Rain doesn't stop Battle of Plattsburgh reenactment

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September 10, 2007

By RYAN HUTCHINS The Press Republican Mon Sep 10, 2007, 12:00 AM EDT

PLATTSBURGH -- Rain didn't stop the real Battle of Plattsburgh, and it certainly didn't stop its reenactment Sunday.

The repeated pounding of iron cannon and the crackle of musket fire reverberated with the sounds of a war 193 years past.

Organizers estimated about 130 enthusiasts weathered slippery ground and sometimes soggy gunpowder to transform the city back to 1814. About 250 spectators showed up, a few hundred fewer than on Saturday.

"I think humidity is worse than outright rain," said Timothy Avery, of the Toronto-based Incorporated Militia of Upper Canada.

"Weather conditions are something that goes along with the hobby."

He wasn't alone in accepting the minor inconveniences rain brought after Saturday's heat.

"Yesterday was terrible," said Mary Caird of Kingston, Ontario.

With her husband, Gerry, she kept dry Sunday afternoon in a tent at the military encampment on the grounds of Kent-Delord House museum after the 1 p.m. battle.

Gerry said his musket stayed dry and fired during the reenactment.

The rain had begun with a sprinkle near the end of the Kids Muster held just after noon in Plattsburgh's Trinity Park, falling more steadily as the battle commenced near the Samuel de Champlain Monument. Some revelers took shelter at indoor venues, including Israel Greene's Tavern in the Trinity Church basement.

But it never poured, and that allowed the fighting to go on, said Keith Herkalo, president of the Battle of Plattsburgh Association.

"Had it been raining any more than it was, we would've had a real tough time," he said, resting in his tent with an old-fashioned beer mug in hand.

The rain didn't turn out to be a problem for most, he said.

"Not for us, and not for the crowd that showed up."

One issue with holding a reenactment in the rain is the potential for gunpowder to get wet, which turns it to "mush" and prevents it from firing, Herkalo said.

So he and other reenactors who helped oversee the event waited until its scheduled start time to decide whether the battle would go on. When they saw a crowd of a few hundred, they couldn't turn them away, he said.

"We (had) expected, frankly, to cancel," he said.

Herkalo, who is also City of Plattsburgh clerk, estimated there were around 700 or 800 spectators Saturday, but the smaller crowd on Sunday didn't dampen the enthusiasm of reenactors.

Only a handful of soldiers and camp followers left early, he said.

"The boys did a great job today -- it was wonderful," Herkalo said to another enthusiast. "It looked superb from the top of the hill."

The trouble for many of the reenactors, Avery said, was that their tents were all wet and their guns "rusted up." He said it would take him a while to get his gun clean and a few days to dry out his tent.

Gerry Caird said the extra-wide brim on his hat helped keep him dry. What he had trouble with was traction in leather shoes.

"It's really skiddy on the grass," he said.

But Herkalo, as did everyone else, brushed off the rain as just part of putting on a reenactment.

"Sometimes you get wet, sometimes you don't," he said. "Everybody still has a good time."