Celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge!

I just returned from a trip to the Wilmington, NC, area, to attend the NC First in Freedom Festival celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, which took place on February 27, 1776. This battle, depicted in Diana Gabaldon's novel A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES, was a small but important Patriot victory.

I've known about this battle for many years, but I'd never been to the area before. As soon as I found out that Diana Gabaldon was going to be doing some events there for the 250th anniversary, I made up my mind to go. Obviously many others had the same idea, because the tickets sold out very quickly!

Unfortunately, the weather on Friday, the first day I was there, was a total washout. I don't think it stopped raining at all the entire day. So I decided the best way to deal with it was to adopt a Scottish attitude toward the weather, and not let the rain slow me down too much. I found other things to do during the day, including a visit to the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher, which was very interesting.



In the evening, I attended Diana Gabaldon's event (an interview with local historian Hunter Ingram) along with about 750 other OUTLANDER fans. I had an excellent seat, in the second row. We didn't really hear any news, but it's always a treat to hear Diana speak in person.

I particularly enjoyed the very interesting imagery she used when describing her writing process, about how continents form. It sounded vaguely familiar to me, and then I remembered that Diana did a podcast in 2007 on the subject of "Raising Continents", where she gave a similar explanation. It's only a few minutes long, but worth listening to! It's part of a series of short podcasts that Diana did in 2007-2008, while she was writing AN ECHO IN THE BONE (Book 7). They're no longer on her website, but fortunately they're all available on the Wayback Machine. The full list of 24 podcasts is HERE if you're interested.

After the interview, I went backstage with my friend Linda Kidwell, who recently joined the staff of TheLitForum as my "Assistant Bumblebee-Herder", to help manage the discussions in Diana Gabaldon's section of the forum. We were the first ones there for the "Meet and Greet" with Diana, so we had a couple of minutes to talk privately with her before the others arrived. As soon as Diana came in and saw me, she gave me a hug. (Yes, that's still a thrill for me, even after I've known Diana online for many years.)



I love this photo! It's one of the best pictures of the two of us that I've ever had, and I will treasure it. (The necklace I'm wearing is a replica of Claire's pearl necklace from the books, which I bought from a Scottish company called Hamilton & Young some years ago.)

I got Diana to sign the beautiful plaque I received in December from my friends at the Wake County Libraries.



I spent much of Saturday exploring Moores Creek National Battlefield. The park is much bigger than I was expecting, but there are paved paths throughout, and I was delighted to find that I could access almost all of it with my mobility scooter, including a wood-plank bridge over the creek that gives the site its name.

The creek ran through a stretch of treacherous, swampy ground, with cypress trees stretching up from water and mud. The creek itself deepened as it narrowed, though--a plumb line that some curious soul dropped into the water off the bridge said it was fifteen feet deep at that point--and the bridge was the only feasible place for an army of any size to cross.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 112, "Oathbreaker". Copyright © 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Take a good look at the wooden bridge supports in the next photo. Now imagine what it was like for the British troops that day 250 years ago. The Patriots had pried up the wooden boards, and greased the support struts to make it impossible for the enemy troops to climb back onto the remains of the bridge.



Looking down at the water (cold water at that, this being the end of February!), it's easy to imagine the scene that day, just as described in ABOSAA:

[M]ost of the Highlanders had crowded down to the banks of the creek -- some were in the water, clinging to the bridge supports, inching across. More were on the timbers, slipping, using their swords like McLeod to keep their balance.

“Fire!” and he fired, powder smoke blending with the fog. The cannon had the range, they spoke one-two, and he felt the blast push against him, felt as though the shot had torn through him. Most of those on the bridge were in the water now, more threw themselves flat upon the timbers, trying to wriggle their way across, only to be picked off by the muskets, every man firing at will from the redoubt.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 113, "The Ghosts of Culloden". Copyright © 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I enjoyed the "living history" area, a series of tents where re-enactors in period costumes demonstrated various crafts, like how to make candles and how to weave thread on a small hand loom, and showed examples of food, weaponry, and other details of 18th century life. All very interesting to me, of course. Here are a few of the ones I liked best.



Tents for the soldiers. They looked barely big enough to sleep in, though I'm sure the officers' tents would have been bigger.



Supplies for an 18th-century tavern.



Rules of the Tavern. I thought these were pretty funny.



Demonstrating how to weave cloth by hand using a small wooden loom.



Making candles. It's a complicated process, as Jenny explained to Claire in OUTLANDER:

“Jenny,” I called, “how long does it take to make candles, counting everything?”

She laid the small shirt she was stitching in her lap, considering.

“Half a day to gather the combs, two to drain the honey--one if it’s hot--one day to purify the wax, unless there’s a lot or it’s verra dirty--then two. Half a day to make the wicks, one or two to make the molds, half a day to melt the wax, pour the molds and hang them to dry. Say a week altogether.”

(From OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 30, "Conversations by the Hearth". Copyright © 1991 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Lanterns.



This is a model of a turpentine camp, perhaps similar to the one we saw in DRUMS OF AUTUMN on Jamie and Claire's first visit to River Run. Notice the two men in the background doing something to the trees with long poles.



The highlight for me (and many other visitors, judging by the large crowd that went to see it!) was the re-enactment of the actual battle, featuring at least 25 re-enactors with muskets on the Patriot side, and probably that many or more on the British side. I had seen musket demonstrations before, but nowhere near this many men firing at the same time! It was quite impressive. (We were, of course, seated behind the line of soldiers, who had their backs to us the whole time.)

After the battle re-enactment, I made my way to a nearby venue for the book-signing, where I saw Diana again briefly. By then I was just exhausted, and it was all I could do to get back to the hotel and collapse on the bed. I was glad to have a chance to rest for a while.

We saved the best part for last: a private dinner in a local restaurant, with Diana Gabaldon and a small group of people from TheLitForum, most of whom, like me, have known Diana for years. We ended up staying for about three hours (!), long after we'd finished eating, just chatting, telling stories, and so on.



I think you can tell from this group photo that we were having a wonderful evening! What a rare treat, to be able to spend so much time with Diana in a casual setting like that, out of the public eye. I'm really glad we were able to give her a chance to relax for a few hours in the midst of the whirlwind of public events. We all had a great time, and Diana was clearly enjoying herself.



Toward the end of the evening, someone asked for a photo of Diana with me and Linda Kidwell, as the two "bumblebee-herders" (moderators) in Diana's section of TheLitForum. I think this is a terrific picture!

I had a wonderful time on this trip, and I'm really glad I made the effort to go!