New Orleans, Day 2- Friday, January 9, 2015

I had a couple options to get to the re-enactment site today.   The bus I came down on was going, but they were going to a British memorial ceremony and the National Park first, and I wanted to get there faster.  I wcould have ridden with George and Elizabeth but they weren't planning on getting there until late morning, maybe early afternoon.  When I'm falling in with a new group like today, I want to  be there for the drills and so forth.  So I sprung for a cab again.  It ended up being the most expensive cab ride I've taken in the last few days becuse the cab driver didn't know where the re-enactment was and I didn't have an address to give him.  I knew it was in St. Bernard's Perish, past the Chalmette Battlefield, and I knew it was near a Walmart.    He did get me to the Walmart parking lot.  From there I had to walk all the way around the very large store to the backside of it.  As I was trudging back, the bus full of Canadians drove past me and dropped off someone at the re-enactment, and I used some mild expletives.

I got to the American camp as they were finishing morning formation and safety insspection.  I made it to the line that looked like it might be Kentucky Militia (it was) and was eventually told how to find my company.  Most of them are wearing maroon colored frocks with a grey fringe,  but there were a variety of other frocks being worn too.

This weekend, we are representing the Kentucky Militia.  When Kentuckians learned of the danger that New Orleans was in, many citizens came down the Mississippi on flatboats, expecting to be given weapons when they reached the city of New Orleans.  ("In 1814, we took a little trip...") They arrived shortly before the battle, but few weapons could be found for them.  (Andrew Jackson, in one of his famous fits of anger said he had never heard of a Kentuckian without a rifle, a flask of whiskey and a deck of cards.)  The men made due with what they could and became part of the very diverse force that was preparing to defend New Orleans.

During the day, we were priviledged to be addressed personally by Maj. Gen. Edward W. Tonini, the Adjutant General of Kentucky.  Being the head of the modern Kentucky National Guard, he is leading the same group that is descended from that 1815 militia of citizen soldiers.  We were then part of a ceremony remembering the contributions of the four state militias that were present at the battle- Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana.  National Guard leaders from all of those states except Tennessee addressed the gathering  (Tennessee's was at a similar ceremony at Jackson's home, the Hermitage, in Tennessee).

The men of the 1815 militia were certainly not well drilled, and the group we are part of can give us a feeling about how that must of looked.  We did spend some time drilling some things that George and I haven't really seen before.  For example, instead of two ranks with the rear rank firing over the shoulder of the front rank, we are having the front rank kneel.  The rear rank then has to "lock in" by stepping foward with the left foot, and touching their knee to the back of the person in the front.  We then load by casting the musket behind us.  All that is not necessarily wrong, but it is different.  We also were instructed on how we will be firing in the Line Jackson for the big battle on Sunday.  Jackson wanted his men to be firing four rows deep, so we use the system of having the front rank fire, then the front rank moves to the rear and begins to reload.  By the time that they get to the front again they are reloaded and ready to another volley, creating an almost constant flow of fire.  There are a lot of fine tune little things that the group is also getting used to.  It's not the greenest or worst drilled unit I've been in (** cough ** cough**Gettysburg**cough**cough**), but we're not really working like a well oiled machine.

For lunch, I ate at the one food truck that had set up there.  They seemed to be overwhelmed and were  having a hard time keeping up with orders.   For dinner, I walked with George and Elizabeth around to the front of Walmart and had Subway there.  I also bought batteries for the camera because I had left the ones I brought back at the hotel.

Our battle for today was representing the battle that took place on Decemeber 23, 1814.  The Americans had learned that the British had arrived.  Jackson vowed that the British would not sleep on this soil and sent a force to push them back.  The British won this nighttime skirmish, but the Americans would give the British pause and show them that the American forces were not going to be pushovers.

The battlefield for the the weekend his recently bulldozed land, and since this was a night battle, we it was lit with hugh lights that looked like a highschool football stadiums.  The ground was rough and pitted, filled with stumps that could trip you or holes you could sink in.  We made our way out onto the field in what is a huge line of American forces.  George commented that the British forces were the smallest group of Brits that he'd ever seen.  I said I think half of them came on my bus.  I was exaggerating, but we're both used to seeing the numbers on each side reversed.  The huge American line manuevered against the British (in ways it clearly was not used to) until the Brits pushed back.  Through this, my musket wasn't working, so when given a chance, I limped off to the sidelines and managed to get some pictures. 

After the battle was done, a huge number of re-enactors were shuttled to the front of the cathedral in Jackson Square for a "2nd Line Parade."  The 2nd line parades are a famous tradition in New Orleans and began with the jazz funerals.  The 1st line was the familly and principle mourners, but the 2nd line was the party that followed.   The parades through the French Quarter at Marti Gras are the most famous examples of these 2nd Line Parades, but the city seems to take any excuse for a party to have one of these.  I returned to the hotel with George and Elizabeth, and then caught the charter bus the Canadians were taking to the parade.  We were a little late, but still able to join the group as it moved through Jackson Square.  I don't know if there was an official estimate of the number of re-enactors involved in this parade.  One of us guessed that there were probably 500-700 of us.  I said I wouldn't be surprised if we had a thousand here.  (I heard that we had 1,800 registered for the re-enactment, and it's supposed to be the largest War of 1812 re-enactment ever held in the US.)  It was pretty amazing to see the crowds watching us as we snaked through the French Quarter.  The parade was supposed to end at Jean LaFitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar, but I think once the first 50 or so got in the rest of the parade just stopped.

Dean (my roommate) and I and a couple of Dean's friends took in the sites of Bourbon Street on a Friday night, and it's pretty crazy.  Re-enactors were now everywhere (though most of the rest of the people didn't seem to know why).    There's a comic con happening and a biker convention in town too, and we saw some of them, but I think the re-enactors were the biggest single group on Bourbon Street this night.  Our little group ended up at a bar called the Bayou Club, were there was a band playing cajun and xydeco music.  They were fun and we listened to them for a while and even danced a bit.  The band was called, "T'Canaille" which I think is pronounced "tee can aye" and means "little mischievous."  They tried to sing "The Battle of New Orleans" for us, and though they didn't know it, they seemed to be having as much fun as us.   We did a little shopping and went to Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen for a late night snack, and finally got back to the hotel about 1:00 AM.

(Addendum: I learned this morning that West Seneca, Cheektowaga Sloan, and most other schools were closed today because of snow.  That's bad news for our snow day total, but good news for the number of personal days I'm using for this trip.  It's been unseasonably chilly here due to that same "polar vortex" that's causing the lake effect snow there.  I'm not sure what the temperatures actually were though.)