A Revolution!

It was Patriot's Week last week in our area.  This is the time of year that the Revolutionary War battles were fought in New Jersey, and there are a lot of reenactments and exhibits going on to celebrate this time of our history.  We really wanted to see Washington crossing the Delaware on Christmas Day (as he did in 1777) but because of the holiday, we did not make it.  So, instead we watched the 1st Battle of Trenton a few days later.

Nicholas was stoked.

Here an actor is performing the "mourning pose" which soldiers would hold when a soldier was lost in battle.  The actors are doing this in honor of the announcer of this reenactment, who was involved in the historical society of NJ for 19 years.  He passed away just last week.

The gunfire was spectacular.

Here are some Hessian soldiers, who helped the British during the war.  They did not anticipate some of the Colonist's tactics.

Oh, the Redcoats.

 Here are some Patriots.  I am so excited that this coincided with our studies of US history. We are not quite at the war yet, but we are learning about what led up to the war.

I did not get a very good picture of this Massacusetts troup, but they were especially interesting as they were dressed in various, homemade "uniforms" (they were not uniform) and rags.  This is what the Patriots looked like, especially in there beginning of the war:  they were just a bunch of town militia joined together.  A MA group came up and blocked off the bridge in Trenton, cornering the Redcoats and the Germans helping them.

We headed to the soldier's Barracks after that, but it was snowing pretty hard and we were freezing so we didn't stay long.

What fun!  It was so cool to watch and learn alongside my whole family. This is the type of thing I would not have done if our kids were in school.  I certainly could have done so, but most likely my lazy self would have assumed they would learn about it in school.  I am so grateful for memories like these.  Not to mention my gratitude for our forefathers who died so that we could be a free nation.