This is in today's Providence Journal
By Mark Arsenault
Journal Staff Writer
Revolutionary War reenactor Charlie Walsh participates in large-scale battles and small skirmishes around the Colonies as a member of the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment reenactment group. He has fought the British at Saratoga, Yorktown and Monmouth.
During the National Football League season, Walsh battles the Jets, Bills and Dolphins in Foxboro, as a member of the End Zone Militia, the musket-wielding minutemen who fire crackling volleys whenever New England Patriots fans have something to cheer about.
Finally, a hobby for both the sports fan and the history buff — celebrating scores by the Patriots and guarding Gillette Stadium in case General Cornwallis attacks.
Walsh, 72, of Tiverton, has been reenacting for about six years. He was invited to join the End Zone Militia three years ago. About two dozen members of the militia attend each home game at Gillette. They also serve at New England Revolution soccer games. The militia is not paid, though the members get to watch the games for free, he said.
Long before reenactors are invited to the join the End Zone Militia, they must prove themselves on the battlefields of the American Revolution.
The replica muskets they fire are real guns, and though not loaded with lead, the weapons could still be dangerous. “I don’t want anyone leveling a musket and shooting when I haven’t told them to shoot,” said Geoff Campbell, 52, the captain of the End Zone Militia and a longtime Revolutionary War reenactor from Plymouth, Mass. That’s why he only takes people he knows from reenactments.
Walsh, who teaches electronics at New England Institute of Technology, got into reenacting after seeing a photograph and a notice in a newspaper about a group looking for soldiers to help reenact the Battle of Rhode Island, the unsuccessful attempt by Colonials to retake Aquidneck Island from the British in 1778.
The cardinal rule of reenacting is authenticity. Every item the soldiers wear or carry are replicas of the original gear used to fight the American Revolution. Walsh made his own leather cartridge box, using traditional techniques. His linen shirt was made from 18th-century patterns. His musket is a replica of the Brown Bess, a British weapon common during the war.
“Worst thing I ever saw was in Monmouth,” Walsh said gravely, referring to a reenactment of the famous New Jersey battle. “The first day I did all the battles in 90-degree heat and I was exhausted. So the second day I went up into the crowd and I watched the battle. There must have been 5,000 people lined up there. Right in front of us they had this skirmish going on, and one guy fell. This guy gets up on his elbow, takes out a camera and starts taking pictures.”
The crowd moaned at the breech of authenticity.
“It was so gross,” Walsh said. “I wanted to shoot him.”
Reenactments are often narrated by historians, and the skirmishes may follow a loose script, he said.
How does he know when he’s dead?
“Sometimes they tell people when a canon goes off that they want some casualties,” he said. “Very often it’s when your musket starts misfiring. If you’re not doing anything, you might as well just die. Sometimes you just get too tired and out of breath and you say, ‘I’m just going to die.’ ”
Walsh met Campbell at a reenactment, and was invited to join the End Zone Militia. There are a few dozen members; membership is currently closed. The End Zone Militia is not going to the Super Bowl, they said.
The militia members meet Sunday mornings in Wrentham, Mass., and ride together in vans to the stadium. They tailgate before the games, mostly in their Revolution garb. “We have quite a feast before the game,” said Walsh. “No alcohol, of course, because we’ll be shooting muskets. Safety is a big thing.”
Then they march in together. “We all line up, present arms when the colors come by, and then we turn our backs when the other team comes onto the field.” While on duty behind the end zones, the militia members can’t wander around.
“When [the Patriots] score, if it’s in our end zone, we don’t fire until after the extra point,” he said. “Several years ago, they used to fire after the touchdown and then again after the extra point. But I guess a cloud of smoke from a volley drifted down to the field and [former Pats kicker Adam] Vinatieri missed the extra point. I guess it was the cloud of smoke that caused it. Maybe it was.”
Gen. Nathanael Greene, a Rhode Islander, is Walsh’s favorite Revolutionary War figure.
He has too many favorite players to name just one, but singled out defensive lineman Vince Wilfork as one of the nicest members of the team.
Who is better in the clutch, Paul Revere or Tom Brady?
“That is a tough question,” Walsh said. “Paul Revere did his job but there were a lot of bigger heroes.”
By Mark Arsenault
Journal Staff Writer
Revolutionary War reenactor Charlie Walsh participates in large-scale battles and small skirmishes around the Colonies as a member of the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment reenactment group. He has fought the British at Saratoga, Yorktown and Monmouth.
During the National Football League season, Walsh battles the Jets, Bills and Dolphins in Foxboro, as a member of the End Zone Militia, the musket-wielding minutemen who fire crackling volleys whenever New England Patriots fans have something to cheer about.
Finally, a hobby for both the sports fan and the history buff — celebrating scores by the Patriots and guarding Gillette Stadium in case General Cornwallis attacks.
Walsh, 72, of Tiverton, has been reenacting for about six years. He was invited to join the End Zone Militia three years ago. About two dozen members of the militia attend each home game at Gillette. They also serve at New England Revolution soccer games. The militia is not paid, though the members get to watch the games for free, he said.
Long before reenactors are invited to the join the End Zone Militia, they must prove themselves on the battlefields of the American Revolution.
The replica muskets they fire are real guns, and though not loaded with lead, the weapons could still be dangerous. “I don’t want anyone leveling a musket and shooting when I haven’t told them to shoot,” said Geoff Campbell, 52, the captain of the End Zone Militia and a longtime Revolutionary War reenactor from Plymouth, Mass. That’s why he only takes people he knows from reenactments.
Walsh, who teaches electronics at New England Institute of Technology, got into reenacting after seeing a photograph and a notice in a newspaper about a group looking for soldiers to help reenact the Battle of Rhode Island, the unsuccessful attempt by Colonials to retake Aquidneck Island from the British in 1778.
The cardinal rule of reenacting is authenticity. Every item the soldiers wear or carry are replicas of the original gear used to fight the American Revolution. Walsh made his own leather cartridge box, using traditional techniques. His linen shirt was made from 18th-century patterns. His musket is a replica of the Brown Bess, a British weapon common during the war.
“Worst thing I ever saw was in Monmouth,” Walsh said gravely, referring to a reenactment of the famous New Jersey battle. “The first day I did all the battles in 90-degree heat and I was exhausted. So the second day I went up into the crowd and I watched the battle. There must have been 5,000 people lined up there. Right in front of us they had this skirmish going on, and one guy fell. This guy gets up on his elbow, takes out a camera and starts taking pictures.”
The crowd moaned at the breech of authenticity.
“It was so gross,” Walsh said. “I wanted to shoot him.”
Reenactments are often narrated by historians, and the skirmishes may follow a loose script, he said.
How does he know when he’s dead?
“Sometimes they tell people when a canon goes off that they want some casualties,” he said. “Very often it’s when your musket starts misfiring. If you’re not doing anything, you might as well just die. Sometimes you just get too tired and out of breath and you say, ‘I’m just going to die.’ ”
Walsh met Campbell at a reenactment, and was invited to join the End Zone Militia. There are a few dozen members; membership is currently closed. The End Zone Militia is not going to the Super Bowl, they said.
The militia members meet Sunday mornings in Wrentham, Mass., and ride together in vans to the stadium. They tailgate before the games, mostly in their Revolution garb. “We have quite a feast before the game,” said Walsh. “No alcohol, of course, because we’ll be shooting muskets. Safety is a big thing.”
Then they march in together. “We all line up, present arms when the colors come by, and then we turn our backs when the other team comes onto the field.” While on duty behind the end zones, the militia members can’t wander around.
“When [the Patriots] score, if it’s in our end zone, we don’t fire until after the extra point,” he said. “Several years ago, they used to fire after the touchdown and then again after the extra point. But I guess a cloud of smoke from a volley drifted down to the field and [former Pats kicker Adam] Vinatieri missed the extra point. I guess it was the cloud of smoke that caused it. Maybe it was.”
Gen. Nathanael Greene, a Rhode Islander, is Walsh’s favorite Revolutionary War figure.
He has too many favorite players to name just one, but singled out defensive lineman Vince Wilfork as one of the nicest members of the team.
Who is better in the clutch, Paul Revere or Tom Brady?
“That is a tough question,” Walsh said. “Paul Revere did his job but there were a lot of bigger heroes.”
