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Feb
21

Presidents Day

By
Calendar
When:
February 17, 2020 all-day
2020-02-17T00:00:00-05:00
2020-02-18T00:00:00-05:00
Where:
Fort Loudoun Winchester VA
419 N Loudoun St
Winchester, VA 22601
USA

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Presidents Day

17 February 2020 Monday

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More Detail to follow

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President’s Day

18 February 2019

Monday, 11am to 3pm

 

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This will be the 3rd Annual President’s Day  observed by the Virginia Regiment George Mercer Co.

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OCTOBER 28, 2017 is the moment this picture was taken at Fort Edwards in Capon Bridge WV of the Captain George Mercer Co of the Virginia Regiment. CLICK OR TOUCH TO ENLARGE

We will set up CAMP

at FORT LOUDOUN

at 419 N Loudoun Street

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MARCH

to George Washington’s Office Museum

on the corner of Cork and Braddock

Winchester VA.

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We are the Men and Women of George Washington’s Boot Camp.

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Everything George saw 20 years later
— and we mean Everything —-
he first saw with us
in the French and Indian War.

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This is why we celebrate a position and a country not yet invented for the time period our group marched.

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And we’d like George Washington to drive this point home:

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PREVIOUS EVENTS

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This event was first observed by the Captain George Mercer Company of Colonel George Washington’s Virginia Regiment in 2017 and then in 2018.

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In reality many of those in the Virginia Regiment did  get to see George become a leader with a title and a country not yet invented.

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President’s Day 19 February 2018

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Written 2/20/2018 on Friends of Fort Loudoun page in Facebook:

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Photo by Scott Mason for the Winchester Star. Eric Bartok holds a flag, the ensign, representing the union of England and Scotland. The group is the Captain Mercer Company under Colonel George Washington of the Virginia Regiment. Photo taken of the group at Fort Loudoun Winchester VA on Presidents Day 19 February 2018.

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Yesterday we honored Yesterday.

It was President’s Day.

Tricky “Connect the Dots” situation.

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Here we are the Mercer’s Company

at the site of Fort Loudoun,

Winchester VA,

under a Colonel George Washington

still under the Crown of England.

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Honoring a day for a position

not even invented yet.

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Thank You Tony Elar Jr.. for leading the way on this event. 

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This is the first Presidents Day honored on the site of Fort Loudoun Winchester VA.

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Great job by both Tony and Eric Bartock and Stevan Resan speaking to Channel 10 News !!!

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The man who designed and supervised Fort Loudoun construction was George Washington, a British citizen, and he is 24 through 26, leading men younger and older, leading the protection of Virginia, the Long Knives as known to all the Indian Nations.

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See video from Channel 10 News, LocalDVM:

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http://www.localdvm.com/news/virginia/living-history-event-showcases-george-washingtons-ties-to-winchester/981936391

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See slideshow below this video.
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A Young George Washington?

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Our historian Norman Baker, a veteran of WWII in Iwo Jima and of the Korean War, says George Washington at that age is actually a hardened veteran of several horrific battles., especially Braddock’s Defeat, which had a kill ratio greater than Iwo Jima.

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British ensign Flag held by Eric Bartock and followed by the Captain George Mercer Company of the Virginia Regiment under Colonel George Washington, Presidents Day 19 February 2018 at the site of Fort Loudoun Winchester VA.

Why does the French and Indian War Foundation celebrate this day?  Especially since Winchester was still British?

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Our time period hasn’t even invented the position of President yet !

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But actually it did.

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All the Court Martial Trials held at Fort Loudoun Winchester VA, home of the French and Indian War Foundation,  had as head of the jury a position called”President.”

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But why do we of the British era celebrate Presidents Day?

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Because our commander was a “young” Colonel George Washington.  He designed this fort and supervised its construction.  He was between 24 and 26 of age.  But he was already a veteran of horrific battle.

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So near our fort site at an old courthouse, George Washington ran for office first here in Winchester VA.

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Young

That plaque mentions the word twice.

But we’ve seen the WWII movies where someone is called “Pops.”

And he was really only in his 20s.

And our historian, Norman Baker, mentions this.

And he knows.

He was on Iwo Jima.

Anyone who was a year or two in war, or

who had been in real battle once or twice

got the veteran tag, the “look”, the knowledge …

So too was George Washington a veteran.

Having seen how things can really, really go wrong

on a long journey to & back (Journey to Fort LeBeouf)

or in victory (the Battle of Jumonville)

or in defeat  (Fort Necessity July 3, 1754)

or in major horror  ( Braddock’s Defeat July 9, 1755),

you saw “experience” in a man, a tall leader, a veteran.

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Presidents Day 2017

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Re-enactors promote history in Presidents Day visit to Washington’s office

  • By CHRISTOPHER EARLEY | The Winchester Star
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French and Indian War re-enactor Jim Moyer (from left), Eric Cherry, re-enactor Charles Harbaugh IV and Brian Daly talk Monday outside George Washington’s Office Museum for Presidents Day – photo by Scott Mason for the Winchester Star

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WINCHESTER — In honor of Presidents Day and the area’s rich presidential history, several people came to George Washington’s Office Museum to honor the man who became the nation’s first president.

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Operated by the Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society, the museum at the corner of Cork and Braddock streets is open from April 1 to Oct. 31, though it typically hosts an event on the third Monday in February for Presidents Day.

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This year, however, minor maintenance and repairs at the museum curtailed the annual Presidents Day event, said Cissy Shull, the historical society’s executive director.

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That didn’t stop Middletown Mayor Charles Harbaugh IV and French and Indian War Foundation member Jim Moyer from making an appearance outside the museum dressed in period uniforms, fully equipped with Brown Bess muskets.

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According to the historical society, the building that houses the museum was used as a military office by Washington from September 1755 to December 1756, while Fort Loudoun was being constructed on the north side of Winchester.

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French and Indian War re-enactor Jim Moyer (from left), Eric Cherry, re-enactor Charles Harbaugh IV and Brian Daly talk Monday outside George Washington’s Office Museum for Presidents Day — photo by Scott Mason for the Winchester Star

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Moyer said his uniform is similar to what George Washington would have worn during the French and Indian War, the conflict that launched his military service.

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Wearing the uniforms and displaying the muskets — which are replicas of those used during the period — bring history to life, Harbaugh and Moyer said.

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“It’s fun to be in an area so rich with history and so rich with presidential history,” Harbaugh said. “And it’s fun for spectators, too, to try on the hats and hold the gun and wear the wig.”

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French and Indian War re-enactor Charles Harbaugh IV stands outside George Washington’s Office Museum on Monday afternoon on Presidents Day. — photo by Scott Mason for the Winchester Star

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Harbaugh said he would like to see larger re-enactment events in the area for Presidents Day, similar to the one he recently attended at the Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site in Alexandria, which featured 100 re-enactors and a solid turnout of spectators.

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“People would love to do that here, especially because it’s a day off,” Harbaugh said. “We could really start something here with this, and it could have a great economic impact.”

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— Contact Christopher Earley at cearley@winchesterstar.com

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End of Winchester Star article
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See Captain George Mercer Company of the Virginia Regiment
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President’s Day 19 February 2018

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See video from Channel 10 News, LocalDVM:

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http://www.localdvm.com/news/virginia/living-history-event-showcases-george-washingtons-ties-to-winchester/981936391

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See slideshow below this video.
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Written 2/20/2018 on Friends of Fort Loudoun  page in Facebook:

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Photo by Scott Mason for the Winchester Star. Eric Bartok holds a flag, the ensign, representing the union of England and Scotland. The group is the Captain Mercer Company under Colonel George Washington of the Virginia Regiment. Photo taken of the group at Fort Loudoun Winchester VA on Presidents Day 19 February 2018.

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Yesterday we honored Yesterday.

It was President’s Day.
Tricky “Connect the Dots” situation.
Here we are the Mercer’s Company
under a Colonel George Washington
still under the Crown of England.
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Honoring a day for a postion
not even invented yet.
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Thank You Tony Elar Jr.. for leading the way on this event.
Great job by both Tony and Eric Bartock and Stevan Resan speaking to Channel 10 News !!!
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Great job everyone did. Truly great group. 🙂
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From the women to the old guys to the young guys,
we have a special group.
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And particularly to the young guys
we are very special in that regard.
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Very few living history groups have the young guys.
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Or a Drummer !
Except notably that Conrad Weiser group from PA has a 3-some of drummers often appearing at Fort Frederick MD.
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Now we need a few Cherokee and Catawba allies
to join us.
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Sure they mostly worked with the Captain Christopher Gist company, but our Mercer Company had many moments with these Indian allies.
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Let the recruiting continue !
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Read our Captain George Mercer’s consternation that we did not have “presents” ready for 148 Cherokee who came to Fort Loudoun one day.
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We tell them the presents were supposed to be in Williamsburgh. But Williamsburgh tells them the presents are in Winchester.
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-04-02-0078
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And of course we are still developing a chronology of our Captain George Mercer Company and of George Mercer’s life, and important aid de camp to Colonel George Washington.
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http://frenchandindianwarfoundation.org/event/george-mercer/

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Winchester Star Article

of yesterday published 2/20/2018 Tuesday

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Photos are by Scott Mason from the Winchester Star …

Below are excerpts from the Winchester Star article:

 

FORT LOUDOUN

At the site of Fort Loudoun, a stone-and-wood fortification on half an acre of land that has long since been replaced by houses, streets and sidewalks, about two dozen French and Indian War re-enactors conducted drills and gave visitors a taste of what it was like to live in a military encampment in the 1750s.
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“We’re representing Captain Mercer’s unit that was kept here during the French and Indian War,” re-enactor and Middletown Mayor Charles Harbaugh IV said, referring to George Mercer’s First Virginia Regiment under Washington’s command.
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As the living history participants stacked muskets, mended uniforms and chatted with each other, homemade apple cider was being warmed in an iron kettle atop a campfire built near the fort’s former water well at 419 N. Loudoun St.
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Fay Dutton, of Winchester, was portraying a French soldier taken prisoner by Mercer’s fighters.
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“I was just traveling and they captured me,” Dutton said.
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“We’re holding her hostage,” said Susan Howard, who portrayed a “camp follower” who helped with cooking, dressing and tending to the needs of colonial soldiers.
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“Some camp followers were prostitutes for the soldiers,” said Kathleen Elar, of Front Royal, “but she’s not playing that role.”
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Nearby, another camp follower was portrayed by Patricia Culver, of Delray, W.Va., whose red-and-blue clothing resembled the uniforms worn by colonial soldiers.
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“It became popular in that period for the women to make their walking or riding outfits look more military, and they would wear the colors of the troop they were supporting,” Culver said.
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She said it took three weeks for her to design and stitch her outfit, which was fashioned from a 1770s painting.
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“There’s extensive sewing,” Culver said. “You can’t run into JoAnn’s or anything and buy a pattern for this, so I had to create it on a mannequin. … It’s pretty historically accurate.”
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“George Washington starts to see that they are really separate and not equal,” Harbaugh said. “You have such a period of things that happened after the French and Indian War to change him from extremely loyal to a rebel.”
 
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GEORGE WASHINGTON’S OFFICE MUSEUM
About a half-mile to the south, Adam Pedersen, 7, of Manassas, joined his mother and grandmother for a lunchtime tour of George Washington’s Office Museum on Cork Street.
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“He worked here,” Adam said. “There was a lot of paperwork.”
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Museum docent Becky Graves said the museum is open daily April 1 through Oct. 31, but always welcomes visitors on Presidents Day, “unless there’s a couple feet of snow out there.”
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“We’re already up to 50 people in the first two hours, so we’ll get over 100 [visitors] today,” Graves said.
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The museum is a small building made of timber and stone. Formerly, it was an even smaller log cabin that Washington used as a military office from September 1755 to December 1756, while he oversaw construction of Fort Loudoun.
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Graves said the museum is often taken for granted by locals who have never stopped to tour the building.
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“They’re so used to seeing it, they just don’t think about it,” she said. “We get the majority of our visitors from out of town and across the world. We had visitors from Australia and Japan last year.”
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There’s a lot of history in this little building, including a key to Winchester’s first jail and a few strands of Washington’s brown hair clipped by his wife, Martha Washington.
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Washington died Dec. 14, 1799, due to epiglottis — an inflammation of the throat — worsened by bloodletting treatments that drained half or more of the blood from his body.
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Adam described Washington’s demise in much simpler terms.
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“He had a cold. They had no medicine. He’s dead.”

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PAID SUBSCRIBERS CAN SEE THIS LINK:

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http://www.winchesterstar.com/news/winchester/winchester-brims-with-pride-for-washington-on-presidents-day/article_bd42a79f-752c-5af0-ab34-f5aea84cef9e.html

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2017 Presidents Day

Held at George Washington’s Office Museum on corner of Cork and Braddock Streets in Winchester VA.

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The museum was closed for repair, but some of us still celebrated the day.

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