Scene One; Wherein the members of the British Hospital carry a wounded French Officer off the field after battle.
Scene Two; The brothers Melton aid in the removal of the back and side walls from the cart and I perform surgery on the French officer.
Scene Three; (4:13) After another battle on a separate day, Dr. Clift operates on a leg wound as I look on. You will make note that there are many wounded littered about waiting to be seen.
Scene Four; (5:38) I take a look over the remaining wounded, attempting to recall who had what wound. "Let's see... fingers and you with the knee and what's your ailment again?"
Scene Five; (6:35) I instruct several soldiers that have brought in a wounded mate. Please make note, gentle reader, of my Lucy on the left in discussion with her favorite, injury-prone Grenadier!
Scene Six; (7:23) The wounded fellow loses his nerve and must be restrained.
Scene Seven; Being a final look at Dr. Clift's instruments all laid out on the table in front of the hospital for the inspection of ye Publick.
Hi its Lucy again. We went to Niagra and saw Niagra Falls! Dad said it would be a shame to not see it sense we were so close, it was amazing! Also we were not hot for a change it was cold up there every day. Then we got to the main event!
On the first day no one was dressed up, but I wanted to be in my outfit. That night dad made a comfy straw bed and we slept in a tent. The next morning woke they us up with drums. I was cold so I wrapped up in a blanket and went to breakfast. Then we went to the doctors tent, and while dad and miss.Clift went to the battle field I gave the tours because I knew almost all the tools. Dad and Clift brought back a bunch of soldiers we saved most, and I made a friend named John he had hurt his eye one man died but the others were fine. Every day i would visit the fair and then I would go visit John. Sometimes Hamilton and I would watch the tent while dad and Clift went to battle because someone stole a gold piece!
But other then that I would play with Little Man, Hamilton, and Morgan. I never saw the friggits but apparently they were there because there is photos, and in the fair grounds there was yummy ice cream good root beer and a cute moose toy that is made from palm trees there was possums, birds, cats, and pigs and much much more! On Sunday we went to a church service and that was awesome. We had so much fun,and I hope we can do it sometime again soon
We are putting the finishing touches on the souvenir DVD of the "Siege of Niagara" re-enactment that took place at Old Fort Niagara in early July. Over 400 people have ordered the DVD so far and now the online shopping site is active.
Simply visit: http://www.fullcirclestudios2.com/store.html and PayPal will take your credit card order. The DVDs will be shipped before Labor Day. If you pre-ordered your video at the event, you don't need to do anything further. Your order will be shipped as soon as it's ready. Please feel free to forward this message to others who might be interested in ordering their own copy of this spectacular event.
Thanks to mr. Carroll Ross of Fort Loudoun for these additional images:
The men and women of the Ind. Co. that were in attendance.
There never was a finer lot!
Young Melton and I poised for action at the final battle.
The operation on my knee, make note of the freshly removed musket ball and hunk of wood in the bleeding bowl.
Action on the field. Young Melton can be seen center, aiding a wounded man from the battle.
Dr. Clift and I meet with the French Surgeon. The combination of the long day and the comfortable chair conspired to put me to sleep. Make note of my attentive visage!
Shaving the chaplain.
The men from Loudoun as they made ready to march off into action!
CONTINUE my recovery from the wound in the knee received at the siege. While I am rubbish at doing anything that involves a great deal of standing as of yet, all the sitting has given me an opportunity to catch up on my correspondence. My writing has been accompanied by Molly's pianoforte lessons. I have heard the same three songs bang'd out so many times, I daresay I could play them myself whilst I slept.
The following is a letter written to the young fellow at Locust Grove:
Mr. Cushing,
It was a pleasure to finally get to speak with you in the Hellfire Club on Saturday last. I believe that I have found the means with which to procure a proper waistcoat for myself, but did want to inquire once again as to the origins of your fine black wool jacket, ruffled shirt and trousers. I would be very grateful if you would pass along the names of those that I might contact to have similar garments made for myself.
Lizzie and I greatly enjoyed the talk you gave about men's clothing, it was informative and just the right length. I would venture to call it my favorite talk of the day were it not for the copious number of attractive young ladies in the style show. I think that I would have to rank your speech a close second to them.
I understand from Captain Martin, the fellow in the red coat and unsightly mustache, that I missed a greater gathering at the Hellfire Club Saturday afternoon. When I saw he and his wife at their four o'clock tea, he informed me that a number of gentlemen had gathered to drink and read some rather ribald poetry. I must confess, I am sorry to have missed it.
Know also that I would be very interested in a position in the unit you discussed as Physician. I have excellent references and all my own instruments, everything I would require to perform the tasks of unit surgeon. You may find my references, as well as my journal, here:
http://manskerman1780.blogspot.com/
I look forward to hearing from you in this regard. Until then, I most sincerely wish you all health and success; and am, with great respect,
Your most humble & obt. servant, etc etc...
My second letter was addressed to Mrs. Kish, the mother to young John. I was able to locate them through a mutual aquaintence, Ms. Davis, at the Van Cortlandt House.
My dear Mrs. Kish,
I am writing in regards to your son John, the brave young Grenadier whom I operated on during the Siege at fort Niagara. Being the surgeon that removed the prodigious splinter from your son's eye, I felt it my duty to inquire as to his health and well being. I was able to implore him to hold still enough to allow me to carefully remove it, once it was out, he insisted I allow him to keep it. After examination of the eye, I believe that his sight will eventually return to normal, he was very fortunate and brave. Your son repaid the favour when he aided as a surgeon's mate the next day when I was wounded upon the field.
I hope that you and your family are well. Please feel free to pass this letter along to your son, as I am certain he will be interested to see some of the attached images. My dear Lucy has done nothing but talk about John since we left the Niagara area, she being quite taken with him and very aggrieved by the great difference in their ages.
As well as the images and entries in my journal at:
http://manskerman1780.blogspot.com/
I most sincerely wish you all health and success; and am, with great respect,
Your most affectionate & obt. servant,
Albert Roberts
N.B. Whenever your leisure will permit, it will always give me the greatest pleasure to be informed of your welfare.
Mrs. Kish checks on her wounded son John, as my Lucy looks after her favorite patient.
You may, gentle reader, have also found the kind note I receieved in regards to one of the men I operated on during the siege. It was posted here in my journal:
Dear Sir,
I am most obliged to you for your services in removing the bullet from my husband's shoulder. He is healing quite nicely, and I am pulling out the linen strip as you instructed. Likewise, the bullet graze on his head has also healed quite well. I am most appreciative of your services.
Your servant,
Mrs. Hanson of Beall's Regiment, Maryland Forces
Mrs. Hanson, center, comforts her husband.
I have but one letter yet to finish, to the wife of my friend Capt. Jack Johnson, late of the area around Fort Pitt. Capt. Johnson is the man in charge of the fair to be held this present year at Schoenbrunn Village.
Dear madam,
As regimental surgeon it gives me great concern to relay to you the events of Febry. 16th. of this present year. Your husband, Capt. J. Johnson, was commanding a forage party out of Fort Pitt and were returning when they were set upon by a large band of French allied indians. Nine men were killed or wounded, including your husband.
Capt. Johnson was quite fortunate in that the musket ball did not strike the bone. Amputation was not required, but I am afear'd that he will be left with a rather noticeable limp that may preclude him from further military service. He is healing well and is being sent home upon my orders to convalesce. your husband will need to stay off of the leg in order for it to heal properly, I strongly recommend a fortnight.
Please give the Captain my most humble thanks for his service to the King, and know that I most sincerely wish you and the Captain all health and success; and am, with great respect,
The siege at fort Niagara was a rich display of visual delights. Therefore, I have decided to share with you some of the extra images I have found to go along with the event itself.
I have returned home to convalesce after my unfortunate injury received at the hands of the French forces at Fort Niagara. It is fortunate that I have no end of little projects that can be done whilst in a seated position to keep myself entertained. There is also reading to be done, as well as the reorganization of my medical books. I shall share a secret with you dear reader, I am not a tidy housekeeper, it is true.
There is also the matter of the limberjack that Lucy was so kindly giv'n by one of the traders. While he was well put together, I fear he was not very well painted, so I have taken it upon myself to repaint our little friend in a style more befitting. It will involve a good deal of mater red and a bit of green, and perhaps a silver gorget? And a sash, one mustn't overlook the importance of a sharp looking red sash when repainting a wooden dancing toy.
In the meantime, I believe that I may travel up to Locust Grove this week's end to visit and browse at a most peculiar event.
The month of August looks to be a bit dull on my schedule, so if you dear reader, have any suggestions, I would love for you to make them known to me.
Conversely, September is positively brimming with activity. I shall not bore you with the details. Suffice it to say, I have written it all down in my SCHEDULE.
Sunday July 5 continued- Lucy and I took our dinner at the "King's Crown", a tented bakery that had set up not far from the hospital. We bought two pieces of bread that bad been baked with fat sausages inside them. They were fantastic! We also purchased two large molasses biscuits, I never got to taste either of them. I gave one away to Lucy and the other to Dr. Clift who had been so gracious as to feed us for the past few days. I love molasses cookies, I console myself by imagining that they were stale and hard and barely fit to eat.
Some of the King's men marching. The fellows that pass at the end are the Independent Company! Red with green facings.
At one of the clock, we took the field behind the soldiers again. This time, I took young Melton and went right, Clift taking mr. Melton and going to the left. We moved up and down the lines checking for the injured.
Marching toward the field of battle again with the 'mollies'.
There is a certain rhythm to battle that one must be aware of in order to move about. I could watch the French dodge up and down behind their lines to fire. I could imagine that there was a French commandant giving them orders to rise and fire then to drop back below the earthen wall. So long as I was not in their path when they fired I could move about freely and retrieve the wounded.
One of the British commanders during the final battle as seen from the Ind. Co. line.
I was moving behind a long line of green coated rangers on their knees and firing when the French line rose and I was directly in the path. They fired and I was struck by a glancing blow to the left knee!
Young Melton came out to retrieve me and took me back to the cart. "Are you alright?" he asked me.
All I could think to reply was, "I wasn't paying attention."
Clift came over and assisted me in tightly bandaging the knee to stop the flow of blood. I sat on the back of the cart for a few moments and realized the British line was advancing... and moving forward farther than I had seen them go previously, there would be wounded.
Dr. Clift assists me in bandaging my knee.
The muskets made a sound I had not previously heard, perhaps it was my new proximity to them that brought on this new perspective.
I got to my feet and made my way back out, young Melton aiding me along here and there. Melton moved in front of me in aid of one fellow and I took another. He was one of the green-clad rangers that I had seen earlier. I put his arm around my shoulder, "You're going to have to try lad," I implored him, "I am in no condition for this."
We both limped back toward the cover of the shade tree where the cart sat. Half way to our goal, his legs gave out, as did mine, we tumbled like wrestling school-children. We dragged in the grass a bit before getting upright again and completing out journey.
The line moved forward again, and the line of French soldiers that had been the furthest forward was gone. I could see British troops right up near the brick wall of the fort itself. The tide was turning in our favour!
Once we had evacuated the wounded from the field, the brothers Melton and Dr. Clift insisted that I be carried back to the hospital on the back of the cart. Clift examined it in the shade of a tree that was located just on front of where we had placed the hospital fly.
I was fortunate in that I was able to tell Clift when I needed a moment and when I could continue through the pain. There was a good deal of blood on the back of the cart, and I joked to Clift that I was quite unaccustomed to seeing so much of my own all in one place.
We tied it up tight enough to make the march into the fort for the official surrender by the French.
There was a great deal of marching in long lines on the part of the French and the British before the actual ceremony of surrendering began. Once begun, the French commanders met the British in the middle of a parade on the fort grounds. Clift and I were unable to see from our particular vantage point.
Once it was over the British allied natives marched about the French officers and made the most frightening sounds and cries. My mind was on one thing only... the FRENCH hospital!
Once the French soldiers had begun to make their way out to the boats to be taken away, I went up the way as fast as I could into the building known as "The CASTLE " and found the large room they had set up as the hospital. Clift followed behind me.
The interior of the fort, the 'Castle' looms at the rear.
The French surgeon wore a black hat and a long grey overcoat of some sort. I walked in among a flurry of activity and there on the table before me was every manner of medical instrument I could have dreamt of!
I bowed and introduced myself. I was certain he would know who I was, as I was still wearing my blood-stained pigskin apron.
I informed him that the day was ours and that his equipment was now the property of the Crown. He did not seem too surprised as I told him that I would send back some men with boxes to fetch his instruments for me. They would make excellent additions to the British Hospital. I offered to escort him personally to the boats, but he declined my offer.
The men (and women) of the Independent Company that attended the siege. An excellent lot, one and all!
