Fort presents 1812 day in the life
Visitors to Fort George this weekend got a sneak a peak into the life of an officer living at the historic site during the War of 1812.
“It’s almost like a living vignette, a living display,” said Peter Martin, special events co-ordinator with Parks Canada who was also dressed as an officer with the Glengarry Light Infantry.
“We are just making the fort come to life in a way that we normally can’t do,” he said.
Re-enactors dressed in all colours and stripes milled around the officers quarters at the fort. Visitors were invited to take a look, snap some photos and ask questions. Along with the officers were servants to the officers and women who were either their wives or worked in the fort as well.
Most of the action happened in a yellow bungalow near the back of the fort, which is the officers quarters. Inside, officers sat around a table playing cards, a game similar to euchre. At the table also sat a clergyman and near the table their wives mingled and chatted.
“We have different uniforms, different colours, all the representations of the different officers that would have been at Fort George during this time period,” said Martin.
“Fort George was the headquarters for the centre division in Canada. On a regular day here, we may have one officer here to answer questions about officers that were here but mostly a lot of soldiers so this is the one day of the year that we get to show off what an officer’s life was really like here during the War of 1812.”
This is the second year that the 1812 Officers Day was held at the fort. The idea for the day was from Chris McKay, a volunteer and re-enactor at the fort. Originally, McKay thought about having a ball, which never materialized but several reenactors dressed as officers did come to the fort and hung out for the day. The first year went so well that all of the re-enactors decided to do it again this year.
“It’s great to be able to do something like this,” said McKay.
Midway through the day, the officers ate lunch outside using dishes from the time period.
“It looked like it came to life,” said Martin. “All the stuff used from the serving dishes, the ladle was from 1786, were from that time period. Everything was 100 per cent accurate.”
All of the re-enactors who took part in the day were volunteers.
“All of the stuff belongs to them,” said Martin. “They paid big money for all the stuff. These coats are not cheap, you can’t get them at Walmart.”
There are more re-enactment events planned throughout the summer including the Battle of Fort George on the second weekend of July and the Battle of Fort Erie the second week of August. Re-enactors from Fort George will be in Stoney Creek in two weeks.