Suddenly, from
a distance, came the unmistakable sound of bagpipes. The only
musical instrument ever officially declared a weapon, the
war-pipes churned *** THE END *** 
out an
awesome sound as the entire complement of British infantry
marched over a distant rise in line of battle. This was truly
impressive. On they came, never flinching, never turning. The
American cannons roared and the companies fired. Great plumes of
smoke billowed forth until the field became shrouded in a
fog-like covering. On the British came, with pipes blaring. One
by one dropping as cut down by rife and cannon. On cue from the
British commander, they halted and returned a blistering volley
of fire onto the American lines. Now casualties dropped on both
sides. One American company moved toward the right flank and
began a 
harassing "fire and advance" movement. A
well trained solider can load an fire his musket every 19 seconds
or three times a minute. By separating the company into three
ranks or platoons. One platoon can fire and then the second
platoon behind it advances through the first to prepare to fire,
allowing the reloading time for the first platoon away from the
firing line. This results in fire being directed three time a
loading period or about every 10 seconds including the time
necessary for moving the platoons forward. The flanking company
was met by a British 
company
that marched out to meet them. The two combatants were now just
over the far side of the gully and right in front of us. Right in
the middle of all this shooting and killing I noticed that Laura
was starting to chuckle. Knowing her to be very sensitive when it
comes to any kind of killing I was surprised, then I looked over
to see what she was pointing at. There was one American soldier
who had decided it was much too early in the battle for him to be
killed. So, after he was "mortally wounded" he lay down
on the ground for a short period of time. Then he rose up again
and shot at the enemy. Down. Up. Shoot. This went on for awhile
until we heard a loud stage whisper "you're supposed to be
dead". That was it,
he finally stayed down. When they were not shooting,
the participants were taunting each other. This included the use
of a cabbage supplied by the British company for which the exact
purpose escaped me. All to soon it was over. At a pre-set signal,
the firing stopped and the units re-assembled. The dead and
wounded jumped to their feet and joined their outfits. With flags
waiving and pipes blaring, the British left the field. The
Americans formed up and crossed the bridge, returning to the
Bivouac. It was over. We headed up to the British encampment to
see the other side. The heat had obviously gotten to the men.
Sweat soaked uniforms came streaming off as soda pop and water
was consumed in mega-quantities.
Although drenched and exhausted, the gleam in their eyes and
smiles on their faces was unmistakable, this had been an
exhilarating experience for them also. The cleanup had already
begun. Black powder muskets get extremely dirty when fired. The
preferred cleaning methods is pouring boiling water down the
barrel. It comes out looking like coffee. The British side had
their docents who were busy displaying the various activities
custom to the time. We found a young lady using one of the
earliest forms of spinning wheels. With strings attached to a
weighted bobbin, she would spin the bobbin which would rap or
twist the small strands of thread into yarn. Highly portable and
very effective although somewhat slow, this would be one of the
common activities of the women of that period. With the sun
setting and the day coming to an end, we stood on the second
floor balcony of the Kershaw house and surveyed all the activity
around us for a greater perspective. There was quite a lot of
effort put into such an exercise. Our hats off to those
responsible for seeing this piece of history presented in a most
enjoyable format.
If you're interested in further information write or call:
Director, Historic Camden Revolutionary War Site, P.O. Box 710,
Camden, SC 29020 (803)432-9841.
