For the last few weeks we have been studying the American Revolution with the girls.  It has been a fun unit to study and they have learned a lot about our country and pieces of our history during this section.  As we were studying this unit I decided to check and see if there were any American Revolution  battle re-enactments in our area.  I found the Cowpens Battlefield was having its annual celebration this January in memory of the American Revolution battle that took place.

We decided to surprise the girls and take them to the Cowpens Battlefield for the celebration weekend.  They were so excited, had a lot of fun, and they learned a lot of neat information about our country’s history.  We watched them shoot off cannons, muskets, calvary demonstrations, walked the battlefield while listening to historical information both on the American Patriot and British side, talked with various “characters” regarding their roles in the battle, listened to the army band, and much more.

What a fun trip.  I even learned a lot on this adventure too!!!  Thankful for an opportunity to experience a piece of history first hand.

Guns blasting off, muskets and other rifles.  The men on the left are American Militia men and the ones on the right are the Scottish Highlanders that fought with the British during the American Revolution.

They fired two canons the “Grasshopper” (the girls favorite) and twelve pound Mountain “Howitzer” (it was called a 12 pound mountain Howitzer because it was the size of shell it could launch)!     The picture is of the bigger canon, the “Howitzer” firing.

The girls checking out the canons up close.  This one is the “Grasshopper” canon.

The calvary did demonstrations on horseback.  One of the girls favorite parts, mainly because they loved watching the horses!

Getting ready to run through the practice course.

The girls thought the kids that got to put on the cabbages for the soldiers to hit in practice were very lucky (guess it looked like a fun job)!

Demonstrating how a soldier would practice using cabbages.

They wanted a picture next to the horses after the discussion and demonstration.

After the walk through the battlefield where we learned key pieces of history both from the American Patriots and British Red Coats sides we got to meet some of the army’s band players.

Brina with a big smile along our walk through the woods.

Karlie giggling as she peeks out from behind the tree on the trail.

Brina writing her name with a quill pen, a lot harder than she thought it would be.

Karlie writing with ink and a quill.  A little harder to control, but it was legible.

Plaque with the American leaders at the battle at Cowpens.

One of their favorite parts of the event, learning how to shoot a musket (complete with the instructions and commands soldiers would hear on the battlefield).

Listening to the soldier give commands.

Karlie putting her “powder” in her gun, Brina is already done loading her gun.

Checking to make sure their guns were ready (there was a specific command for this step too).

Waiting for the next order!

It was a lot of fun watching them go through the steps.   It was almost an hour long drill and they got the steps down by the end!