Over the weekend I attended a re-enactment and encampment of Colonel Crawford's capture. (For those who do not know much about Ohio history his capture and torture was the response for another man's brutal massacre of approx. 100 Christian Moravian men, women and children. Because of their deeply rooted religious beliefs they did not fight back against their captors and instead prayed and sang until their time to meet their death by hammer.) Many believe that Crawford was in the wrong place at the wrong time and suffered horribly as an example to others. (Find more about Crawford here.)
The re-enactment was good and the costumes had so much thoughtful detail. As a part of it there was an encampment, various displays and artisans, and demonstrations.I pleased to find all sorts of artisan showing off their wares or demonstrating skills. This included various handmade jewelry (beaded and metal work), carved wooden flutes in the style of the Plains Indians, a type of hand weaving for belts and scarves that I had not seen before, pottery in process, a man working on braided rugs (from a local historic society), hand dipping tallow candles (I can not imagine lighting might house with animal fats, but it happened), an assortment of weapon reproductions, as well cooking. It was so nice to not only see examples of some of these nearly forgotten crafts that were one a part of everyday life but to also see that the skills to do them were being presented.It turned out to be a lovely afternoon.
For more information about the massacre and the history check out these links:http://www.graveaddiction.com/gnadenhu.html
http://gnadenhutten.tripod.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnadenhutten,_Ohio
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/colonel-william-crawford-proceeds-toward-the-ohio
http://www.touring-ohio.com/history/crawford.html
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