The man in the picture above gave us a lesson on clothing, weapons, the war, and the way of life in 1778.He told me the girls might not like it in the woods with all the noise and they might have a hard time. He kept stressing to everyone in the group how "dangerous" it was and how you needed to be very careful you didn't get hurt on the rugged trail in the woods. He said the battle was very safe but the woods are the woods and be careful you don't trip on a stick or stone. I reassured him that it wouldn't be a problem that my girls are not afraid of loud noises (we had just celebrated the 4th of July). I let him know my girls are use to walking/running in the woods and if they didn't move along or if they had any problems my husband and I would carry them. He did an awesome job at preparing everyone! He had several people in flip flops and summer shoes a bit afraid to enter the woods. I could see the path was a very clear worn path and it was short (very short compared to the hiking my girls have done). I knew once the guns started firing if my girls got afraid all I would need to do is say "It's OK it is a boom boom fireworks" and that would keep them from getting afraid (funny side note: if a loud noise happens around my girls and you say "boom boom fireworks" they will start singing Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eyed Peas and not be afraid). I knew if that didn't work picking them up in our arms at any thing scary would comfort them and keep them from being afraid. We had already told the girls that we were going into the woods to see a pretend fight that would have some fireworks. I was a little worried about the older man in front of us he was "afraid" of the woods and told his grown boys that he had not been in the woods in the 20+ years he lived in PA (I felt sad for him never being able to see how beautiful our forest, mountains, and trails are in NEPA).
The man in the pic above was so nice to us! He represented the Oneidas. The Oneidas and Tuscaroras supported the settlers at the time of this war. You can read a little about the Battle of Wyoming here.
Travis learned so much on this adventure! I learned a lot! I learned that this area wasn't part of PA It was part of Connecticut! This sounds very odd to me because NY is between PA an CT. I wonder if the bottom of NY was part of CT. at that time? I had never even heard of the Battle of Wyoming until a few days before this event (I think I must have been sick the day we read about it about it in school).
Here is Demi with Daddy just before we went into the woods.
Here is Zee holding her dress so she doesn't trip in the woods.
Travis is one excited boy! He loves history and reading about the wars is his favorite part of History class.
Some pics from the battle in the woods.
Man down!
It is so cool being right next to the action! Travis learned (by watching) how to load the muskets by tearing off the paper (using teeth) then pouring it in and packing it down before you could shoot.
This was a bit sad. Our Native American friend didn't survive the battle.
Pictures from the field battle...
OH NO! Things are not looking good for us.
See all the red coats marching at us? They came to capture us and take us to Niagara! They marched us to a camp up the hill.
After being captured we got to ask questions and see how they lived back in the 1700's.
A camp stove.
Spinning wheel. I spin yarn on my wheel and on a drop spindle so I love seeing people spin yarn.
One of the camps.
This boy was so cute! He shared his wooden gun and sword collection with my children so they could play with him.
I made the girls dresses. They look sort of colonial. I didn't want the girls to have to wear all the heavy hot layers people wore back then. I also wanted to make the dresses a bit more modern so if they wanted they could wear them out in public today without looking odd.
I decided to make up the dresses at the last minute. I had less than 2 days to make up a pattern and sew both dresses. They are not my best made dresses but they look good when I think how little time I had to make them.
Demi making friends with a little girl.
Rob talking history and politics with our new Native American friend.I think this was a WONDERFUL way to teach children. It was a fun day and we all learned a lot. Seeing, touching, living in the time can give let you experience things you can't get by reading a book. He will read about this time in history later in our school year. I hope when he does he remembers how much fun we all had on this day! I would like to take my children to this next year. I hope to see you all at it. ;-)
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