MILITIA MEN; REVOLUTION-ERA BATTLE REPLAYED IN SIMI VALLEY AMERICAN COLONIAL WAR BATTLE STAGED.Byline: Sylvia L. Oliande Staff Writer The shot heard 'round the world The shot heard "The shot heard 'round the world" is a well known phrase that has come to represent several historical incidents throughout world history. The line is originally from the opening stanza of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Concord Hymn - starting the American Revolution American Revolution, 1775–83, struggle by which the Thirteen Colonies on the Atlantic seaboard of North America won independence from Great Britain and became the United States. It is also called the American War of Independence. - rang out again Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Center for Public Affairs and Museum, at a daylong festival to commemorate Constitution Day and the birth of a nation. A group of re-enactors brought to life the April 19, 1775, skirmish at Lexington between British troops on orders to destroy the colonists' armory and a Massachusetts militia Militia of the Colony and later Commonwealth of Massachusetts. List of Massachusetts militia units of the American Revolution
bent, dead set, out to stopping them. Between battles, visitors to the library had a chance to mill about in a courtyard transformed into an 18th-century encampment, where British Redcoats warily eyed the Colonial militia men in unmatching uniforms across the way. Many visitors said they were especially interested in seeing - and hearing - the old gunbattles as interpreted by the Brigade of the American Revolution, an international historical association. ``You can always see these guns in museums, but you can't see them fired,'' said David Person, of Thousand Oaks, who brought his wife and two young children to the re-enactment. ``And they're getting a little history along with it.'' The Revolutionary weekend will continue today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the library, 40 Presidential Drive. The festival also will feature military tactical demonstrations of later battles, an 18th-century fashion show and dances, a Revolutionary War recruitment party, and the reading of the Virginia Declaration of Rights Virginia Declaration of Rights Measure adopted by the colony of Virginia (June 12, 1776). Drafted by George Mason, it stated that “all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights” and specified such civil liberties as freedom . ``I wanted to see how they fire the cannons and their muskets,'' said Scott Neumann of Moorpark, who attended with his mother Mary and some family friends. ``And I wanted to see how they lived back then. It was a simpler time.'' Scott, 11, said he wouldn't mind living in the 1700s because ``it seems like an adventure.'' But Patricia Palmer, who was among the ladies showing off the old methods of hand-stitching clothes, hand-making yarn and lace, as well as demonstrating the style of dress, said it wasn't as romantic a time as people might think. ``My husband and I have a book on 18th-century dressmaking, and it has instructions on the proper way to tie a corset corset, article of dress designed to support or modify the figure. Greek and Roman women sometimes wrapped broad bands about the body. In the Middle Ages a short, close-fitting, laced outer bodice or waist was worn. By the 16th cent. ,'' she said. ``It says that it's right when a woman was bright red in the face and on the verge On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning) is a play written by Eric Overmyer. It makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. of the vapors. I learned quickly why women carried fans the whole time.'' Palmer and other Brigade members said they enjoy bringing history to life for people, to correct some misconceptions about the period and to give people an appreciation for what the colonists went through. ``I love the idea of instilling the meaning of the Constitution,'' she said, ``why it was written out the way it was, and what the people were thinking at the time.'' Hale Hamilton, a member of the national society Sons of the American Revolution The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) is a Louisville, Kentucky-based fraternal organization in the United States. It is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation that describes its purpose as "maintaining and extending the institutions of American , toured the encampment with his wife, Shirley. The Ventura resident traces his ancestors back to soldiers in North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. , Virginia and New England, and he has had a lifelong fascination with the era. ``It's our heritage,'' he said. ``If it hadn't been for the Revolutionary War, who knows what language we'd be speaking now. Probably English, but with a different accent.'' CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Dressed as a British Indian officer, Fred Lucas buttons his shirt in preparation for Revolutionary War battle re-enactments Saturday. Constitution Day weekend events were staged at Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi. (2 -- color) American colonials square off against British redcoats in a re-enactment of the historic 1775 confrontation in Lexington, Mass. (3 -- color) Benji Shahbaci, 8, covers his ears as 18th-century muskets fire. (4 -- color -- ran in Conejo edition only) British redcoats march to the Reagan Library quad area after re-enactment of a battle. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News |
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