A thick fog encompassed Fort Sewall and the surrounding streets. Through the blanket of mist emerged two columns of hat-topped soldiers fitted in black-buckled shoes.
“Forward march!” someone bellowed from the line.
On Saturday, July 13, a group of men and women marched from Fort Sewall to Gas House Beach to meet the British enemy during the annual Glover’s Marblehead Regiment encampment. Glover’s Regiment is a popular group of Revolutionary reenactors honoring Gen. John Glover, a hero of Colonial Marblehead.
The day kicked off at 9 a.m. with a men-at-arms drill. Craft stands and camp tours kept visitors busy at the fort. A Colonial medicine box, cooking area and welding station were set up for demonstrations.
At 10:30 a.m., ahead of the original 11:15 a.m. call to battle, the continental units marched to Gas House Beach.
“It’s sort of minute-by-minute here. I think it’s because of the weather,” Michael Cognata said, dressed in a navy blue soldier’s uniform.
In the fog, a tactical battle played out on the beach. Soldiers fell onto the unsteady ground as they fought the Royal forces.
“The rocks were hard to go down on quickly,” Brian Ruocco laughed, commenting on the slow-motion pacing of the reenactment.
One man, playing a Loyalist, shouted, “Pay your taxes you dog!” as troops marched across the rocky shore.
Back at Fort Sewall, cannon fire shook the ground while Katie and Tim Sullivan kept busy churning butter. The cold air delayed the result, but Katie eventually squeezed a ball of butter through a cheesecloth and garnished it with salt flakes to be served on bread.
“We joke that her butter made us join Glover’s,” Meaghan Flaherty chuckled.
Kathleen Pondelli from Somerville manned a candle station adjacent to the butter-making. In the back of the tent sat Ray Sullivan, playing Dr. John Warren.
Visitors sought shelter from the rain beneath another tent while perusing an array of jewelry – pieces that would’ve collected a 3,000% profit in Colonial times, according to the storekeeper.
Lindsay Guiney from Swampscott was among the shoppers.
“I’ve lived in the area my whole life but have never made it to the encampment. It’s wild, I feel like I’m at Plymouth Plantation, everything is so official,” she said.
The afternoon also featured a fife and drum concert, a last man standing contest, call to assembly and canon salutes.
Fort Sewall closed to the public at 5 p.m., and a chorus of sea shanties proceeded to ring out.
“After dinner someone will just start singing. From there, it’s a chain reaction,” Cognata said.
Though the conditions were rather wet, that didn’t prevent the reenactors from staying at Fort Sewall overnight Friday and Saturday in tents set up in the grass, a tribute to the dedication of Glover’s soldiers centuries ago.
“We truly try to honor Glover’s men with our reenactments,” Kay O’Dwyer said.
Check out this photo gallery by Steve Rood:
