Monday, August 25, 2008

Old Bedford Village: The Conclusion

With fixed bayonets the British troops swept the opposing forces from the field


A casualty lies upon the field of battle

Of course this series was that of a reenactment conducted at Old Bedford Village. The action appears much better in photographs than it did while watching it unfold for the re-enactors exercised the utmost care to prevent “real” causalities.

Reoccurring among the various comments on this series is mention of the bright uniforms and the massed formations used in the fighting of that day. One must remember that with the uses of these tactics the Great British Empire ruled much of the world. With the inaccurate and slow rate of fire of the arms of that day, the massing of men and firepower was of much more consequence than stealth. The bright uniforms and large hats made the forces appear larger than life, scaring the opposition more than if they had been concealed.

Changes in weaponry relegated these tactics to antiquity; what a shame that the same cannot be said about all war!


4 comments:

Ivar Østtun said...

Very nice photo serie. Can almost smell the gun powder :-) I can see theat it was more important to look great instead of being invisible, as a soldier at that time.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Salty: Wonderful captures and the essence of the story has been told. You had a nice explanation of the uniforms in your post. I never heard it told that way.

Chad Oneil Myers said...

That first image is one of my favorites of the series.

Good commentary.

Shimmy Mom said...

I absolutely love Historical Re-enactments. Your pictures have captured it beautifully.