A plume of fire and smoke fills the air when cannon #1 fires at the annual fall encampment at Fort Phoenix in Fairhaven on Saturday, 9/29/18. Photo by Beth David.
By Beth David, Editor
The Fairhaven Village Militia and the Wareham Minutemen and Militia Companies camped out at Fort Phoenix to give the public a look at what a Revolutionary era military encampment might look like. Using canvas tents, deer skin or wool blankets, and dressed in the uniforms of the day, militia members braved the cold, cooked meals on an open fire, demonstrated musket firing, and cannon fire. On Saturday night, just around dusk, the militia fired off the fort’s five large, civil war era cannons.
Mylez Scholz takes notes for a school project at the annual fall encampment at Fort Phoenix in Fairhaven on Saturday, 9/29/18, with his parents close by. Photo by Beth David.
On Saturday afternoon, before the big cannon firing, Mylez Scholz of New Bedford walked the grounds with pad and pencil in hand, asking questions of the militia members for a school project.
Mr. Scholz said his assignment was to come up with some questions, get the answers from the militia members, and then go back to his class and share the answers with his third-grade classmates.
The project tied in with his extra-credit summer reading, a Magic Tree House book about the revolutionary war.
Young Mr. Scholz learned about the potassium-nitrate-soaked fuse that would be used in just about 45 minutes to light the big cannons.
Fairhaven Village Militia Commander Ellie Sylvaria was restringing the pole with the fuse and explained how the flame would not go out even in the wind.
A the food tent, militia members had samples of food from the period, cooked on the open fire, such as onion pie, made with onion, potatoes, apples, hard-boiled eggs, salt, pepper, and nutmeg; a strawberry cobbler; breads, and more.
Mark Joaquin lights cannon #4 as a guest of the Fairhaven Villiage Militia at the annual fall encampment at Fort Phoenix in Fairhaven on Saturday, 9/29/18. Photo by Beth David.
After the crowd gathered near the cannons at dusk, Mr. Sylvaria explained the process for loading the cannons. The multi-step process includes “worming the hole, to clean out any old debris, the “wet sponge” to make sure there are no leftover sparks, and dry sponge. Then the gun powder is carried by the “powder monkey,” although the demonstration uses only 18 ounces, versus the 10 pounds that would have been used to push a cannonball out to sea. Mr. Sylvaria said the ball could go as far as the Butler Flats Lighthouse.
Matt McDonald of the Fairhaven Village Militia watches over the cook-fire on Saturday, 9/29/18, during the annual fall encampment at Fort Phoenix in Fairhaven. Photo by Beth David.
After ramming the charge, poking a hole in it, and placing the fuse, it is lit and the big kaboom is jarring, no matter how ready the crowd seems to be.
“We like to make noise,” said Mr. Sylvaria.
Mark Joaquin had the honor of lighting off one of the cannons for the first time.
“It scared the crap out of me,” he said “You can feel the powder.”
“It was very loud,” said his son Jack, admitting that he jumped when the cannons went off.
“It was really cool,” said Mark’s daughter Emma. “And very loud at the same time.”
The September encampment recalls a battle of the Revolutionary War that resulted in the destruction of the fort and the burning of the whole village by the British. Four thousand British soldiers attacked the four villages along the Acushnet River. It took years for the local waterfront businesses to recover.
The fort’s five cannons are shot off several times a year. The next encampment is scheduled for Memorial Day weekend, 2019.
For more information visit http:// fairhaventours.com/fort-phoenix-fairhaven-ma/.
The deerskin blanket belonging to Matt McDonald of the Fairhaven Village Militia came in handy this weekend when temperatures dropped at night during the annual fall encampment at Fort Phoenix in Fairhaven, 9/28/19 to 9/30. Photo by Beth David.
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