Battle of Germantown 2012

It was overcast and chilly, not quite as foggy as it was on the morning of the actual Battle of Germantown, but otherwise it was a fine day for an attack on the Chew House.  With my daughter in tow, I attended the annual reenactment of the Battle of Germantown today. Always a great time, with lots to do for the kids and enough loud noises to make my ears ring for a week.

Below is my fellow TMPer Eric Turner, representing the 1st New Jersey.  He has very generously agreed to speak to my Military History class when we do our AWI unit.

 Just before the big boom.  Enough to shake your dental work loose.  I shudder to think what a battery of larger field pieces with full charges would have sounded like.  The audience cheered when a round of cannister took out five redcoats right in front of where my daughter and I were sitting.  The British officer theatrically turned around and admonished us "I'll have you know that they were good lads.  Every last one of them."  Yeah, buddy. But we're Philadelphia fans.  You're lucky there's no snow on the ground.

Hessians and Grenadiers.  Oh, my!

The assault on the Chew House begins.   I thinks its amazingly cool that they're able to stage this reenactment  on the very ground where the battle was fought.  I had always thought that the hideous lawn sculpture should be removed, but apparently they were there in 1777.  So.  All right then.

Lots of carnage this year.  Abut half of the Continental army became casualties.  The woman next to me was the wife of a reenactor.  At one point she told her child, who was sittinng with my daughter "Oh, look.  I think your daddy is going to survive today...Oh, wait.  There he goes.  Too bad."  Man, those military wives are tough.