The Canadian War Museum presented “Battle for a Capital”, a mock battle of the American Revolution and the creation of the Canadian-American Boundary, 1775–1783.
In 1988, some 700 American and Canadian re-enactment enthusiasts gathered at Major’s Hill Park on Saturday, July 2 and at Jacques Cartier Park on Sunday, July 3, attracting about 50,000 spectators. The “battle” at Jacques Cartier Park staged British and Loyalist troops attacking the American camp from water and from land.
Organizers went out of their way to emphasize that the event was not meant to glorify war, but intended to show what life was like in the 18th Century. They pointed out that participants included women and children in period costumes, conducting activities as they would have been carried out at that time.
I was able to get close to much of the action, thanks to my press credentials (I was represented by Photo/Graphics stock agency in North Vancouver at the time). That access also gave me the opportunity to talk to many of the participants.
For sure, there were a lot of re-enactors — both Canadian and American — whose main interests centred around military history, especially concerning period technology such as how uniforms were constructed and how black powder evolved. I remember one conversation with a re-enactor who could have gone on for hours and hours about the details and intricacies of spats.
I talked to an accountant from Virginia who had made a hobby of understanding the most minute details of the era’s surgical history.
I met a family who joined these events because it allowed them to understand and prepare authentic meals for participants and spectators. The head cook was particularly fascinated with methods of baking during a time that preceded modern leavening agents that make food preparation so much easier today. These types of events allowed them to enjoy travel and do interesting things together as a family.
The first annual Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival (Festival de Montgolfières de Gatineau) was taking place at the same time, attracting its own crowd of 50,000 who came out to watch the spectacle of 50 hot air balloons lofting over the Ottawa-Gatineau region. At times, it gave the Battle for a Capital a surrealistic flair.
