Cooper's Picnic

We try to have a picnic for our reenacting unit sometime in the summer when we do not have an event.  If we are lucky, we can all agree on a date.  I look forward to this picnic because after a long season of reenacting, it’s nice to see all of my friends in their “civvies” (Civilian Clothes).  We have a big cookout with plenty of food and company.  Before the meal we usually set up a croquet course and get some people to play for a little bit of leisure, however after the meal is a different story.  Once everyone has eaten and had time to settle, the annual Cooper’s Rounders game is played.  Rounders is a period correct game that was the predecessor to baseball.  Using a stuffed sock for a ball and an axe handle for a bat, it’s a fun game once you understand the rules.  First of all, there are no foul balls, as long as the ball hits the stick its fair game.  Once the ball is hit, you may run the bases in any order, as long as you have touched them all before going to home.  You can also have an unlimited amount of runners on any given base and there are no force outs.  To get someone out, you can catch the ball on the fly, off of one bounce, tag them, or hit them with the ball.  Here you can see Cpl. Bowman as the pitcher throwing the ball underhand; this is also a rule to rounders.  Usually the game lasts until we all get tired, then the score is totaled up and a winner is defined.  After the big game, we sit around the campfire and spend the night camping.