would not be allowed near the camp to unload. 

We traveled light, only carrying what the soldiers did.  I had a knapsack (18^th century rucksack), a tin kettle in a kettle bag, a haversack and a single wool blanket.  Our Mess brought up two tents, four shovels, and a hand axe.   These would mainly be used by the whole camp.  We arrived at Scotchtown around 5:00 and met up with some of the other reenactors that we knew.  We carried the tents to the camp site and set them up, and dug a trench around the outside of them to deflect any water that may come from storms.  The weatherman had predicted a 70% chance of rain the next day and we figured we would get wet before the weekend was over.  After setting up our tent we put hay on the floor and put our packs in the tents.  Other men were out gathering wood from the nearby tree line.  The site would not let us dig a circular kitchen, so each Mess would have their own small cook fire instead.  We dug the hole for the cook fire and then stored our muskets in a small tent that would be our Belle of Arms. 

Since no rations would be issued until Saturday morning we all piled back into the truck and drove into Ashland to eat at a local restaurant.  The sky did look threatening, but it still hadn’t rained.  We were hoping that it would hold off until after we had bedded down that night.   When we returned to camp, around 7:00, we changed into our 18^th century clothing and carried all our gear into the camp.  There was no modern items on us at all for the weekend. 

All four of us were assigned to one tent.  Initially there was supposed to be five to a tent, but one thing we could not change was our sizes.  An 18^th century soldier was shorter and much less “wide” than we were, so there was no way five would fit in the tent.  We were able to get our four man mess in the tent, although we would all be touching each other throughout the night.  All our gear, except the muskets, was stored in the back of the tent in what is known as the bell.  I was one of the shortest men in our mess, at 5 feet 9 inches, and I was able to stretch out with my feet and head just barely touching the sides of the tent.  The others had to sleep in a fetal position or else their feet would stick out the sides.  Bert chose to sleep by the door, which meant he would get the most wet if it rained.

The Model Company had a formation as it was getting dark and formed up details to gather more wood and start the fires.  Fires were started using just flint and steel, but if you know how to do it, it is not hard.  The only problem we had was that the wood was wet from a previous rain storm.  After borrowing coals from another fire we finally got our fire started.   There was to be a fire guard that night, to keep the fire going until morning and the corporals of the four messes held a meeting to determine who would have guard and when.  Our Mess would have the first and last guard.  I crawled into the tent to get whatever sleep I could.  I decided to keep my shoes on, mainly because they were too hard to try to slip on quickly.

Bert and Zack stayed up for our entire guard, so I didn’t pull the first shift.  When all four of us finally got in the tent it was a night of interrupted naps.  Every time anyone would move or shift I would wake up.  My legs, though not long, began to hurt, especially in my knees, because I only had limited space to move them.  Then there was the multitude of noises and smells emitting from four guys crammed horizontally into a tent.    A couple of times in the night Bert was woken up by other guards, telling him it was his turn, and he had to argue with them that we are not on until 0430.  The rain did finally arrive around 0200 and kept up a steady pace for about an hour.  The guard had a single watchcoat to use if it was too cold or if it rained.  This was authentic too, since only a few watchcoats were in each company and they were only used for guard duty.   I was awakened for my guard shift at 0430 and I relieved Luis by the fire.  I had to go back a few times in the tent to get a canteen and my frock.  I thought I had it, but I had grabbed my waistcoat instead.  I sat on the ground with my back to the fire, looking out into the shadows, occasionally throwing a piece of wood on the coals to keep the fire going.   When my shift was over I woke up Zack and got a few more minutes of sleep.  Needless to say, the next morning we were pretty tired. 

We had a lone fifer as the company musician and he woke us up playing musician call.  I thought it was funny that our lone musician would be playing the tune for all the other musicians to fall in.  The fifer then began to play the assembly and the sergeants of the company began yelling to the men to fall in.   All of us tumbled out of our tents, many put on their frocks and caps, but I just stumbled into line in my shirt and trousers.   Roll was taken and then the morning details were handed out.  Each mess had to supply two men to wood duty, one man to pick up rations and one man to build up the fire.  We were also told that we had two hours to make breakfast and pack our knapsacks up, ready to move if we had to. 

I volunteered to get the rations and I gathered up the kettle, a large piece of cloth from my knapsack and a small sack.  These would be needed to carry back all the rations.  The quartermaster building was the kitchen building for Scotchtown.  The quartermaster sergeant was inside, dividing up the food into piles and he also cooked the officer’s meals.   Our four man mess was given four pounds of corn meal, that I put in my cap and in the large cloth.   We were issued four pounds of “bacon” that was more fat than meat.  I put this fatback in the kettle.  We were also issued two pounds of black eyed peas that I put in the sack.  I carried the rations back to camp and we decided how we would cook it.  These rations were for the whole day, so we decided to eat the bacon and cornmeal for breakfast and lunch and save the blackeyed peas for dinner.   Bert was able to forage and find some country ham steaks and some coffee before leaving North Carolina, so we had that also. 

We sat there analyzing what to do.  We were 21^st century people trying to figure out how to cook in the 18^th century.  Bert took his tin plate from his haversack and split a stick part way.  He then shoved the plate onto the stick and made a frying pan with handle.  We used this to cook the bacon.   The coffee was put into the tin cups and put on the fire to boil.  I had a flat horn with sugar in it, so that helped the taste of the coffee.  Most of the soldiers got their muskets out of the arms tent and began rubbing off all the rust that collected the night before.  I had put a good coat of oil on the barrel, and I covered the lock with a cover, so I didn’t have to worry about rust.

The cornmeal was a bit harder to figure out.  Without an actual frying pan and butter or eggs, making cornbread would be hard.  When I was living with the Saudi Border Patrol during Operation Desert Storm I saw the Saudis make ash cake several times.  They would mix up flour with water and pour it in the ashes.  It cooked after awhile and when it was finished they blew the ashes off.  It tasted pretty good.  I decided to do this with the cornmeal.  The rest of the Mess didn’t have any complaints, so as the bacon cooked I would pour the grease into a couple of handfuls of flour that I put in the kettle.   As each piece of bacon cooked up we would eat it, though it was tough and rubbery.  Once we had enough coals I added water to the cornmeal and then poured it onto the coals. 

This turned out to be an epic failure.  The coals were smothered and the cornmeal just sat there.  We stared at it for about 15 minutes, but it didn’t do anything.  I dug out the cornmeal and then picked out all the unburnt coals.  We saw other Messes cooking corn patties on shovels, so we took a shovel, greased it down with some bacon drippings, and put the uncooked corn meal must onto it.  As it fried up I picked out the ash chunks from the rest of the cornmeal for the next patty.   I imagine that if I had done that back in the Revolutionary War my mess mates would be rather annoyed that I just dumped 1/3 of our food into the fire.    Though it wasn’t the tastiest meal, it did fill us up and by the time of the 0800 formation we were ready to train, though all of us were pretty tired after a night of guard.

The training was an immersion into the minute details of the Von Steuben drill.  From 0800 until lunch we trained without weapons.  We focused on facing movements, marching and quick marching.  While marching we focused on unit formations such as open order, close order and breaking off by sections.   We did it again, and again, and again, until the muscle memory kicked in and we began to do things automatically without thinking about it.  We answered each command by saying the cadence.  “Present Arms!”… “One! Two! Three!”  By lunch we were sore, tired and our feet were soaked from walking in wet grass all morning.  Some of the guys had immersion foot and decided to go without socks for the rest of the morning.  I had a good pair of wool socks, and they continued to keep my feet comfortable.  I also had a good pair of shoes, made in Williamsburg, while others had shoes from Fugawee, which proved to be not up to the challenge. 

At the lunch formation we broke down into those getting wood, those refilling canteens, and those of us cooking the food.  We had another two hours to cook lunch and after the morning’s disaster, I decided to cook all the cornmeal patties on a shovel.  Bert pulled out his ham steaks, and we had a much better meal than we did at breakfast.  We would fry up one of the steaks, and then we would rip off a piece and eat it with our fingers.  During this time we would constantly be cutting up small pieces of wood and feeding it to the fire.   Keeping the fire going was a constant job that rotated amongst the Mess.  We had a small camp axe and a knife to help chop up the wood. 

After lunch we formed up for the afternoon drill, but this time we carried muskets.  We started out by learning how to fire by the numbers.  We didn’t fire actual rounds, but instead had replaced our flints with a piece of wood.  Each individual motion was covered and we did it again and again.  When we had a water break, and one from each mess went to refill canteens, those of us from the Carolina Brigade told how we did the firing sequence and what we had learned from Steuben.  What we told them made sense, and they changed how they did the drill.  Steuben was vague in many areas, so it is easy to interpret how to do the drill in different ways.   We did all movements with bayonets fixed, but I had an earlier model French bayonet, with my later model French musket.  Due to this my bayonet went the opposite way as everyone else.   Instead of facing to the right, it faced to the left.  As we did the drill I kept stabbing myself in the hand due to this.  Finally I took off the bayonet and did the rest of the drill unfixed. 

Late in the afternoon we began to do the movements, at a rapid rate, carrying muskets.  We also went through several scenarios with the company, such as moving and firing by sections, withdrawing by sections and passing a defile (a hole in a fence). By the end of the day we had sore muscles, worn out feet and were pretty tired.  We broke around 5:00 and were told that we had two hours for dinner. 

At the end of lunch I had put the blackeyed peas in the kettle and covered them water to soak.   Dinner was going to be blackeyed peas with the bacon and ham bits in there.  I added some hot pepper from my haversack, and Luis dug up some wild onions he dug up out of the field.  We also acquired some rosemary from the plantation’s herb garden.  While this was cooking we laid around the fire, talking of what we learned and telling stories of different battles we had fought in the past.  After an hour of cooking at a rolling boil I figured the peas were done.  I also had a small horn full of salt to season the peas.  The meal was fantastic and made up for the destruction of breakfast.   While we ate I passed around a redware bottle of rum as our rum ration.  The officers had their rations served to them at the kitchen house by the company quartermaster.   The rations were the same, they were just prepared better.

While we were eating word was passed around that there was going to be guard duty that night.  It was going to be a full “Grand Rounds” guard duty, which would have everyone in the company on guard.  The guard was to go till midnight.   We were told we would have a formation at 8:00.  I decided to lay down for awhile.  I oiled down my musket, put the lock cover on and put it in the arms tent with the other muskets.  This was a precaution because the sky was beginning to darken and thunder was rumbling to the west.   I spread out my blanket on the hay and laid down to catch some sleep before we had to do guard duty in the rain.   I took off my shoes to let my feet air out a little and try to dry.

I was awakened by the company first sergeant yelling for everyone to form up in the company street.  The rain had begun to fall, but we all stumbled out of the tents to get into line.  I didn’t bother putting on my shoes, because it would have taken too long.  While we stood there, with the rain beginning to fall, the sergeant told us to make sure we got under cover and didn’t get wet.  This seemed entirely like the real Army.  When we were released I crawled back into the tent, along with the rest of our Mess.  Soon the rain fell a little faster and the sergeant went around telling all that if the rain fell too hard all of us would move to the basement of the Scotchtown plantation house.   The sergeant also told us to pack up our knapsacks and get ready to move.  I told Bert that I would stay in the tent, and I didn’t care if it rained.  I was pretty dry where I was.  I also figured that if everyone else left the tent, I would get a great night’s sleep. 

The rain fell even harder, but none of us, except for Bert, was getting wet.  Since Bert was at the tent entrance all the rain was blowing in on him.  He was tempted to get up and go to the basement, but as he was speaking he fell asleep.   Right before it got dark the lieutenant, Stuart Lilie, woke us up and told us that the guard duty for the night was cancelled due to the weather and we could sleep.

Sleep that night was easier, due to us being so tired, but it was still uncomfortable.  Some in tent beside us stayed up late talking, and then the tent on the other side woke up early and talked.  Every time one person in the tent shifted to get into a more comfortable position we all woke up and had to shift too.  The rain came down hard; the drumming on the tent lulling us to sleep.

I woke up listening to the men in the tent beside us talking.   I could hear the fifer stumbling around and his fife case clinking on his tent.  I figured I had a few minutes to put on my shoes and use the bathroom, so I woke up early.  The fifer played musician’s call, but instead of playing assembly right away he waited for the men to put on their clothes and shoes.  I was had time to relieve myself and get back before the company formed up.  When assembly was played we were all dressed.  Roll was taken and it was discovered that we had lost a few men.  This wasn’t due to the weather, but was due to some of the men only being able to stay for Saturday’s training.    The first sergeant told us we had two hours to cook draw rations, clean weapons and cook breakfast.   I relinquished my role as the cook of the Mess so that someone else would get a chance to learn.  I pulled my musket out of the arms tent to check for rust, but there was none, so I had time to pack my knapsack up and get ready to drop the tents.   I also replaced my wooden flint with a real one.

We tried to recreate the dinner we had the night before, but there wasn’t enough time and the wood was all wet.  The peas weren’t quite cooked all the way through.  We had coffee and ham, but forego the corn meal cakes.  I ate a plate of the blackeyed peas as quick as I could and then put my uniform on for the formation.  We were ordered to place all of our packs outside the tents in a row and to bury all the fires after dousing them with water.  I did a water run to fill up canteens and to clean the kettle by the kitchen.  While I was there I found some wild strawberries and ate a few of them, but they weren’t quite ripe yet. 

Training that morning was similar to what we did the day before.  More moving, loading and firing drills, without actually firing any ammunition.  We also had some women visit the camp while we trained.  We continued to train until around noon, when we returned to camp, dropped the tents and rolled them up for movement.  In the actual army the tents would then be gathered up by a quartermaster detail and placed in the wagons.  When we reformed the sergeants gave each man a pack of ammunition with 12 blank cartridges inside.  I slipped these towards the front of the cartridge box, so it would be easier to grab.  Our noon training was to be for any spectators who showed up to Scotchtown.  There weren’t many, but the training was actually for us and not them. 

Firing blanks, with bayonet fixed and ramming down cartridges with the rammer was different than what we do in a normal reenactment.  We never draw rammers in a battle reenactment and many sites do not let the soldiers fix bayonets.  So this bit of realism showed us how fast we could really load.  I noticed, with a bit of pride, that the Carolina Brigade soldiers were loaded and at shoulder arms before anyone else each time.   By the end of the drill we were sweating and out of breath from running across the field, doing the different movements.

After the drill we put on all our gear.  I discovered that if you have a haversack, a canteen and a kettle in a bag, and all are the same height, that it doesn’t work.  I plan on cutting down some of the straps so these three items, all worn on my left side, will be “layered”.   We marched out of camp and continued to the modern parking lot, where the company said its final comments and then dismissed.    Everyone made plans to immediately go to the local Arby’s and eat!

Though sleeping was rare, and muscles were sore, this was a great experience to learn what it was like to be a soldier in the 18^th century.  As long as the Model Company stays in the same uniform, I plan on attending more of these events.  

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