web1_TOM_MOONEY.jpg

Out on a limb: LDS church to transfer genealogy records to digital format

web1_car.jpg

AAA advises drivers to resist temptation to view solar eclipse

<p>FORTY FORT &#8212; When you think about the Revolutionary War, you might imagine groups of young men with tri-corner hats who spent their days shooting muskets.</p><p>But when the Army set up an encampment, it wasn&#8217;t just the soldiers who gathered around the fires.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve had roasts. We&#8217;ve had stews. We&#8217;ve had fresh vegetables. It&#8217;s all done as if someone was cooking for the regiment &#8230; over a fire pit with all the utensils, iron pans and kettles,&#8221; said Sherry Emershaw, of Franklin Township, explaining the 24th Connecticut Militia Regiment will have a cook on hand when the re-enactors set up camp Saturday and Sunday on the grounds of the historic Nathan Denison House.</p><p>Emershaw, meanwhile, will portray a seamstress, one of the &#8220;camp followers&#8221; who traveled with the Army so it could use their skills of carpentry, wheel-making, blacksmithing and washing and mending clothes.</p><p>&#8220;I usually do the tailoring end of it, any kind of clothing repairs or mending, let&#8217;s say for the officers,&#8221; she said, adding that common soldiers might have to repair their own clothes. &#8220;Most people had a sewing kit with them.&#8221;</p><p>Some of these civilians would have had children in tow, Emershaw said, and some very young re-enactors may represent those little ones at the encampment. &#8220;We do have young children (in our group) and I do hope they come,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Visitors to the Denison House are welcome to stop by the encampment between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, to watch the militia drill and to ask questions about camp life.</p><p>Whenever the regiment is at an encampment or battle re-enactment, Emershaw said, visitors typically cluster around the camp physician, portrayed by Jeff Smith, of Shavertown.</p><p>Along with a collection of medicinal herbs, he offers stories of 18th-century medical treatments that are bound to make visitors grateful to live in modern times.</p><p>&#8220;Water that comes out of walls, flush toilets, antibiotics and anesthesia,&#8221; Smith said. &#8220;Those are the four reasons I&#8217;m glad I live in this century.&#8221;</p><p>As a Revolutionary War-era doctor, he said, he would have believed in a theory that maintained the body had four &#8220;humors&#8221; &#8212; blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm &#8212; that would cause disease if they were out of balance.</p><p>&#8220;Everybody hears about bleeding,&#8221; Smith said. &#8220;If you were hot and wet (feverish and sweating), you had too much blood in you. If I take a pint of blood out of you, it would take your fever down.&#8221;</p><p>But not every illness makes a person hot and wet. &#8220;If you are hot and dry, you have too much yellow bile,&#8221; Smith said, continuing to explaining the theory. &#8220;I&#8217;m going to make you throw up.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;If you are cold and dry you have too much black bile, which is produced by the blood but exits through the feces. I&#8217;d give you not one enema but more like four, five or six enemas in the course of a day.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Phlegm is any clear liquid &#8212; sweat, spit and urine,&#8221; he said. To rid the &#8220;cold and wet&#8221; body of too much phlegm, the old-time doctor would create blisters and break them.</p><p>Wait; it gets worse.</p><p>If you were wounded and your limb could not be saved, the doctor would &#8220;know you cannot tolerate a long amount of surgery, so I am taking off a leg in three to five minutes.&#8221;</p><p>He wouldn&#8217;t have used any anesthesia, he said. &#8220;That&#8217;s where the phrase &#8216;biting the bullet&#8217; came in.&#8221;</p><p>According to the Luzerne County Historical Society: the 24th Connecticut Militia Regiment was originally established by the Connecticut Legislature in May 1775 &#8212; during a time period when Connecticut claimed what is now Northeastern Pennsylvania &#8212; and the Continental Congress established two independent companies of the regiment in August 1776. Nathan Denison, whose homestead still stands in Forty Fort, held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was promoted to Colonel in 1777 when the two independent companies left the Wyoming Valley to join General Washington at Morristown, N.J.</p><p>Over the course of the next two years, the regiment fought in battles at Millstone, Bound Brook, Germantown, Brandywine, Fort Mifflin and White Marsh. The companies spent a harsh winter at Valley Forge and then fought at the Battle of Monmouth. They were released in 1778 to return to the Wyoming Valley, but arrived too late to be of help at the Battle of Wyoming on July 3, 1778.</p><p>The Regiment was then sent on the Hartley Expedition in September 1778 and were with General Sullivan&#8217;s march into the Finger Lakes region of New York during the summer of 1779.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_Encampment-Photo-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Re-enactors stand at attention during a previous event. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_Encampment-Photo-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Re-enactors stand at attention during a previous event. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photos </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_Encampment-Photo-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">&#8216;Camp followers&#8217; as diverse as a physician, cook, laundress and carpenter would accompany Revolutionary War soldiers as they traveled from battle to battle. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_Encampment-Photo-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>&#8216;Camp followers&#8217; as diverse as a physician, cook, laundress and carpenter would accompany Revolutionary War soldiers as they traveled from battle to battle. </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photos </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_Encampment-Photo-4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Portraying the militia&#8217;s physician, Jeff Smith, of Shavertown, explains the primitive methods people of the 18th century hoped would combat disease. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_Encampment-Photo-4.jpg</photo2><caption2>Portraying the militia&#8217;s physician, Jeff Smith, of Shavertown, explains the primitive methods people of the 18th century hoped would combat disease. </caption2><photoCredit2>Submitted photos </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_encampphoto.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Members of the 24th Connecticut Militia Regiment will drill throughout the days of their encampment at the Nathan Denison House in Forty Fort. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_encampphoto.jpg</photo3><caption3>Members of the 24th Connecticut Militia Regiment will drill throughout the days of their encampment at the Nathan Denison House in Forty Fort. </caption3><photoCredit3>Submitted photos </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Re-enactors bring Revolutionary War encampment to life</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p><strong>What:</strong> Revolutionary War-era encampment</p><p><strong>Who:</strong> By 24th Connecticut Militia Regiment</p><p><strong>When:</strong> 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Nathan Denison House, 35 Denison Street, Forty Fort</p><p><strong>Admission:</strong> $7 for non-member adults; $5 for non-member children. Tours of the house will be available during the encampment event and are included in the event fee.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Re-enactors bring Revolutionary War encampment to life at Denison House