OSWEGO, N.Y. – Another a successful event with, for a change, great weather! That sums up the 2005 Camp of Instruction (COI) at historic Fort Ontario in Oswego, New York. While the former is a given and par for the course, the latter—great weather—has been “kinda lacking” at most of the past CR COIs. Indeed, some participants at the 2005 COI even went home sunburned!

The Columbia Rifles’ COIs have always had a reputation for being well-planned, informative, and fun. But, just as often, they are remembered for their dreadful weather. 2001 was the Year of Valley Forge, where the lucky attendees stayed in tents and experienced ten inches of snow with a daytime temperature of 33 degrees and a nighttime temperature of about 25 degrees or less. The 2002 COI was dubbed the “The Deluge in Fort Ontario” and provided nearly continuous rain throughout the weekend. Everyone’s favorite “COI war story”, though, appears to be retelling “Ice Station Columbia”—the 2003 COI that gave the participants a vicious ice storm, loss of electrical power and heat at the fort for most of the weekend, snow, and nighttime wind chills below zero degrees Fahrenheit. Fortunately, the weather improved in 2004 to a manageable overcast condition with daytime temperatures in the 40s and only a slight drizzle on Sunday.
About thirty men participated at the 2005 COI, with about seventeen of them being CR members. There weren’t any standing commissioned officers for the weekend; rather, guys took turns as instructors, and only Orderly Sergeant Jeff Lau held “permanent” rank for the whole two days.

When I left Pawtucket on Friday afternoon for the 2005 COI, I made sure that I knew what was in store for us weather-wise and was surprised to learn that we were expecting good weather. What?! No snow? No rain? No tsunamis? No plague of locusts? I guess we all did something to earn the favor of the gods because, for once, the professional weather prognosticators were correct: we had sunny days and warm temps (with highs approaching 70 degrees!).

I arrived at Fort Ontario around 10:00 p.m., bringing two friends from outside the CR. One of them, Dave Cousineau, joined us last year for the COI and fell in with some of us at Recon 3. He enjoyed the events and the fellowship last year and was glad to be able to attend again in 2005. My other friend, Rob Snyder, is a longtime reenactor who moved away from the Civil War side of the hobby due to many of the same reasons that provided the impetus for the creation of the Columbia Rifles. I told him that there are guys who “get it” and was pleased to see that I was actually telling the truth! (He knows that I’m a lawyer so he doesn’t take anything for granted!)

Upon our arrival, we were greeted in the parking lot by John “PoJohn” Pell, Matt “Rooster” Dydo, the Pierings, and Dan Fleet (Fleeter). After partaking in some camaraderie and cheer, we proceeded into the fort to check in. We missed the welcoming remarks but got up to speed rather quickly. The sleeping quarters—in both the barracks building and the “officer quarters” this year—were more than ample for our needs and we got squared away in short order.

Saturday morning came quickly with Garr Gast doing another fine job with his once-a-year turn as our bugler, and roll call by Orderly Sergeant Jeff Lau. Breakfast was served and gobbled up quickly. Once again, all of the meals were delicious and plentiful. Hats off to the Pierings and all who helped with commissary/cooking duty throughout the weekend—they did yeoman’s work around the fire to feed us hungry boys.

After breakfast, we formed up as a company and the day’s instruction started. What followed was a terrific demonstration and discussion of differences in the drill manuals of Casey/Hardee and Scott/Chandler regarding the execution of the Manual of Arms. Both Scott Schotz and Dennis Schank of the 151st New York were well prepared and instructive in leading this session. They never fail to impress with their knowledge and we are lucky to have them as our pards.

The rest of the morning consisted of School of the Soldier drill and on mess gear. First, after the manual of arms class, Chris Piering led us through a refresher of stacking arms, fixing bayonets, and loading and firing. I always find this to be a valuable part of the weekend as I always learn something new with a certain aspect of these basic commands. Particularly helpful was breaking down the extraction and replacement of the bayonet when fixing and unfixing it. By working on this seemingly simple task, the whole drill came together smartly because everyone executed it in the same manner. While it may seem insignificant in the larger scheme of things, I get a lot out of the little things like this.

We then logged a few laps at the “Fort Ontario Speedway” under the direction of Mr. “Chawls” Heath, who never fails to entertain while instructing. This time around he shared some wisdom and good humor on marching and spacings—even if we were huffing and puffing doing double quick time on the gravel path all the way around the fort’s parade ground!

The morning was capped off with John “Perfesser” Tobey’s terrific lecture and discussion on mess gear, with an emphasis on issued flatware. The Perfesser never fails to impress and enlighten and, indeed, as Charles said, “The utensils class was simply outstanding.” During the hands-on class, which was held outdoors in front of the barracks building, we were able to examine some original mess equipment and compare them to our own reproductions.

Now, I never claimed to be the shiniest spoon in the drawer but I should have thought twice about bringing out my sutler row spoon. After folks recovered from being blinded by the sun’s reflection off the stainless steel, they quickly weighed in on the monstrosity that was this particular utensil. Needless to say, Stonewall Jackson was less harsh on his men in the spring of 1862 than the fellows were on my farby spoon that fateful morning! I have since replaced it with something more in keeping with the standards of the CR but my farby spoon will always hold a special place in my heart. And the ribbing, while merciless for a while, was also good-natured.

After lunch, Garr Gast led us through some School of the Company drill to get us moving again, instead of taking the usual post-meal siesta to which many of us are prone. We were a bit rusty but it soon came together with Garr’s guidance (and patience!). This drill was followed by two informative lectures, one on pests and vermin, and one on first-aid for reenactors.

Nic Ellis, an entymologist by trade who’s nearly done with his Ph.D. dissertation on bugs, ran through a Powerpoint presentation of all kinds of nasty little bugs that can make us sick, itch, and break out. We even received info on moths and such that pose a hazard to our “super-hardcore” uniforms and kit! Few of us knew what to expect with this presentation but everyone thoroughly enjoyed it and was glad to have it as part of this year’s program. The presentation, authored by Nic and two other Ph.D.s at Penn State, was extremely professional and informative.

Pete Smith and Steve Tyler then took us through a Powerpoint presentation of symptoms of certain common maladies that reenactors should be able to notice in the field, what to look for, what to do in certain situations, and some basic first-aid that everyone should know. It was all very useful information and a well-presented lecture.

We fell in for some more drill, but first had to pose for photographs outside the fort walls, including one where Our Leaders and the boys were photographed by the local newspaper presenting a $350 donation to the Friends of Fort Ontario.

We concluded the afternoon with the ubiquitous skirmish drill. Always confusing but always fun, we ran through various iterations of it until it became clear that we couldn’t screw it up anymore. What was that bugle call for retreat again? All kidding aside, Kevin did his usual superb job of instruction and we applied it just a few weeks later skirmishing up Sittlington’s Hill at the 2005 McDowell event.

Saturday evening was chock full of activity. After supper was the Columbia Rifles’ annual meeting, where business was conducted, votes were cast for uncontested board seats, and laughs were had. During the meeting, we also had the pleasure of officially welcoming back Chris Sedlack from his fifteen-month tour of service in “the real army” in Iraq. Thank God that O’Bee kept the business meeting to an hour. This was followed by an interesting Powerpoint presentation on Civil War military engineering by Prof. O’Beirne. One participant remarked that he was happy to see the Poplar Grove church featured in the presentation, as well as the Red River gunboat dams. However, some wags were disappointed that the presentation didn’t include details on how to build improved, utilitarian sinks in the field.

On Sunday morning, I had to get my fellow New Englanders home to their families and missed the battalion drill. Fortunately, we did have time to stay for Chawls Heef’s tutelage on how to bivouac in a large, carpeted room—while making believe you were outdoors in the wet and freezing. Pete Smith was made to volunteer along with a couple of other men to demonstrate the fine art of spooning… and Pete certainly didn’t seem to mind. He said afterward, “I thought I was going to fall asleep under those blankets! It was danged toasty!!”
The “battalion drill” that followed Chawls’s lecture was in many respects a repeat of 2004’s four-company drill, with only 22 men. Each company was made up of one company commander, two sergeants, and two “corporals” each holding one end of a thirty-foot rope, with O’Bee and Chris Piering serving, respectively, as the battalion commanders and drill instructors. Company commanders included Garr Gast, Pete Smith, Scott Schotz, and…crap, someone else, but I wasn’t there so I don’t know who it was. Anyway, it gave a lot of guys the opportunity to be stressed out in unfamiliar jobs in a battalion drill without embarrassing themselves in front of a large group. Seriously, these types of drills are invaluable for teaching larger numbers of men the rudiments of battalion drill in a low-stress environment where everyone can learn and screw up a bit while getting a laugh out of it. After drill, the balance of the men were packed up and heading home by 11:00 a.m. to conclude another CR COI.

This year’s Camp of Instruction was a big success, made even better by our Oswego Chamber of Commerce weather. I look forward to next year’s iteration—and I won’t forget to bring my sunscreen this time!

Mike Jolin is a member of the Columbia Rifles from Rhode Island