Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Fort de la Presentation - Part 2

I was touring the battle encampment for the reenacting of the 1760 siege on Fort de la Presentation in Ogdensburg, New York. Back then, this was New France, and even most of the Mohawks had been converted to Roman Catholicism. The British, in their territories, had converted most of the native trobes to Protestantism, so religious fervor helped fuel the French and Indian War:

Period costumes, flags, lanterns and cooking utensils abounded:

I had wondered where the Indians were, but then I began to see some. If I was a reenactor, I'd want to be a Mohawk:

I don't now what side this woman was one, but I liked her costume and the earnestness with which she went about her business. If it hadn't been for the parked cars behind her, she could have been part of a scene from 1760:

French and British drummers began calling out the troops, and men began putting on their battle uniforms and moving toward the battlefield:

The ships docked out in the water still looked peaceful. This is an excellent view of the two rivers. The river heading off to the right is the Oswegatchie, and that's downtown Ogdensburg on the opposite shore. The mighty St. Lawrence is to the left, at right angles to the Oswegatchie, and that's Canada on its distant shore:

This Mohawk brave was called to attention by his wife because she could see I wanted to take his picture. She had him walk out from inside the tent so I could get a photo:

I walked all the way down to the end of Lighthouse Point to see the lighthouse, though it had nothing to do with the reenactment. It is private property now and it seems that a family lives there. I guessed that they still operate the lighthouse, though I don't know for sure. I've seen conflicting information on the internet:

Soldiers prepared their muskets for battle:

I stopped and talked to these French soldiers for some time, asking about uniform colors and the like. They were French speaking Canadian citizens who enjoyed these reenactments as much as everyone else:

This British officer collected the crowd and began explaining the French and Indian War, but especially the battles surrounding Fort de la Presentation. As the crowd grew, someone brought him a microphone and, after that, he was able to narrate the action:

I hadn't seen it before, but there was an Osprey nest nearly over our heads. I was too late to get a picture of an Osprey parent, but I worried about them after the battle began, with its smoke and explosions. I did see one bird flying around the nest during the battle, but I never saw it land. The reenactment was about to begin, and I'll post about that tomorrow:

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