STATESVILLE — Earn a few shillings, serve the British Crown and protect the colonial frontier! A recruiting party of N.C. Provincial soldiers defending the colony during the French and Indian War will be at Fort Dobbs looking for new recruits during “Gone for a Soldier,” a free living history program to be held Saturday, July 25, and Sunday, July 26.
From 10 a.m. -4 p.m. daily, visitors will be able to “enlist” in the company guarding the western frontier and learn first-hand what it took to be a soldier in the 18th century.
Children and adults alike are welcomed to join the ranks and learn how to do military drills at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. both days. Demonstrations of military drills, musket and artillery firings, as well as the routines of camp life for frontier soldiers during the 1700s will be on-going. A typical colonial church service will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday. Visitors may to worship as the soldiers did 250 years ago.
The British Empire and colonies such as North Carolina recruited soldiers to defend the empire and protect the colonies from the French and their Indian allies during the French and Indian War (1754-1763). In a popular 18th-century ballad, a young woman mourns the fact that her “Johnny has gone for a soldier,” so obviously many mothers, wives and sweethearts had to watch their loved go off to war in those days.
The French and Indian War (1754-1763) was a hard, bloody slog for soldiers but nevertheless, thousands of men from England’s colonies enlisted, whether through patriotism, a sense of adventure or just for a steady job. Commonly, recruiting parties from military units would set up at taverns and public fairs and markets to encourage young men to choose a soldier’s life. For enlisting, soldiers often received a bounty, a powerful impetus to join up and fight for king and country.
The role of Fort Dobbs and North Carolina in the French and Indian War (1754-1763), the first true world war, makes up an important chapter in North Carolina’s colonial history. Built in 1756, the fort was named for Royal Governor Arthur Dobbs and manned by provincial soldiers. It was garrisoned from 1756-1761, sheltering frontier settlers during the war and serving as the colony’s western frontier company headquarters. The fort was attacked February 27, 1760, when soldiers fought off more than 60 Cherokee.
Fort Dobbs’ mission is to preserve and interpret the history of North Carolina’s only French and Indian War fort and is open Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., offering living history programs daily. Special events and living history weekends are offered throughout the year. Fort Dobbs is conveniently located just 1 mile from I-77 and I-40 interchange. For more information on Fort Dobbs, visit www.fortdobbs.org, call (704) 873-5882 or e-mail info@fortdobbs.org.
It is part of the Division of N.C. Historic Sites and Properties within the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture. Join the Cultural Resources 2009 theme observance of “Treasure N.C. Culture. For more information, visit www.ncculture.com.