New Orleans, Day 4- Sunday, January 11, 2015

Today was the climax of the re-enactment.  We portrayed the battle of January 8th, 1815-- the fight that would save New Orleans and make Andrew Jackson a legend in his own time.

I rose in time to take the charter bus with the Brits and made my way to the American camp.  My feet were feeling much better in the sneakers I was hiding underneath my gaiters.  They had been saying that we were could get some light rain showers, but the weather was fine.  It's the warmest day we've had, in the 50s I'd say, overcast but dry-- a perfect day for a re-enacment.  When I arrived at the camp, the morning formation was already underway.   I went to the spectator side of the parade ground (which would also be the battlefield) to take some pictures and video.  As time went by, I eventually realized that they Americans were not going to be going to march away.  The battle was going to begin in about 20 minutes, at 10:00, so I found my place in line, where many of us were taking pictures.

When the battle began, the British marched across the field.  Artillery pieces began to fire down our line.  As the Redcoats got closer, we were able to begin pouring fire into them using the "Line Jackson" technique.  We were firing five rows deep, with the first row firing, then moving to the back to reload.  It was an interesting experience.  To my thrill, my gun was firing very consistently, at least to begin with.  Everyone's started to misfire eventually, but I was very pleased that my gun was now working as we poured fire down on the Brits.  (I did notice that the charges I had been given weren't making a big "poof" because the riflemen in the company used smaller charges for their smaller barrels.  I almost wonder if I HAD in fact fired a round yesterday, and didn't realize it, and then never reloaded because I thought a round was in there.)  Anyway, I got to stand and fight for the entire battle, which meant a great view (but no pictures this time).   We were near the American center and the Brits stalled in front of us, while we kept up the fire for as long and hard as we could.

And that was it.  Very fun and as good as it could be, but the event was now over.  George and I both commented that we'd never seen a re-enactment that had participants leave so early on Sunday, but we were dismissed and allowed to pack up and leave, and it wasn't even 11:00.  We said our goodbyes to the people in our company and thanked them for letting us fall in with them.  I got my picture taken with General Andrew Jackson, who thanked me and wanted to shake the hand of the one of the men who had come to drive the British from our soil.

I came back to the hotel with George and Elizabeth.  I took a shower and put on real people clothes and then walked back to Jackson Square to go to the Louisiana State Museum at the Cabildo.  Their exhibit on the Battle of New Orleans opened today.   The exhibit had many paintings and portraits of people that were involved in the battle.  Many artifacts that had a direct connection to the battle were on display.  There were several paintings of the battle that I found interesting, but the center piece of the exhibit was Andrew Jackson's own uniform coat, which we wore at the battle itself and while sitting for his famous portrait.  Both the coat and the portrait were there, on loan from the Smithsonian.  (Photography was not allowed, which seemed odd because I had just photographed the coat when I was going through Washington after the Star Spangled Banner's 200th Anniversary a few months ago.)  It is believed that Jackson's coat is the only American uniform from the Battle of New Orleans that is still in existence, and it is the first time that it has been back in New Orleans since 1815.  The museum also featured an exhibit about how the legend of the battle has grown in American history- making a cult figure of Jackson and propelling him to the presidency.  The exhibit also feafured the song "The Battle Of New Orleans," and the movie, "The Buccaneer" about Jean Laffite.

After the Cabildo, I a very late lunch at the Jax Brewery.  It's not a brewery anymore though, but a collection of shops and a food court in the brewery's old building.  We shopped there with the girls when we were here as a family.  I strolled down Burboun Street and was able to find a few more presents for the family.  I also stopped at McDonalds because I was still hungry, and then came back to the hotel.

New Orleans, Day 3- Saturday, January 10, 2015

In spite of the late night last night, Dean and I were both woken by the TV when it mysteriously turned on at 6:30, which gave us plenty of time to have breakfast and ride the charter bus back to the re-enactment.  I started by going to Walmart to buy a sandwich for lunch, and then went around to the American camps.  I made it there just as the morning formation was being dismissed, which was fine by me.   I tried my best to clean my gun, hoping it would solve the problems that I had yesterday.  The weather is still cool, but warmer than yesterday and sunny.

There were three battles scheduled for today-- one at 11:00, one at 1:00, and one at 4:30.   The first battle at 11:00 was supposed to represent the "reconaissance in force" that the British General Packenham sent against the American lines on December 28, 1814.  The British forced pushed up against Jackson's men behind there long fortified line, but failed to push through.  We were lined up along the similar fortification that the bulldozers had pushed together a week or two ago.  A row of boards stood as a wall in front of us and dirt was piled high and deep on the far side, toward the British.  Cannons were placed along the line, and we (the militia infantry) were put in between each of the artillery pieces.  We were all wearing earplugs because the we were so close to the cannon and the little howitzer's concussion blast on our right shocked us the first time it went off.  

My gun was not firing, yet again.  Worse, my feet were killing me.  I think it's probably time I get rid of these brogans because when I wear them for more than one day in a row I can hardly stand, even though I've got supports in the bottoms of them.  (I expected my head to hurt today, but it was fine.  It was my feet that were making it hard to function.)  Once again, I hobbled back to a sideline, but that meant I was able to get some more pictures.  When the battle was over and we were dismissed, I told the sergeant and captain that I was going to take my leave and call it a day.  One battle a day is usually enough for me, anyway.  So I trudged to the front gate and sat to wait for the 1:00 bus to come to pick up the re-enactors.  While I was sitting there, I was unofficially acting as a greeter and welcoming quite a few of the spectators who were arriving.

Once I got back to the hotel, I showered and put my black sneakers on like I had last night.  My feet were still tired, but were so much better than with the brogans.  I'm going to wear the sneakers at the climatic battle tomorrow.  

I went down to the consierge in our hotel.  We had talked to him yesterday, and he is quite a character.  He and his purple car were seen in the first episode of NCIS New Orleans, which Julie watches.  His name is Eddie Conrad, and he loves to talk.  He said that NCIS was filming "next door" today, and that they're going to continue filming around the neighborhood here.  I got his picture today and asked him a few questions about things I needed. 

I didn't want to waste the rest of the day, so I decided I'd check out Comic Con.  This event was being held at the convention center, which is about as close to our hotel as Jackson Square is-- just the other direction.   It's actually a Wizard World event, which I find to be pretty expensive affairs and in spite of the price they are pretty pale imitations of the "real" Comic Con in San Diego.  It cost me $60 to get in for a one day pass, and it was 3:00 or so when I arrived.   The con floor was what I expected.   It was crowded and warm, but full of interesting people costumes to watch.  (I was wearing regular people clothes now, and kind of regretted it.)   I caught some of the costumes I liked on video, but didn't take many photographs.  The constantly moving and shifting crowds make it difficult.  There were some but not many big comic names that I recognized.  Neither DC nor Marvel had a booth there, and I think they are the ones that usually bring in the talent.  Artist Neal Adams was there, but I already had gotten his autograph in San Diego.  You couldn't take any pictures near the celebrities, and I saw staff literally jump in front of people that were trying.  All the celebrities were charging for their autographs and photo ops and the price was pretty steep.   I saw two of the three "Charmed" girls there-  Shannon Doherty and Holly Marie Combs.  I don't know what they were charging, but Kevin Conroy (the cartoon voice of Batman) was charging $40, and he doesn't even have a face people would recognize.  There were interesting cosplay groups with tables set up including a Doctor Who one and the Louisiana Ghostbusters with their own Ecto-mobile.  I worked my way through the vendors (and bought Julie something small), but I didn't really want to spend much after it cost me so much to get in.  There weren't many panels and those I saw listed didn't intrigue me enough to get me to stay.

After about two hours, I was getting pretty tired.  It was still light out, so I made my way back to the hotel, with a detour to a camera shop to get a cord so I could finally upload some pictures to the blog and to Facebook.  I got a pizza from the bar in the hotel lobby, and took it to my room.  Dean and his friends had returned at 1:00 with me, but they were going out to one of the balls tonight.  That means I'll have the room to myself this evening, and I'll use the time to get a little bit of rest, while I catch up on the blog.