Monday, December 12, 2005
Raid on Fort Constitution
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Members of the Fourth Royal Artillery, the First Newmarket Militia,
Captain Morrill's Company prepare to fire a cannon during a
re-enactment Sunday of two raids in 1774 on Fort Constitution in New
Castle. (Aaron Rohde/Staff photographer) |
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NEW CASTLE — It may have been a little-known battle prior to the
official start of The American Revolution, but the taking over of Fort
Constitution came to life Sunday, thanks to a group of local actors.
Members
of the Fourth Royal Artillery, the First Newmarket Militia, Captain
Morrill's Company and a handful of local Boy Scouts re-enacted the
event at the very spot it transpired in two separate raids on Dec. 14
and 15, 1774.
It was on those nights that about 400 members of
the local chapters of the Sons of Liberty acted on warnings from Paul
Revere that the British had plans to refortify the fort, according to a
history on the Newmarket Militia's website. The men stormed the fort
and overcame British Captain John Cochran, who had been assigned to
guard the fort with only five other men. They took 16 light cannon and
97 barrels of gunpowder, some of which were later used during the
famous Battle of Bunker Hill in June, 1775.
The group that
stormed the fort was led by Capt. Robert White, played Sunday by First
Newmarket Militia Capt. Kent Michaud, an Exeter native who now resides
in Vermont.
Michaud said that had it not been for the raid and
the powder that it allowed the rebels to claim, the outcome at Bunker
Hill might have been different. In the end, the battle turned out to be
a major defeat for the British.
About two dozen people attended
Sunday's event. Children covered their ears as militia members playing
the role of British guards used cannons to fire warning shots at the
approaching rebels.
Michaud told spectators that they should be thankful for the sacrifices that the rebels had made for freedom.
"Don't take for granted the sacrifices others have made for what you now have," he said.
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