August 16, Saturday – Fort Time

Can you believe it? I cursed the clock for the past two weeks and here I was hustling to get to Old Fort Niagara by ten o’clock so I could see the folks dressed up like revolutionaries and English raising the flags over the fort. It was the start of a full day of demonstrations and battle reenactments. Ronny wanted to be there. What a guy………
In the fort parking lot was a small group of amateur radio operators rigging an antenna from the top of the old abandon stone lighthouse. I took interest in what they were doing-a network of ham radio operators from around the world were setting up similar lighthouse operations to see how many contacts they could make in a day. They took interest in what I was doing – driving around the perimeter of the US. One man said while in Niagara Falls I should check out the Love Canal. I didn’t realize this tragic event happened there. He pulled down his T-shirt collar revealing a long horizontal scar. He confessed that the operation wasn’t related to the Love Canal where he had lived with his family but his sister was a victim of the horrendous industrial pollution that made international news in the late 70’s.
At that time I heard the fife and drum corps inside the fort so as I dashed off I told them that I would check back in with them. The rest of the morning was spent on the historic significant of the important fort and why this region of the US speaks English and not French. Four major forces muscled for this strategic location that was the gateway to the Great Lakes region and the development of the interior of the continent. First came the French and then the English with their Native America allies followed by the American revolutionaries. This weekend was devoted to the era of conflict between the English and the new revolutionaries. The French were not included in the flag raising ceremony, but several groups of different uniforms were present. In the afternoon they had a program showing and explaining the six or so groups.
They also did a presentation on the merits of the musket versus the rifled gun. I was thoroughly impressed with the explanations for both weapons. The rifled gun was by far the most accurate over a longer range however the musket was more popular because the government could purchase 40 of them to the one rifled for the same price. After the explanation of the construction and operation of each fire arm, three men with muskets and one man with a rifled gun had a shooting contest as to how many shots they could get off in three minutes time. With young children standing behind each shooter keeping track of the shots fired they commenced firing. The rifle got off three shots while the musket men got off 10 to twenty. Interesting.
At lunch I went back to the car and got my sandwich and talked to the ham radio operators. At noon they had talked to 60 stations and were gearing up to talking to the west coast because they were just coming on line. My hat is off to these guys because in emergency events, they are the communication makers.
My day ended at the fort with watching a short reenactment of a battle. Fifty military personnel and a half dozen Seneca Indians moved in lines and fired. It was interesting to see the battle tactics.
Enough warring for the Quaker boy for the day.