Pictures from the Lehigh Valley Museum

The New Campaign Season Starts!

Join the New Jersey Frontier Guard Saturday, March 28, 2015 at the Lehigh Valley Museum in Allentown.  

Voyageur's cap

Liz has also been busy over the winter.  Here's an example of the Voyageur's cap she just finished.

These caps are often associated with French Canadian voyageurs, but various knit caps, such as the Monmouth cap, were popular in the British colonies as well.  By the time of the American Revolution (about 20 years after the NJ Frontier Guard), these caps were known as Liberty Caps, after the Greek or Roman Phrygian caps worn by freed slaves.  

Of course, it looks better on Liz than it does on me.  If anyone has more information about these caps and their use - or lack of it - in the F&I War, please comment and let me know.

By the way, we have some of these caps on our "for sale" page, if you're interested.  At $20, they're pretty reasonable for handmade wool hats.

2015 Calendar Now Online

While a few dates are still tentative, you can now find out where to find us in the 2015 campaign season.   Please stop by and say hello.  Mention that you saw us online here.

Welsh Cakes

Today we made Welsh cakes from a mixture/recipe we picked up at Quiet Valley this fall.  This variation uses baking powder, which was not available until the mid-nineteenth century, but then again, I'm all out of salts of Hartshorn (ammonium carbonate, made from ground red deer antlers), so since we were at home, I'll allow ourselves the "cheat."

They came out nicely - flour, sugar, salt, nutmeg, dried currants, butter, an egg, a little milk, dried currants, and that anachronistic baking powder...

This is certainly a recipe that'll get added to the list of camp foods. It was easy to prepare; in fact, I'm sure the dough (or dry ingredients) could be prepared in advance, and then it needs very little to cook - just a fire and a pan.  I got the pan a little too hot, as you can see from the picture, but they still tasted really good.

Here's a link to a different recipe.  This one uses raisins, but I like the dried currants, if you can get them. Welsh Cakes

Merry Christmas!

Joys of the Nativity to you, and God bless His Majesty, George II!

John Singleton Copley, The Nativity, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Video From Kinnelon Military Timeline

The French & Indian War and the Colonial Frontier

This video comes from a show-and-tell display that the Frontier Guard set up as part of a military timeline event at Kinnelon for the New Jersey Arms Collectors in early November.

Over 20,000!

The figures for 2014 are in, and the New Jersey Frontier Guard put on presentations for over 20,000 people at all the events we attended this year.  We'd like to thank all the organizers of the various events who invited us to show up and give visitors a glimpse of life on the NJ frontier in 1756.  Hope to see you in 2015!

Winter is Coming

With the onset of cold weather, eighteenth century armies usually ceased active campaigning.  Frigid weather and snow meant that it was difficult for armies to move, and thaws were often worse, as mud made roads impassable for large bodies of men, animals, wagons, and artillery.

While neither the NJ Frontier Guard nor their Lenape foes moved large bodies of men along the roads at any time of year, winter was nonetheless habitually a time to stay inside as much as possible, as close to the fire as duty and circumstances would allow.

Similarly, the campaign season for Captain Gardiner's company of the NJ Frontier Guard has finished for the year.  It is a time for us to do research, to repair items worn or damaged during the events of the last months, to stock the larder if game comes into the front sight, to make new clothing or accoutrements, and to plan for the next season.


I hope, over the next few months, to post more articles about the history of the Frontier Guard and related subjects, so check back regularly.  In the meantime, please accept my wishes for a joyous Thanksgiving (a holiday, by the way, that dates back to 1863, and for which we have Abraham Lincoln to thank, not the Separatists of Plimoth - as some spellings of the seventeenth century had it). 

Enjoy your roast venison, woodchuck, and squirrel!

James Kaval's Photos from Van Campen Inn

James Kaval's photo set

Photographer James Kaval took some photos at the Van Campen Inn.  Check out the link for more.