Published September 09, 2007 08:15 pm - Despite the rain, spectators still turned out for Sunday's event; the troops themselves fought with undampened enthusiasm.
Rain doesn't stop Battle of Plattsburgh reenactment
By RYAN HUTCHINS
Contributing Writer
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.