Enjoy The Revolution
Yesterday we visited Cantigny Park to experience a Revolutionary War Reenactment. At a distance we observed the ballet like performance of a artillery crew firing the canon, then followed the choreographed advance of a line of infantry marching across the green meadow. Reenact a war? The thought of reenacting a war, causes the mind to come to a stand still. So, there’s a theatrical representation of the surface aspects of a particular war? Men, especially men, marching around in colorful 18th century uniforms, or posing in faux buckskin carrying a smooth bore musket… Fair enough. The appeal of camping out in association with others who have a passionate interest in the late 18th century period makes good sense.
The late 1700s was when indigenous Americans slaughtered most of the European settlers living in Kentucky. Kentucky was considered a part of Virginia at the time. I learned that the Indians were paid to pursue all out 
guerilla warfare against the English that settled Kentucky. The Indians, feeling a territorial right to the land were caught between the colonial aspirations of England and France — and became the ultimate losers. The British and the French contended for colonial rights through their proxies the indigenous peoples. Not to be forgotten must be the lethal effect of smallpox for which the Indians had no immunity. We think of that period as the “Revolutionary War,” Americans objection to oppressive taxation when the thirteen colonies were able to resist the naval power of King George of England and his armies…
Do we not overlook the proximity of sickness, and violent death (in all places) for our forebears who immigrated here, as well as the indigenous peoples? The region that became the states of Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ohio was known as “the dark and bloody ground.” That was their “normal.”
From the perspective of history we live in an extraordinary time, — relatively safe, at peace, medical care for disease available, and plenty of food for many of us…
But to think that it’s possible to reenact any war?
