23 Days And Counting...

Twenty-three days 'til Trail of History, the last re-enactment of the year.

This year's actually a first for me: I'm going alone rather as part of a group. Because of that, I had to re-apply. Since I'd been going since '98 (but for a couple of years I had to miss), I thought that was a bit silly, but hey, what can you do? I sent in an application, complete with photos (thanks to Contagion), and a character history. Below is what I wrote:

I portray Tomas "Dhu" ("Black") MacGregor, or Tam to me friends. I am the only surviving son of Fergal McBrian, an Irish Jacobite from West Meath, and Fionna MacGregor, a daughter of James MacGregor, a Jacobite from Balquidder, Scotland.

I was born in Balquidder, Scotland and baptised Tomas McBrian, some years after the failed Jacobite Rebellion of 1715. An Irishman by blood, a Scotsman by place, and a fervent Jacobite by the Grace of God, I was there at the dog's dinner that was the Battle on Culloden's Moor.

Me da is there still.

After, knowing that McBrians were well known as Irish Jacobites fighting in Scotland, I thought it wise to take me ma's name.

(Although there were MacGregors at the Battle of Culloden, we didn't fight as a clan. Because of this there was more peril in being known as a McBrian than as a MacGregor!)

I tried to rebuild a life in the land of my birth, but the Sasanachs found more value in cattle and sheep than in Scotsmen, let alone Irishmen! So, selling what little goods and gear I had (but for me granda's claymore and me bodhran), I booked passage as crew on a leaky tub for the Americas.

Landing on the quay in Virginia, I've since come West trying to find a peaceful life away from the bloody English. But the Sasanachs are looking for another fight, this time with the French and certain tribes of Savages.

’Tis only a wee matter of time afore I take up me granda's claymore against the Bloody-backs.

Until that time, I find peace where I may, playing me bodhran and singing what Irish and Scottish ditties as come to mind - many of the Jacobite persuasion, of course - for what crumbs may come me way.

The "Tam to me friends" refers to the way it sounds when a Scotsman tries to say "Tom", so in effect, I'm "Black Tom" in English.

Just in case you were wondering.

I'll post pictures later, if I can remember how.....