Horsfall’s company, another of the eight battalion companies, representing the Royal Welch Fusiliers in the south.
If you are interested in becoming a member of Captain Horsfall’s Company, (Southeast), contact Private Eric Spaar, email: eric.spaar@gmail.com
or
Regimental Recruiting Sergeant Dennis Murphy: djmurphy23@outlook.com
Attention to Company Orders:
Soon to be coming out of Winter Quarters, the Horsfall Company needs to start preparations for the upcoming Battle of Guilford Courthouse on 11-12 March in Greensboro, NC. That means attending to your uniform, cleaning and preparing muskets, and re-familiarizing yourselves with the drill and maneuvers required to be outstanding on parade and on the field of battle. General Cornwallis expects nothing less from the 23rd Regiment. Additionally, a St David’s Day dinner is planned for Saturday evening for all ranks and guests.
Standing order: By order of the Commander and the Officers, all efforts are to be made this year to procure the required wool small clothes necessary for the 250th Anniversary events to come.
Company Announcements:
After Action Report: Battle of Guilford Courthouse 2023 and St. David’s Day Celebration:
Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day for the event. Sunday was called on account of an impending rain storm. The 23rd Foot had 16 attend the battle (1 officer, 2 Sgts, 11 Musketmen and 2 Musicians). Thank you to Joe Siegel for coming down from MD for the event and St David’s Day dinner. It’s always great to have the music…it adds a lot to the experience.
The battle was typical GCH scenario; three lines of battle ending in advance and bayonet charge to the fleeing rebels followed by advance to the crowd to engage in spectator interactions and photo ops. British camp was quite a hike from the sutlers and main encampment…about as far away as you can get in the park. This time we set up a minimal camp with chairs and a fire pit to gather before battle and have lunch but no field camping. Instead we got an AirBNB house that sleeps 10 and had an extraordinary recreation room (mini-conference room) to accommodate a St David’s Day dinner celebration. We have searched for a restaurant or some such venue for years now and finally found this place. It is the perfect site for quartering our guys and hosting this dinner. Hope we can do this again next year and more.
We had a full St David’s Day program, minus the goat. Great food and libations and invited some guests from the event: Jay Callaham, the narrator and former 23rd member, and Vincent the German (Hessian soldier who survived the weather and fell in with us last year and we kind of adopted). Jay was very complimentary of the 23rd’s showing and our St david’s Day celebration …keeping that tradition alive is important. Vincent was very surprised and honored to be invited to dinner, thoroughly enjoyed himself and wants to join us as a Fusilier. Richard Coyle, a veteran of over 4 decades, said a few words to the effect that he was encouraged to see so many young faces in the regiment…the future of the hobby and regiment. And as always, we were very happy to have Richard join us all the way from Florida. His observation was spot on. We are very fortunate to have been able to make this hobby attractive to the younger crowd. We strive to make the 23rd, through our appearance, performance, crowd and camp hospitality, a unit that a prospective recruit would like to join and hang out with. So far so good.
By all accounts St David’s day was a big success. Almost everyone there had never experienced this dinner before, ate the leek, made the toasts, sang songs and generally had a good time. Next year we hope to have a bigger dinner…the site can accommodate more folks (we had 24 attendees..can do 30+). And hopefully next year we’d have the silver collection on display and not several pictures as proof that we actually have one. Thanks to the ladies, Sheila, Rebecca and Jannette for setting up, preparing the dinner and the cleanup. Thanks as usual to Shane Watson for his musical violin/fiddle playing of all the period songs etc. We are indeed fortunate to have his talents in our company. Again, having music makes a difference and enhances the experience for everyone.
Promotions: Lance Corporal Tim Brieaddy was promoted to Corporal. Private Kevin McClain promoted to Lance Corporal.
Awards: The Campaign Award was bestowed on Lance Corporal Kevin McClain. The Pride Award awarded to Corporal Tim Brieaddy and the Soldiers Award went to Private Jordan Rowland and Lance Corporal Shane Watson.
New recruit: Denis Messier became our newest recruit having joined the 23rd Regiment after seeing the Regiment at The Battle Brandywine last fall.
Company & Local Events:
(Bold are set events. Italics are tentative.)
February 18 & 19 – American Heritage Festival, Lake City, SC
March 11 & 12 – Battle of Guilford Courthouse, Greensboro, NC
March 25 – British occupation of Hillsborough, Hillsborough NC (One day event)
Apr 29 & 30 – Market Fair, Fort Frederick, MD
May 6 & 7 – Mount Vernon Revolutionary War Days, Alexandria VA
June 10-12 – Old Stone House, Salisbury, NC
June 17 & 18 – Battle of Monmouth, Monmouth, NJ (BRITISH BRIGADE EVENT)
TBD – July – Boone, NC – Hickory Ridge History Museum / British Occupation
TBD – Historic Hillsborough Excursion Day, Hillsborough NC (One day event)
Sept 23 & 24 – Endview Plantation, Yorktown, VA
Sept 30 & Oct 1 – Fort Loudoun, Fort Loudoun, PA (BRITISH BRIGADE EVENT)
November 11 & 12 – Battle of Camden/Hobkirk’s Hill, Kershaw, SC
Check back often for updates to Horsfall’s Company’s 2022 event schedule.