Cowpens After Action Report (AAR)

The 231st Anniversary of Cowpens is in the books, and it was a very successful event in general. There was a large turnout of reenactors this year, and a very large number of spectators, especially on Saturday.

It was also a successful event for our unit. Over the course of the weekend, the regiment fielded nine muskets. Most of us had over 10 years of experience in the line, and it showed. We really cracked some rapid volleys at the firing demos, and the new tweeks we put in to the Steuben drill this past year are starting to gel with the boys. We even drew crowds just practing marching in an empty field.

The troopers from the 3rd CLD looked great, as usual, and drew massive crowds for their demos. Check out the website for awesome action shots of Bob and Bert playing samurai chef with their sabers and some heads of cabbage.

Chris, Sarah and all the distaff did their usual outstanding job of providing for the boys; they also showed the ropes to two new distaff recruits. And Scott Bester did his usual great job showing his carpentry kit and skills to the public.

We also had a preliminary discussion with the folks at Cowpens NPS about preparing for the 235th reenactment of the battle in 2016. I know that is a long way off, but preparations have already begun for us to host this event. Stay tuned...

Thanks and "well done" to everyone who participated. Look for an email in the next couple of days concerning the upcoming February 25-26 regimental workshop, and a discussion of plans for the August (coatee!).

Annual Meeting Report

The Annual Meeting of the 2nd SC Regiment was held Sunday, Jan. 15 at Cowpens. Highlights of the meeting included the election of Board members, approval of the event calendar for 2012, and a discussion of dues/fees collected for various activities and memberships. The new calendar is posted on the website; more info will be sent as each event approaches. The Board members for this year are:

President - Zack Pace
V-P for Events - Bob Hoskins
V-P for Finance - Jeff Fowler
Secretary - Chris Puckett
Treasurer - Sarah Hoskins
Regimental Commander - Erick Nason
Horse Commander - Daniel Murphy

A big thank you to Henry McMillan, Bert Puckett, Jonathan Nutter and Stephanie Nutter for your service on the Board this past year.

From a fee standpoint, bowl inspection was set at $15 per adult per full event; it will be adjusted as usual by Chris Puckett for single day attendees and kids. Annual dues are $25, but will probably be raised a bit, again pending a vote at the Guilford event. Feel free to send in your $25 now (and pay a bit more after Guilford), or you can wait until the final amount is set that weekend.

The Bylaws are undergoing a revision, and discussion/approval was tabled until Guilford. Copies of the old and new versions will be sent to the membership shortly. Minutes of the meeting will be posted on the website shortly.

Annual Meeting

The annual business meeting of the 2nd SC Regiment will be held Sunday, January 15th, 2012, at 9:00 AM at the Cowpens event. If you are a member or prospective member of the Regiment, an email should have been sent to you yesterday with full details. If you did not receive it, please contact me ASAP (zpace123@gmail.com).

More info on the event itself will be posted/emailed over the weekend.

Split Shirt Instructions Posted Online

Some of you have noted that the website hosting the split shirt (aka hunting shirt) instructions we use has been down for a while. Fret no longer: I have taken an archived version of the web page and put it into a word document, which is now available on the "Members" page of the 2nd SC website. It also has a few specifications for our shirts, noted in red lettering. The only thing missing is the pattern for the cape, which I will have posted soon.

The "Members" page is password protected. I will email the password to the membership, but it's the same password we used on the members section of the old website.

Christmas in the 1st Regiment

"Orders by Col. Pinckey, Decemr. 25th 1777 - Parole: Christmas

The Col. wishes a happy Christmas to ye Officers & Men, but hopes The Decent Festivity which he admits this day will not be Debased, by the latter, by Drunkness or Disorderly behaviour, and if it Should he will be under Necessity of debaring them from any Indulgence, on a futur Occasion - For Guard tomorrow Capt. Saunder, Lts. Gadsden & Glover - "

"South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine", ed. A.S. Salley. Charleston: SC Historical and Genealogical Society, Vol. 7 (1906), p. 130.

Williamsburg Ideas - Erick Nason

Walter McIntyre has requested that we could use some ideas on how to improve the scenarios in Williamsburg that can keep the event interesting, and keep the reenactors coming in. We had only 80 muskets at the last Williamsburg, the trend appears to be decreasing in the number of reenactors.

Here are some ideas I came up with:

The Spies: 2-3 reenactors or Williamsburg players who have good civilian clothes and can play the part, will be Loyalists collecting information on the Army to bring to Cornwallis. The idea is to have the Williamsburg people let the tourists know to be on the lookout for "suspicious activities" and to report it to the guards. The Guards will also have to be on the lookout for these people-which may mean a roving patrol along with the normal guard postings. This will be a catch and release program so it can go all day.

Rounders Game: Have Pat and the 2nd NC sponsor a rounders game to demonstrate how the Army relaxed

Drill Competition: Have the units really demonstrate the drill, and be judged by the crowd and a panel of military judges (Reenactors and/or Williamsburg Players)

Trial: Perhaps encourage the Williamsburg people to bring back the murder/drama trial.

Unit Drama: Courts martial, pay, etc in the camp.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. We need them soon though, so the
planning can begin. So I need ideas or confirmation of what I came up with
no later than January.

Erick Nason

Items Featuring 2nd Regiment Blue Color Now Available

The 2nd Regiment is pleased to announce a partnership with FlagTshirts through Zazzle.com, an online vendor of custom graphics items. FlagTshirts has a high-quality graphic of our Regiment's blue color, and is selling it on numerous items: shirts, sweats, mugs, steins, etc. Our blog features a red-bordered box on the left side with ads for these items. Every time someone buys one of these items by going through our website, the unit will receive a donation from Zazzle. This is a great way for the regiment to help pay for the new website with zero effort, plus the shirts with our hallowed color just look cool!