Fort de la Presentation - Part 3

The battle for Fort de la Presentation was about to begin, and I continued to have difficulty discerning which group was from which army. These men, judging by their costumes, were colonists, and they began the action:

Making war with muskets was a slow and tedious process, with much time needed to reload. The narrator said that a musket was good for about a dozen shots, after which the flash pan began getting fouled and needed cleaning:

The British soldiers marched in:

And, with the colonists, began firing at the French:

The French soldiers began marching, single file and accompanied by a drummer, toward the British:

The explosions of firing muskets shattered the formerly peaceful scene:

There were only a few Indians, but they too took part in the battle. My understanding is that there were Indians on both sides of the war, but these guys were fighting with the French:

It was a slow moving battle compared to modern warfare because of the time required to reload muskets:

Another group brought out a canon and it too began firing, adding to the noise:

Smoke filled the air:

And soldiers began dying:

The announcer quipped that this battle appeared to have ended in a tie, requiring another reenactment to be performed the following day. I had thoroughly enjoyed the color, the history and the action - but I decided to leave for home quickly, before there was a stampede of people and a traffic jam:

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:

Fort de la Presentation - Part 1

I drove to Ogdensburg, New York one Saturday to witness the reenactment of a 1760 battle at Fort de la Presentation, on the shore of the St. Lawrence River. The troops had set up camp, and I walked slowly through the tents, taking pictures. These soldiers, judging by their flags, were British:

There were Union Jacks everywhere, and some of the reenactors brought items to sell in between war reenactments:

I asked several people to help me understand which color uniform was from which army and they tried to be helpful, yet I remained confused:

Most of the camps were British (or in this case Scottish), which I at first thought was just a matter of popularity, but I later learned that the British outnumbered the French soldiers by 10,000 to 300. You'll find a quick history of the fort and the war by clicking here:

Fort de la Presentation was located at the confluence of the Oswegatchie and St. Lawrence Rivers, so nearly everything was on the shore:

I continued to walk among the encampments, enjoying the feeling of going back in time while remaining safe and comfortable:

Soldiers chatted beneath tarps and cooked on open fires:

There had been a battle on the waters of the Oswegatchie earlier in the day and when I saw the historical boats, I wished I'd been there to have seen it:

A bigger sailing ship was anchored offshore:

I continued through the encampment. This flag was a mystery to me. I've searched the internet and been unable to find out if it was British or French:

And then crossed over to a smaller encampment which, it seemed, was made up of colonists:

The colonists had more basic accommodations. There was still a lot more to see, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

The Battle Of Ogdensburg, War Of 1812 - A Reenactment

I noticed online that there was a reenactment of the Battle of Ogdensburg, a town which I'd never seen, so I decided to go take a look. When I arrived, it was cold and windy, giving me the happy thought that there is at least one place colder and windier than my farm. But nothing was happening yet, so I walked down the road to see what I could see:

The Battle of Ogdensburg occurred during the War of 1812, and these folks were reenacting it on the banks of the confluence of the Oswegatchie River and the St. Lawrence Seaway. That's the town of Ogdensburg which you see across the Oswegatchie:

This was the site of the original battle and was called "Lighthouse Point." I could see the lighthouse just ahead and thought perhaps that was where the reenactment would take place. Besides, I wanted to see the lighthouse, so that's where I headed:

I passed this regiment of soldiers as I walked. They were friendly and smiled, saying hello:

I arrived at the lighthouse on the banks of the St. Lawrence, but it was a private residence and marked "No Trespassing." The lighthouse looked as if it might still be used, but I couldn't tell for sure:

Then the action began and loud explosions and smoke were coming from up by where I'd parked my car. Clearly, I'd guessed wrong about where the reenactment would happen. So I began making my way back toward the parking area. These men were loading and firing their canon. They advised me to ask for "Permission to pass" before I walked in front of any active canon:

With the noise and smoke, it really did seem like a battle:

When I neared the group of soldiers which I'd passed at the beginning of my walk, they urged me to hurry up and get behind them because they were waiting for me so they could begin their activities. Who knew I could personally hold up a battle? But they were friendly and I hustled as best I could on the ice:

I got back to the parking area which, it turned out, was where we were supposed to be in order to watch the battle. I climbed up onto a snowbank for a better view:

There were skirmishes on the fields beside the St. Lawrence River:

I had to use the zoom lens to get any photos at all, but it was indeed interesting to watch the action:

In case you are wondering, the British won the Battle of Ogdensburg, capturing the town and using it as a headquarters to supply their army. But there was nothing more to see, so I quietly got back in my car, turned up the heater and began my journey back home:

The Ranger School At Wanakena

It had been a busy Monday morning. I'd hiked up to the Cathedral Rock fire tower and back, and then I'd taken a driving tour of the Adirondack hamlet of Wanakena. But Wanakena is best known as the location of the State University Of New York (SUNY) Ranger School. I had to go see it, so I turned at this sign which indicated that the school was three miles thataway:

And what a spectacular three miles it was, with waters on both sides of the road. This was a lake on the left whose name I didn't know. Its waters were dotted with untold thousands of white water lilies:

And I passed by the Pinecone Restaurant. I figured it must be a college hangout, but then noticed that it was closed and for sale. You can see that it sat on the shore of the Oswegatchie River:

We saw many beautiful scenes of the Oswegatchie River, which at that point was also an arm of Cranberry Lake:

And there were many nice, well tended homes/summer camps along the shoreline:

Most of the cabins were decidedly woodsy looking:

And then I arrived at the Ranger School:

They had tennis courts, badminton nets, baseball fields and what I guessed to be apparatus for woodsman's days contests:

And one very large building, which suggested to me that all the classrooms and perhaps even living quarters where housed in one location. That would be quite handy in the wintertime except I would think that ranger students would be spending a great deal of time outdoors anyway:

They had docks on the Oswegatchie/Cranberry Lake:

And a separate maintenance building:

They had lots of canoes. I supposed that a ranger would have to be quite skilled with a canoe, It was all very beautiful, but I had many more miles to travel and several more stops I wanted to make before I returned to the farm. I'll post more tomorrow: