Fort George to bring War of 1812 back to life this summer
Cannon lore, peat moss and many safety measures are key to re-enacting historic war’s pivotal battles
Handy stuff, peat moss.
Not only a useful aid to growing a healthy lawn, but also when it comes to blowing something up “real good.”
There’ll be lots of the stuff flying around Fort George during the War of 1812 bicentennial commemorations, especially at the July 14-15 naval assault on the fort (a classic battle still taught at America’s elite West Point military academy), and the Oct.12-14 celebration of the Battle of Queenston Heights.
Recreating a battle on “archeologically sensitive” ground is tricky. For one thing, says Peter Martin, you can’t dig, in case you disturb a relic. That means you can’t bury the explosives needed for the pyrotechnic effects.
From volunteers in period uni- form (firing Brown Bess muskets several times a day for visitors) to the fort’s full-scale battle reenactments, creating the illusion of reality is all-important, says Martin, special events coordinator for Niagara National Historic Sites.
That, and ensuring it all goes off safely.
Which is why firing a cannon in battle involves more than one big bang. Cannon were actually aimed at the ground so the solid ball would skip and take down as many enemy troops as possible.
To simulate this, several small charges are laid in line with where the ball would bounce, and then set off remotely with split-second timing so you’d swear you were following the deadly progress of a chunk of iron. The flying peat moss that was heaped over the charges makes it even more dramatic.
“It’s not just fireworks,” says Martin, who’s always ready to put on a uniform and swell the ranks, as anything from a private in the Glengarry Light Infantry to a sergeant in the 41st Regiment of Foot or an officer in the Royal Engineers. “We hire experts who know how to get it right.”
Cannonballs, he says, were more like baseballs: “Your fastball, straight and hard — goes through everything.”
Then there were “hot shots,” cannonballs heated until they glowed red with the aim of setting fire to buildings.
“The Americans showered Fort George with hot shots and burned it to a cinder,” he says.
Ground-charges to blow up a building become complicated when no digging is allowed.
“But we’ve worked with the experts to use big tubes of steel. You put the charge at the bottom, fill them with peat moss and then hide them. All you see is the explosion and the flying earth; you don’t think about where it came from.”
And then there are the Congreve rockets, designed by Sir William Congreve and notoriously unreliable and inaccurate.
But they were one of the first “terror” weapons.
“They screamed really loud when they were in flight,” Martin says. “They were psychologically terrifying. Trying to emulate that safely is difficult. It’s not nearly as straightforward as the rockets used in firework displays. Doing a battle reenactment is totally different.
“This is just a pretend battle. Guys fall over and play dead, but then they get up again. The idea is for it to end without a single casualty.”