July 4th, a July 5th Analyses and Other Things

We celebrated Independence Day most patriotically.  

If one digs the American Revolution, Northern New Jersey is the place to be. We have an MA in the American Revolution, partially because when we started in 2002 we thought, 'Well, we do live in northern New Jersey.' One wonders if we were still in Northern Virginia would we have chosen the Civil War instead. We wish we had. Those term papers would have been much more marketable. 

We combined papers on Washington's strategy and tactics and got it publish in Strategy & Tactics. They later published a piece of ours about Banastare Tarleton and William Washington. Before that we published an article on Colonel Otho Holland Williams in the Journal of the Maryland Historical Society. Oh well.

Yesterday we took the girls to the Middlebrook Encampment. This is basically a field on the side of a mountain and one of the many places Washington camped. His Morristown headquarters is ten minutes from here. Trenton and Princeton are half an hour away. So's the Monmouth battleground.

Anyway the mayors of Bridgewater and Bound Brook made brief speeches. The Boy Scouts retired the flag which flew at Middlebrook for the last year and raised a new one. The Declaration of Independence was read and finally a benediction given. The whole thing took about 30 minutes. 

That evening we barbequed, of course. We had planned to set off some fireworks, but a cold is making its way through the family and the girls are still zonked from two days of dance recitals. We did a few sparklers and watched the NYC fireworks instead. 

Turns out we did have a good idea for the week of 7/4/21. The 8th Infantry Division's chapter has turned into a chess match of dueling perspectives. The main battle is happening on the division's right, where the Soviets have occupied a large dairy farm crisscrossed by rock walls, drainage ditches and berms. It's a natural defensive pos. Southeast of that lies a Soviet armored battalion. To the north the East German 9th Panzer Division awaits orders. These provide the Soviet perspective. The American 3rd Brigade attacks the farm. We have the perspective of a pair of US armored battalions. Back and forth. The open ground between the Americans and the farm becomes The Corridor, through which the Soviets will commit their reserve division. This is where the final battle will take place.

Below, a very patriotic Monday (not) Metal: