IMAGE GALLERY: Colonists, Redcoats Face Off in Skirmish Saturday

Muskets firing, they faced off on a grassy field off Russell Road Saturday afternoon, a group of Redcoats and a band of colonists.

The Woburn and Charlestown Militia, Gardner’s Regiment, which fought the Battle of Bunker Hill, came “to demonstrate the kinds of equipment, clothing and battle formations that that might have occurred between His Majesty’s forces and the colonists” in the time of the American Revolution, according to the regiment’s Chief of Staff, Lt. Edward Roche.

The skirmish was not historically accurate, according to Roche.

But Woburn still has an authentic physical tie to the Revolution:  a stretch of road north of Tarky Field that Woburn colonists actually walked to Lexington Green in 1775 when the American Revolution was starting.

Roche’s regiment, which includes men from 13 communities, including Woburn, according to the regiment website, has participated in the “Pathway of the Patriots” event here for a handful of years. They marched for the fifth year in the Bunker Hill Day Parade, Roch said. The regiment has, he said, about 30 members.

“We learned as we went along,” he said, about attire and equipment.

Before the skirmish started, sutlers, or suppliers to the militia, plied their trades:  a leather worker and portrait painter among them.  

Elizabeth Mees from Braintree recreates historic clothing. Her husband, Matthew, looked every inch a minister in his black attire made by his wife. Elizabeth bases the clothing she makes on “extant (existing) garments” or images of period clothing, from paintings, for example.

Farther into the encampment, Ann Catania of Woburn dressed as a woman of the colonial period. Her husband, Jim, portrays a militia man.

Reenacting “brings history alive,” Catania said. Her husband got her started as a reenactor, she said. He was recruited into the pastime, she said, by his parents. For a time, the Catanias were Civil War reenactors. Those reenactments occur farther away, so they switched historic periods, Ann explained, back to the Revolutionary War.

The Bicentennial spotlighted that historic period, but some bicentennial reenactors would do colonial clothing incorrectly, said Catania, either because it looked good or because they saw it in Hollywood.

Alongside the history, reenactments are social events, too, she said.

“This is so much fun we decided to do it every year,” she added.

Across from Catania, a colonial craftsman laid out a sample of period toys and molds for toy soldiers. They also made some candles.

Among the visitors to the military skirmish was Gail Provo, 11, who lives nearby, and her cousins.  Gail said she goes to the event every year. Her favorite subject in school is history, she said, though she prefers studying the Civil War to the American Revolution. Her favorite part of the day:  the encounter between the Redcoats and colonists and their musket firing.

“They’re loud,” Gail said.

Krista Guenin of Woburn walked through the encampment with her niece, Reilly Davis, 6, and Krista’s mother, Sheila Guenin, who was visiting from Indianapolis. Sheila has visited colonial sites like Jamestown and Williamsburg, she said. This was fun because it was local, according to the family. The colonial toys looked “cool” to try, Reilly said. She most enjoyed the dolls.

Eric Sloman of Billerica and his daughters, Sophia, 11 and Isabel, 10, who were visiting their in-laws, the Tierney family, also stopped by the field. The girls prefer watching history to reading it, said their father.

Bob Freeman and his son, Josh, 7, came from Arlington for the first time this year. They are both members of the Menotomy Minute Men of Arlington, Bob said. Next year, he said, they will come in uniform.

One mother and her four youngest children came the farthest to the reenactment. Cathy Buresh came from Wisconsin. Her ancestors, the Butterfields, came to the Bay Colony in 1638, she said. They settled in Woburn.

Buresh said her children, whom she home-schools, love history. She spontaneously decided to explore some historic sites with them, she said, including Lexington and Concord, and then Plimoth Plantation and Gettysburg.

At 3 p.m. the day’s activities came to a head. The Redcoats and colonists faced off on the field. The first musket fired. A colonist fell. Then a Redcoat. The colonists advanced.

At the end of the skirmish, children swarmed the field, shouting “huzzah,” meaning hurrah or hooray.