Brigade will re-enact historic march
The march through Bolivar to the fort will take place at 11:45 a.m. Re-enactment activities will take place from noon to 4 p.m. and will include musket and weaponry demonstrations.
Members of the Brigade of the American Revolution will re-enact the historic march through what is now Bolivar to the grounds of Fort Laurens on Saturday, Nov. 16.
The original march, which took place in 1778, brought the continental army from Fort McIntosh to Tuscarawas County with a distinct mission: to build a fort that would serve as a strategic location for staging an attack on the British at Fort Detroit.
The soldiers constructed Fort Laurens along what is now the Tuscarawas River, not knowing winter 1778-79 would be a brutal one that would bring horrific conditions, attacks by American Indians, incredible hunger and eventual death.
The march through Bolivar to the fort will take place at 11:45 a.m. Re-enactment activities will take place from noon to 4 p.m. and will include musket and weaponry demonstrations, a memorial ceremony at the fort’s Tomb of the Unknown Patriot, and a presentation by Tom Pieper and Don Angeloni on the history of Fort Laurens. Re-enactors will relive and recreate the atmosphere of the original event.
Saturday also will include the fort’s Free Speaker Series, featuring Seth Angel, who will give a presentation on the life of Col. John Gibson, who was in command of the troops at Fort Laurens.
Fort Laurens is located at 11067 Fort Laurens Road NW in Bolivar.