Behind the scenes

This picture shows a different side of reenacting. After October, our main season is over. Therefore, between October and April, we have a few months to resupply and repair our equipment. One of the things that we do is the annual Cooper’s Workday. We all gather at the Sunbury Water Plant, who is gracious enough to let us store our equipment there, and we work on our stuff. In this picture, we are putting a fresh coat of paint on our Model 1848 12 Pound Field Howitzer. In the back, I am grinding a bucket and fitting it with a new lid. From heavy use, our paint doesn’t really last the entire year, and we bring the guns back from some of our later events in rough shape. If we have time after painting, we do other things to get ready. Sometimes it’s rolling rounds, and sometimes it’s sorting the things in the battery trailer. This past year we replaced the floorboards on our trailer that carries the Parrot Rifle. We took the old boards out and completely rewired it, then put on brand new floorboards. What many people do not realize is that even when we are not out on the field, reenacting affects reenactors every single day.