The Salem Zouaves

The Salem Zouaves will march in this year’s Patriot’s Day parade at Minuteman National Historical Park in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts on Monday 21 April 2014.  (The original Zouaves were among the “Minutemen of ’61″ at the start of the Civil War.)  The parade steps off in Concord’s town center at 9:00 am.  We’ll march with Revolutionary War and other Civil War units.  Come see it!

The Salem Zouaves will demonstrate manual-of-arms and bayonet drills on video, and broom drill—an actual period practice—live, at Smith College’s ConBust ’14, on Saturday, March 29, 2014 at 2:00 pm in Seelye Hall room 312.  In addition, we’ll appear as our seventeenth-century selves at noon, and we have members involved in programming at 10:00 am (Tribute to Tactical Tutors and Training), 5:00 pm (So You Think You Can Fight?), and 7:00 pm (Huzzah for Hollywood).  We hope to see you there!

The Salem Zouaves will participate in a living-history encampment as part of the city of Lynn’s Civil War Sesquicentennial programs.  The encampment will take place on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 June on Lynn Common.  Saturday’s program will be followed by a franks-and-beans supper at Lynn’s historic G.A.R. hall:

The General Frederick W. Lander Post No. 5 Grand Army of the Republic Museum, at 58 Andrew Street in Lynn, will be the site of a G.A.R. Bean Supper, hosted by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.  This fund-raising event recreates monthly bean suppers that were held by the G.A.R. for area veterans in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.  As an added bonus, the Hall will be open for tours during the supper.  Tickets are $10 per person, and are available at the door.

Most of us, I think, will be there.  Join us!

The Salem Light Infantry (Salem Zouaves), as is their annual custom, will march in the Nahant and Lynn Memorial Day parades on Monday 27 May 2013.  The Nahant parade steps off at 9:00 am, and the Lynn parade steps off at 1:30 pm.

We will participate in the Watch City Festival in Waltham, Massachusetts, on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 May 2013.  We’ll have our tent set up in Landry Park, right in front of the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation, all day on Saturday and on Sunday, and we’ll give periodic demonstrations of manual-of-arms and bayonet drill.  Time and inclination permitting, there may also be nineteenth-century fencing and visits from some of our favorite 1860s ladies and civilian gentlemen.  Come visit us!

The Salem Zouaves will demonstrate manual-of-arms and bayonet drills on video, and broom drill—an actual period practice—live, at Smith College’s ConBust ’13, on Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 5:00 pm in Seelye Hall room 312.

The Salem Zouaves will demonstrate bayonet drill at Arisia ’13, on Saturday, January 19, 2013 at 11:00 am in Harbor Ballroom II.  From the Arisia ’13 Schedule:

Salem Zouaves: Civil War Bayonet Drill
In the mid-nineteenth century, a military fashion craze swept Europe and the United States.  Known as Zouaves, they were originally French-Algerian light infantry famous for their colorful Turkish uniforms, athletic precision drill, and ferocity with cold steel in battle.  The Salem Light Infantry, an elite militia company from Salem, Massachusetts, went Zouave in April, 1861.  This presentation will feature a demonstration in uniform of the bayonet-fencing drill practiced by the Salem Zouaves.