The newsletter of MORGAN RIFLE CORPS, INC. JULY 2009
Huzzahs for Barney!
Monmouth Battlefield State Park, June 27-28: Limber finally met horse at our annual weekend at Monmouth, and with great success! And on Sunday, the artillery was filmed by videographer Andre Malok of the Star-Ledger for the NJ.com website. To check it out, try this
link:
1. http://videos.nj.com/star-ledger/2009/06/thousands_attend_reenactment_a.html
All the hard work on the limber paid off when two men from the Howell Living History Farm (Matt, pictured above, and Pat) brought this big, beautiful and very powerful horse to Monmouth
on Saturday. Barney was able to pull limber, gun and the men on the dragropes with great ease. Always calm and collected, our new friend took every thing in stride, including the battle. Special thanks to Al, taking the initiative to drive to the Howell farm beforehand to meet with the staff. Barney was the smallest one in the stable (!) but he fit the measurements for the limber. We hope to work with Barney again at next year’s Monmouth event. And there is a chance we
could work with him again in November, at Washington’s Crossing. Pat said he would try to make Barney’s harness more like the ones pictured in the Light 6-pounder book. It was a great
education for us all. Scott Cost and Dayne Mosconi represented the Rifle Company. Dayne particulary enjoyed shooting at the gunners in their Royal Artillery impression. Saturday attendees: Al and Fran Florio, Doug MacKinnon, Robert Rasmussen, John Medica, Joe Swain, Frank Cecala, Mike Sheehan. Scott Cost and Dayne Mosconi. Bruce Benda and Matt Koppinger stopped by to say hello. Joe and Fran provided the meals–gingered beef and ham respectively
Sunday: All the above plus Ray Sanderson and Kathy Cecala. Kathy prepared a version of Cape May Chicken (Monmouth Chicken?) With red-currant sauce. And undercooked potatoes (thanks to some bad firewood).
Upcoming events:
July 18-19–Stony Point Battlefield, NY. A summer time favorite up on the Hudson. Please try to arrive by 10 am on Saturday. You will be on your own for meals this weekend, so all our good meal-providers can have a break, but be warned that Frank has threatened to cook a completely authentic meal for Saturday, using appropriate soldier’s rations–and portions! This would probably be more of a novelty than an actual lunch, so you might want to bring some rations of your own.
Directions: North on 287 into New York State, take exit for Rt 9W (north) and look for signs to
the Stony Point battlefield.
July 25-26–Red Mill Museum, Clinton/Daniel Morgan Day (Sunday). Although this is a primarily a rifleman’s event, all are welcome to attend. Riflemen, we would like to know who among you is coming, please. Lunch will be served on Sunday only.
Directions: Take Route 78 or 22 to Clinton, and head for Main Street; the mill is not hard to find.
Keep in mind...
August 12 (Wednesday): We have a request from Jim Johnson for a midweek appearance at Fort Clinton and Ford Montgomery for an event involving visitors from West Point. He would like us there with the cannon by 9 a.m. and the event would commence for us at 1500 hours (or 3:00 for us civilians) This would be a paid event. We will go, if we can put together a crew–contact Frank
ASAP.
August 15-16 is the Brigade’s Grand Encampment in Fort Frederick (MD). Although anyone can attend as an individual, it is still uncertain whether we will attend as a unit. Details will follow in the August newsletter.
And please note Aug. 29-30 is the correct day for the Battle of Newtown event in New York State. We are sorry for any confusion over the date.
We also hope to have some information concerning the mysterious Meadows Foundation event
on Oct 10-11, which conflicts with the rescheduled Jerusalem Mills event–we were just hearing
from the Foundation as this issue went to press and it appears they are still interested in having us.
Looking back...
Monmouth was our only unit event in June, but Fran Florio and Kathy Cecala attended ‘Remember the Ladies” Day in Trenton on Sunday, June 14, and we found it quite worthwhile. We skipped the sewing seminar, although Fran attended Wayne Daniel’s morning talk on 18th century expressions, while Kathy learned how to properly use a bake oven to bake terrific bread. In the afternoon, Fran and Kathy participated in a baking workshop, using the now-slack bake
oven, where we learned to make three enticing sweets: Naples biscuit, rusks and what our teacher, Mercy Ingraham, called gingerbread balls, but Fran and I renamed ‘canister shot,’
because that’s exactly what they looked like. They were tasty, and may turn up at a future event. Speaking of recipes, here is one from Monmouth’s meal, which we tried for the first time, with
red currants from the Cecala’s backyard. It is a true 18th century recipe–perhaps even older, and likely the precursor to today’s ubiquitous cranberry sauce. In honor of our artillerymen, who
played British for the weekend, we call it–
“Royal Artillery” Red Currant Sauce
About 1 pound of fresh red currants
2 oranges
1 cup ruby port wine
Pinch of cloves (or 8 or 9 whole cloves)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp.ground ginger (or 2 T fresh)
½ cup brown sugar, or more to taste
Remove stems from red currants and rinse briefly. Put into a sturdy pot, and add the juice of both oranges (you could also chop up the pulp and add it as well), plus the chopped up zest of one of the oranges (or as much as you like). Add wine, spices and sugar; and bring everything to a boil; reduce heat, and let simmer for 20 minutes or so. Let mixture cool, (note to moderns: This means refrigerator to you) overnight, where it will jell up slightly. The original sauce was for venison or game meat, but we found it went quite well with fowl. ETC.
We express our deepest condolences to Gene Bono, whose wife passed away in June, and offer him all our thoughts and prayers.
And Malcolm is on the mend, after spell in the hospital and the operating table. He writes to us– "I am touched more than I can say by the many expressions of good will I have received in the last few days. It was necessary to remove a malicious growth from one lung, it was done successfully. Now watching the field. I have survived. That will hopefully be the end of the story. Thank you all for thinking kindly of me. Malcolm Dick"