Originally published in Compass, July 17, 2014
Revolutionary War regiment portrayed in Castine
On Saturday and Sunday, July 26 and 27, at the Wilson Museum in Castine, get a taste of Revolutionary-era Castine. Throughout the weekend, a team of re-enactors will live as though it’s 1779, demonstrating drills, marches, cooking, spinning, and weaving, according to a news release from the Wilson Museum. The original 74th Highland Regiment garrisoned Castine’s Fort George from 1779 until the end of the War, and the encampment is presented to mark of the 235th anniversary of British arrival and the Penobscot Expedition, America’s worst naval defeat until Pearl Harbor.
The recreated 74th Regiment of Foot was started in the 1970s by a group of like-minded individuals who had a deep interest in the part that Scotland played in the American Revolution. The 74th Regiment has always been committed to a realistic portrayal of the Scottish soldier and camp follower, and all of their drill, clothing, and camp-life materials are documented to have been in existence during the years 1777-1784.
This program is free and open to the public in conjunction with the museum’s Revolution Downeast program series and the summer exhibit on the Defence, a privateer lost during the Penobscot Expedition and excavated in the 1970s. Items recovered during the excavation are on loan from the Maine State Museum. For more information, contact the Wilson Museum at 326-9247 or wilsonmuseum.org.