KINGSTON – As we commemorate the sacrifices of our soldiers, sailors and airmen this weekend, re-enactors of America’s original militias gathered Saturday at the Matthewis Persen House Museum to offer a glimpse of a soldier’s life before we won our independence.
The 1st Ulster Militia, from which the original unit drew citizen soldiers from Kingston, Saugerties and Woodstock, brought their living history accouterments, with a mock encampment, to demonstrate to the public the rigors of life as they fought to form a nation free of English rule.
“We have come with colonial games going on,” said Taylor Bruck, Kingston historian and Ulster County archivist. “We’ll be doing some colonial cooking as the long as the weather holds out. They’ll be answering anyone’s questions about 18th century militia.”
Charles Redner, of Kingston, was clad in his period citizen-soldier wear, strapped with a musket, barrel facing the ground, to answer any of those questions about life more than 200 years ago.
“We’re here posted at the Persen House to ward off any Tory or Indian raids,” said Redner, in-character. “We are expecting a British attack at some point, and so we’re just standing guard.”
When Kingston became the state’s first capital in 1777, the British landed at in the area of what is Kingston Point Park, and burned the city to the ground in the autumn of that year.
