Held inside the pop-up Visitor's Center, the former site of the New Jersey National Bank, we were nice and warm. The marbled lobby still retains the charm from its heyday.
Steve is the founder and president of Living History Co. Though only 32-years old, he already has over two decades of experience as a living historian. He kept encouraging to participate in his presentation -- asking a bunch of white, older people to do more than simply nod as he asked us questions. As one woman said, "this is hard for us introverts." We warmed up and left him with questions he said would be leading him down internet rabbit holes for days -- not that he was complaining!
Steve is also a member of the First Rhode Island Infantry, something he fell into before learning four or five years ago about an ancestor who was the drummer with this organization. Small world!
Back in the Revolutionary War era, Rhode Island had a large slave population. Their official name was the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, it was not changed to the State of Rhode Island until the voters on it in November 2020. I wonder if someone was bored during the COVID era and stumbled upon that fact and decided it needed to be changed in an effort to have a feel-good story. According to news stories, as of last year they were still working to change the wording to State of Rhode Island.
It is easy to go down rabbit holes.
the army. On the other hand, they needed people to fight. The plantation owners were told by the Continental Army they could either send their enslaved men to fight (and collect their pension and pay), or sell their slave for two hundred pounds, or the militia will simply take them and offer the pension directly to the slave.
Steve covered how Massachusetts and Virginia each handled the same situation. Meanwhile, the British suggested the Blacks should be fighting in the war and offered them freedom if they lived to the end. In Britain, though, when you signed up to be in the army it was for life.
Black men often became musicians with the army because they were not trusted with guns. They did carry swords, but often had to kit themselves.
I learned about the Battle of Great Bridge, which only lasted an hour but during that time many casualties. The soldiers were unprepared. They were not dressed in uniforms, or trained. Really they had no business being in a battle. Their next of kin did not receive a pension.
Where Steve's talk excelled was when he told us about the history of the fife and a couple of great musicians. The first, was Skippy O'Brown, who turned out to be Steve Thomas' relative. Skippy was born free, with the option to hold land and still signed up to fight. Rumor has it this man with a Native American mother and Black father was chasing a girl. He was captured by the British and enslaved. Then captured by the Americans and freed.
The second musician was Barzillai Lew, a noted flutist of the era, and another freed Black man who volunteered to be a fifer.
The British used the C fife, which is bottom tuned.
In the early 1800s, the B-flat Fife comes about. This is what they erroneously use in Williamsburg, but did not exist during the Revolutionary War era. It is the most pleasing to our ears.
I was told to look up Otha Turner, a famous Blues fifer born in 1908. He made his own fifes out reeds, using a style that dates back to the Plantation era.
Steve believes all music should be translated into fife music, and played tunes from different eras to prove his point.
I hope our paths cross again. There is a lot more he could teach me.
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