On Saturday June 23, I had the pleasure of participating in the Ft. Defiance March to the Past living history event.
It was a hot day, but Col. Bruce (Roger Tenney) staked out a prime spot under some large trees so it was actually pleasant. I was asked to do demonstrations with the Henry and The Spencer and to do a general lecture on the weapons of the time. There were artillery demonstrations, period kids games and cartridge rolling demos.
While prepping for the event I found my old Stradia range finder, patterned after one used by sharpshooter units in the Civil War. The Stradia is an old range finding system used by the most of the advanced ancient societies around the Mediterranean as well as by modern armies until the advent of the laser range finder. See this Wikipedia article for more information.
A videographer for Clarksville On-Line shot and produced this great YouTube video of one of my talks. Hope you enjoy it, he did a great job.
I had a great time talking to the folks and particular enjoyed talking to the service people that stopped by. I got the chance to tell each one "Thanks for your service" & it was a supreme honor to meet them. We had a great turn out, more than 300 people, which is six times the number that usually show up on a Saturday at the fort.
Excellent video. It was good to see how fast the Henry could be fired if needed, and I had forgotten that the Spencer hammer and to be pulled back.
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