Eastfield Village After Action Report, September 6, 2005

Sir

Sergeant Krentler and I arrived at the site around dusk after an uneventful drive slightly delayed by holiday traffic. We had a light supper, spoke briefly with some of the other early arrivals and retired early hoping that we would not be the only members of the unit on hand when morning arrived. It was a clear cool night and dark enough to see the Milky Way.

Saturday morning had us up before the sun had cleared the trees. We made breakfast on my brazier. Hot coffee got the blood flowing. After the sun reached our camp, we started to kit up, watching all the cars that were arriving and hoping to see some of our lads. To make a long story short, all the men who committed arrived in the next few minutes. We had Krentler, Torkos, Lustenburger, Mutter and I. Believe it or not this was not a proportionately small number. The other Crown units were the 40th foot with around six muskets and a combined Loyalist unit, mostly Peters Corps, with a total of six or seven muskets. We were under the command of Captain Najacki. The Rebels had similar numbers so the sides were evenly matched.

We loaded two extra blankets and an axe on the baggage wagon, the rest of what we needed for the weekend we had on our backs. Next, we formed up and were issued hard rations for lunch. After this the Rebels and the women headed one way and we went the other. I have no clue what the objective of the tactical was supposed to be so I guess I was as much in the dark of the big picture as my 18C counterpart.

We were given the order to load on the march and headed down an overgrown farm track. The old road was overgrown with the weeds coming to our chests in places. The growth on either side was so tangled and thick that it would be impossible to move off the track except on a rare game trail. There wasn’t much visibility and no way to put out flankers. We moved cautiously along in single file with about 30 yards between units. The Loyalists were in the front, followed by the 40th and then the 22nd. As usual it seemed as if much of the hiking was up hill. We eventually came to clearer ground with more mature trees and mostly clear beneath. There were several stone rows which we crossed until we came to a more well used road.

Still no sign of the Rebels but the advance guard captured a man on a horse who claimed to be a loyal citizen who was forced to flee his village by a detachment of Rebels. Captain Najecki was a little suspicious of this gentleman, however he could not ignore the information on the location of the Rebels. We moved out with the horseman under guard and imagine how nervous we were when the direction he led us took us right across a huge open field. We crossed the field in rushes without incident and gained a little more confidence in our new source of information. We continued down a clear road to an intersection where we found the 40th who had the Rebels in sight. The Loyalists and 40th moved forward across a small field that sloped steeply away from us. We followed close behind. The Rebels fired a volley or two and fell back.

We fell in between the Loyalists on our left and the 40th foot on our right. We hadn’t fired. In front of us was a two-story farmhouse built into the hill that we were on. To our right was a large shed. Between the house and us was a steep wooded drop of about 15 feet. We were quickly ordered forward with the Loyalists going to the left of the house the 40th going to the right of the shed and us going straight down the embankment to the rear and right of the house. I used the back wall of the house to stop my momentum after going down the embankment. Torkos twisted his ankle here and lost sight of us as we rushed the Rebels who were on the main Albany – Boston road.

The road was now to our front. On the other side of the road were two large barns, side by side. To the left of the largest and left-most barn the road turned at a right angle and the Rebels were falling back around this corner and using the barn and a stone supported earthen ramp to the barn as cover. The Loyalists came around the farmhouse and started to flank the Rebels on the left. The Rebels fired a volley at the 40th and us. Then we rushed them. Sergeant Krentler was going to cut the corner by running across the dirt ramp instead of following the road around the corner. There was a possibility of flanking the remaining Rebels or even cutting them off. Unfortunately, he underestimated the drop from the ramp to the level of the road because of the weeds along the stone wall supporting the ramp and dropped 6 to 8 feet instead of the 3 to 4 he was expecting. This earned him a bruised heel for the rest of the weekend but at least nothing was broken or torn.

Steve yelled to me that he was all right so I took the men around the bend and continued to push the Rebels to the next stone row. Steve was quickly back with us and so was Torkos. On our left was a large pond that slowed the Loyalists down and put them behind us. We all kept pushing the Rebels and didn’t give them a chance to form at the Stone row. It was about 50 to 75 yards from the barns to this stone row. We still haven’t fired. The 40th moved to left now and used a thin wood that ran parallel to the road as cover. We started pushing again up the road and the Loyalists now moved to our right.

Ahead another 50 to 75 yards was the entrance to the village flanked by a large stone wall to our right and some sheds and a wood to our left. The road at this point was sort of sunken with a stone wall and fence on either side as it rose up into the village. The Rebels had loaded on the run and formed on the road at the entrance to the village and below the stone wall on our right to give us fire. This slowed us down as we were in the open and used the ground for cover when they fired. The loyalists caught up and moved against the men on the right while the 40th was moving on the left rear through the woods. We charged as the Rebels moved back, bypassing those on our right. The Rebels counter charged and there was a stalemate in the sunken lane. The action sputtered to a halt with a lot of claims back and forth about who was the victor. I’m pretty sure my pack was the victor of the last 50 yards between the last stone row and the sunken lane.

We formed up and paraded together with the Rebels and were informed that there had been a cessation of hostilities and that we now were going to work together to protect the village from dissatisfied roving bands of outlaws and pillagers. We never fired a shot and the Fox was in the hen coupe.

Now, Eastfield Village is a fine place as it has two taverns. One is a large two-story building run by Mr. Dunning. We quickly found that they don’t much like our kind there. They catered to Officers and finer folk. The other tavern was the Yellow Tavern, run by Mr.’s Duey, Cheetum and Howe. We didn’t exactly get a warm reception from them either but they knew we hadn’t been paid yet.

The first order of business was for the Sergeant to establish a line of credit at Mr. Dunnings for his officer, Captain Ishkibible, who was down with the gout and staying with the baggage wagon. The good Sergeant also procured a tumbler of port wine to bring to his Captain. It was a nice beginning. We then went down to the Yellow Tavern where most of us discussed the weather with Mr. Duey while Private Mutter went in by another door and returned quickly, letting us know he had some luck by showing us a FULL BOTTLE of port wine while staying out of site of the tavern keepers. We retired to a secluded spot where we finished off that bottle, refilled it with water from our canteens and sent Mutter back to replace it. It did not take long for Mutter to return with another bottle filled with a dark red liquid. Private Torkos, being much fond of his bottle, seized this new prize and quickly poured some in his cup. Imagine his surprise when he found it to be vinegar and not wine. We were not long disappointed however because the vinegar hid several pickled eggs and beets to which we availed ourselves. The drum beat the assembly and put a temporary end to our foraging so Mutter returned the jar and we fell in for our duty assignments

Our first duty for the day was to set up the camp. Private Mutter was temporarily assigned to a young Officer of Engineers to help him with his baggage. Our first order of business was to cut poles for our tents. We went into the woods and quickly found the poles we needed. Taking care to make chopping noises at regular intervals so as not to arouse any suspicions of the Officers, we stayed in the woods as long as possible. When Mutter found us he had another rather large bottle of red wine. Instead of drinking this one, Sergeant Krentler entered into a deal with the Officer’s servant to sell him the wine and split the money with us. We didn’t want to tempt fate for too long, so we returned to camp to complete sewing ties on our blankets, to set up our blanket tents and to dig the fire pit. Private Torkos knows which end of a shovel is which so he dug the fire pit and it was his bad luck to be standing with the shovel in his hand when the young Officer of Engineers came by looking for someone to dig the latrines. John went along and helped dig the latrine and was lucky enough to witness the young Officer of Engineers fall into the latrine while testing the seat of ease. Unfortunately the latrine hadn’t been used yet.

Back at camp we assigned Torkos to cook our ration while the rest of us went back to town for guard duty.

Guard Duty was mostly uneventful. The suspicious Officer of Engineers conspired with his serving wench to catch the Sergeant receiving money for stolen property, which he did. The Sergeant however was slippery and managed to get off with a reprimand from the Town Major. No lashes and no reduction in rank. The Sergeant then proceeded to celebrate by stealing a cooked chicken from Mr. Duey’s table at the Yellow Tavern.

After we were relieved from Guard we went back to our camp. John was just about done with the meal so we started to cool down. Lustenburger and I headed out to the local farmhouses and soon returned with some cool ale for the lads. Next we ate and finished our rum and started to change shirts and stocks for the chance for some fun at the taverns that night. It was time to spend our pay.

As we approached the Yellow Tavern the most exciting thing that was going on was a game of checkers in the corner. Well that won’t do for the 22nd. We exploded into the place, immediately appropriated a table, moved the table to the center of the room, dragged half a dozen chairs over to the table, ordered a round of ale, complained about the price, complained about the pour, finished that round, ordered a bowl of punch, bossed the serving wench around and started singing. By the time we left I had sung every song I know that was appropriate to the setting including some we haven’t sung in years like "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" and "the Gentleman Soldier". Everyone in the room joined in on the fun and some even contributed their own songs. There were eggs to eat and tobacco to smoke. It became a standing room only Tavern and Mr. Duey actually opened his own parlor to accommodate the overflow. Somehow a fine small sword, which looked remarkably similar to Captain Najeckie’s, got traded for a bowl of punch. When the Captain reclaimed his sword Mr. Duey wanted the bowl returned and Private Mutter made sure it was empty. It was also noticed that many people of a higher station in life found there way from Mr. Dunning’s establishment down to see what was causing such merriment at the Yellow Tavern. Mr. Dunning himself actually made an appearance and shared our table and a bowl with us.

All good things must end though, so we reluctantly left the Yellow Tavern when time was called. Lights still shone Mr. Dunnings Tavern so we staggered in the dark up to the light and gave them a song in the hopes of a bowl. At first Mr. Ackerman gave us a cold reception by slamming the door in our face but Mr. Dunning soon brought us a bowl and invited us in. Here we slowly wound down until it was time to leave this high society and return to camp and our beds.

Sunday dawned fresh and clear. It was back to the Yellow Tavern for breakfast and coffee provided by the house. We attended church next. If the Sergeant sees you in the tavern on Saturday you best be in church on Sunday. After church we broke camp and packed our packs. There then was brigade drill in maneuver in open order and firing by platoons. We then cooled down with some cider at the Yellow Tavern and started to bid our friends farewell. There was a live shoot but we opted to leave early so we donned our packs, shouldered our muskets and took in our hands the extra blankets and axe and headed off down the road. Changed and cooled off at the cars and then drove home in clear weather and zero traffic. What a Great Weekend!

I Remain Your Servant Sir

Corporal Joswick

For Ensign Joswick

Adjutant

H.M. 22nd Regiment