My return and an update

 

   Greeting my fellow bloggers and brothers in the world of playing with toy soldiers.  I have returned from my snow bird adventures in Florida.  It was a delightful time of much activity and meeting  many new people.  But it has taken a while to adjust to the weather up here and going through a new round doctor visits and the like.  This has been a lot of fun and both Janine and are are seriously looking through our finances to see if we can make this an annual event.

  Unfortunately all this has gotten in the way of blogging and miniature wargames activities.  No posts for the month of February.  For this I apologize and do hope to make up for.  During my time away I have done much thinking and planning and the next two months should have many posts here.

  One table top adventure I have been planning is a refight of the Camden campaign in South Carolina 1780.  Researching the series of actions from July 1780 after the British captured Charleston to the massive defeat of the American army at Camden in August 1780.  Some actions will be played solo as the attack on the outpost at rocky mount or Huck's defeat do not lend themselves to group play.  Too one sided.  Others like the action at Hanging Rock have been poorly research or written about and its been fun doing that.  Should this go well I will continue the theme with the Cowpens - Guilford Courthouse campaign.  I am also preparing material about the 19April 1775 fight.  Some research materials and anew updated photo tour of the battlefield today.

  So thank you for the comments and for sticking to the blog during my absence.  I am back both physically and mentally and doing so much better.

  

Saint David's Day and The Royal Welch Fusiliers

 

"1st March 1775, this being St. David's Day the officers of the 23rd Regiment or Royal Welch Fusiliers, dinner together according to the custom.  All the general & Staff officers, the Admiral, and several other persons were invited to dine with the Regiment..."

From the diary of Lieutenant Frederick MacKenzie

23rd Regiment of Foot or Royal Welch Fusiliers

On this day I hope a  Happy Saint David's Day to the Welch, and to all Royal Welch Fusiliers,  both past and present.

Sir William Howe's dog

 

  As happens far too often in my life a little fact lead me down a rabbit hole of inquiry.  Here, a little meme found me doing a but of research on a trivial point in history.  

  Here is the meme I was sent.  A interesting but trivial matter.  But the more I looked the more I found!

From Wikipedia, "Dogs in the American Revolutionary War" article:

"Returning General Howe's Terrier"

"Like George Washington and many other commanders, General Sir William Howe, a British commander, kept dogs with him while he was in battle. During a surprise attack on the British at Germantown on October 4, 1777, Howe's fox terrier, Lila, was lost in the commotion and ended up joining the American Army as it withdrew from the battlefield back to its encampment. When Howe's dog found its way into Washington's headquarters marquee, Washington was alerted that the dog's collar had Howe's name engraved. Washington ordered that the terrier be returned to Howe and included a polite note."

Next, a book about the incident:

"General Howe's Dog: George Washington, the Battle for Germantown and the Dog Who Crossed Enemy Lines"

www.amazon.com/General-Howes-Dog-Washington-Germantown/dp/1596090324

The actual note can be found in the National Archives.  It reads,

"General Washington's compliments to General Howe. General Washington does himself the pleasure to return to him a dog, which accidentally fell into his hands, and, by the inscription on the collar, appears to belong to General Howe."

Sir William Howe called this,  "an honorable act of a gentlemen." 

Lastly, a commercial from a dog food company about the event: 

  

Battle of Cowpens 17 January 1781

 

             

                         Anniversary of the battle today.

And one of my table top battles of it here:

https://bravefusiliers.blogspot.com/2021/08/fighting-benny-at-cowpens.html

Castillo de San Marcos

 

   On our way down to Florida we stopped in St. Augustine to break up the ride.  The old town was over run with tourists  looking for something to do before New Years eve.  Too crowded for our taste.  So we wondered over to the fort, which us magnificent.  We did not go in but walked the grounds.  I have been to the Fort a number of times during my service with the NPS.   Black Powder training was held at a National Guard post just west of here.  So every two years I was sent to teach at the two week course.

 From the city website here is a quick history:  "The oldest masonry fort in the continental United States, the  Castillo de San Marcos is a large Spanish stone fortress built to protect and defend Spain's claims in the New World. It's a National Monument and, at over 315 years old, it's the oldest structure in St. Augustine. It's also one of the main attractions visitors to St. Augustine come to see.

 

  Construction began on the Castillo de San Marcos in 1672 and lasted 23 years until 1695. Many Spanish forts preceded the Castillo. However, this one made of coquina was impenetrable to enemy attack and was fire resistant.

  The fort came under fire for the first time in 1702. British forces, led by General Moore, burned the city but could not penetrate the Castillo's walls. Subsequent attacks in 1728 and 1740 yielded similar results, and the British were never able to take St. Augustine by force.

  In 1763 however, Florida became a British colony by signing the Treaty of Paris, thus beginning a 20-year period of English rule. The Castillo was used as a military prison during the Revolutionary War, and at one time it held three signers of the Declaration of Independence within its walls.

  At the end of the Revolutionary War, Florida was returned to Spain in 1784 until Florida became a United States Territory in 1821. The Americans called the Castillo Fort Marion, honoring the revolutionary patriot from the Carolinas, General Frances Marion. The U.S. Government used Fort Marion as a prison for Native Americans in the late 1800s. Natives from both Florida and the Great Plains were held at the fort during this time.

  The fort was officially taken off the active list of fortifications in 1900 and it was preserved and recognized as a National Monument in 1924. Congress renamed the fort in 1942, reverting to the Spanish name, the Castillo de San Marcos. At over 315 years old, the fort is a lasting landmark of seventeenth-century St. Augustine."