Red-Legged Devils at Plymouth Church Saturday

By on October 26, 2011 11:31 pm in Events, History

This Saturday, October 29, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., if you go to the courtyard of Plymouth Church, on Orange Street between Henry and Hicks, you will be transported back to the era of the Civil War, which Plymouth’s fiery abolitionist preacher, Henry Ward Beecher, may have helped to bring about, and where Abraham Lincoln prayed before the speech at Cooper Union in Manhattan that is credited with making him a serious candidate for President. Camped on the lawn (the photo shows the same group there in 2006) will be re-enactors wearing the uniforms of the 14th Regiment of the New York Militia, a unit formed in Brooklyn. Their colorful kit, with red trousers, earned them the nickname “Red-Legged Devils.”

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  • weegee

    This event will also feature Sacred Harp, or shape note, singing. This was a very popular genre of music in churches throughout the country in the mid-19th century, and is truly amazing to hear in person, with good acoustics.

    The history of the 14th Brooklyn is deeply ingrained with that of Brooklyn Heights. Company C was known as the Franklin Guards, as its nucleus was Franklin Engine Co. 3 of the Brooklyn Fire Department, located right up Henry Street.

    I’ll be there in the red trousers, myself. Should be a good event!