On October 18-22 of the year the year 2006 an event was held at Givhen’s Ferry state park so named Castra Romana.  This was a Roman event for the public but also for the re-enactors to have fun at.  It was the first time that I was going to dress as a Germanic tribesman and the first event that the Cherusci was involved in.

October 18  In the early AM, around 0900, we went to the local Ryder truck rental and got the truck to load all the gear and head to the event.  Around 1000 we got back to the house and started loading all the stuff, and boy was it a lot a stuff.  We loaded six boxes of armor, with two complete sets in each box, tents, poles, flags, cook wear, tables, and much, much more!!  Around 1500 we finally closed the door on the truck and finished packing.

October 19  We woke as the sun arose from the sky.  Unfortunately for us the sky was a little over cast and the temperature was in the mid 80s with a 75% humidity level.  After drinking a cup of coffee, shower, and loading last minute stuff we went to the local waffle house and had breakfast.  Finally, around 1030 we arrived on site at Givhen’s Ferry State park were we immediately started to unpack.  We first unloaded the small trailer we have, which we packed with all the tents, and shields.  As soon as we finished unloading the trailer our members from North Carolina started to arrive.  Once they arrived the tents went up pretty quick, even though their were eight tents to rise.  Once the tents were up we started to prepare our lunch, we had ham that was boiled in water mixed with honey served with cheese, some really good bread from a local Charleston bakery, and a Gatorade. 

After taking our time with lunch we started on the feast hall/prefect’s tent, which went up pretty quick, probably because it took all of us to set it up.  After that we all split up to work on different things, Half of us worked on the German camp, two of us on the arena and the rest on getting sand for the fire pits, and setting up the pila and shields.  After all that was done we were all exhausted, and the sun was beings to set so we all stopped and reflected on what we had done and looked to our tents and a good night sleep to come.  Just after the sun was set dinner was served, we had chicken cook with potatoes and served in gravy, chickpeas, bread, and assorted fruit.  During the meal it was quite either because the food was so good or because we were exhausted, I think it was a bit of both.  That night it was a little warm but not to bad. 

October 20  We all kind of woke up on our own to a cool and very beautiful morning.  We really didn’t have much to do that day.  The only things left were to set up the market and fine tune everything.  After working on the market more and more of our members started to arrive and made the work a lot easier.  The tents went up fairly easy, since they had some one tall like me, and we started putting up the back drops to the market.  These back drops were just painted on plywood, but a work of art in themselves.  They were painted to look like a food vendor on two thirds on it and a pottery vendor on the last third, and it looked very impressive.  After doing that section of the market the first of many members from Georgia started to arrive.  We then set out to build the other half of the market which was to be for Soul of the Warrior vendor. 

After the half of the tents were up all that needed to be done was to decorate the market, finish setting up the camp area and decorate the feast hall.  The legion’s signifier is a very creative, and decorating savvy person, which help and lead the decoration of the market and feast hall.  We all helped out with the incoming re-enactors and sent them to were they needed to go and got there gear stowed away.  After a while the centurio decided that drilling was needed, so we all picked up a pila and scuta.  Around this time the Cherusci started to come in.  At that time I set aside my roman gear and orientated them to our camp site, a little of the Roman camp and to there tent.  By the end of the tour the soldiers had stopped drilling and started to clean the camp of most modern objects and prepared for dinner.  For dinner we had left over turkey from lunch, peppered beef, lintels, bread, green beans with nuts and bits of ham, and blue berry pie.  That night is it was very cold, and a bit of the snorkestra had come out. 

October 21 The big day!  Surprisingly we all pretty much got up about the same time.  We all were a little crusty eyed and cold, but we managed to arise.  That morning we had sausage with bread and cheese.    By nine o’clock we were all in gear and ready for the event to officially start.  At ten o’clock we started out with a bit of light drill which quickly transformed into a little combat by throwing pila.  Then we went into some tactical formations like the testuto and wedge formation.  When we did the testuto formation we left some of the spectators mainly the children throw needle felt pila at us to show them how useful that formation can be during a missile attack.  Once the kids had there fill of trying to kill us the centurion dismissed us and the tutorials on Roman life and culture began.  After about ten minutes of tutorials it was time for us to receive our wages.  We got into formation and then we opened ranks.  The centurio went down the line inspecting the troops pointing out even the littlest things wrong.  When he got to me he noticed that I had on a pair of barbarian shoes.  (I gave my Roman caligae to my barbarian friend since he had no shoes.)  I tried to tell him that the girl in the brothel I visited the night before took them.  He didn’t like that a whole lot so he decided to beat me.  I screamed in hoarer and dropped to my knees and then my helmet was knocked from my head.  I then tried to get to my feet but lost my footing and tumbled to the ground.  I later found out that most everyone that was in formation thought that I was really in danger, which was good because that is what I wanted to convey to everyone. 

While everyone was getting there wages, I got changed into my chieftain kit for my tutorial which did not happen because everyone was getting lunch.  After lunch I changed into my gladiator gear. We had four bouts one: Thrax vs Myrmillo, two: Secutor vs Retiarius, third: Noxii vs Noxii, and four: Myrmillo vs Hoplamocus.  I was really looking forward to fighting because my opponent only had one fight and I had only had one fight.  We were the second pair to fight.  It started out like a typical fight, both in high spirits, both thinking we were going to win.  After a while, for some reason, I dropped my sword which really confused me then as well as now.  So I decided to charge and push him with my shield, the next thing I know I have a trident in my chest.  The only hit he gets on me is a chest hit, so I fall to the ground and ask for the crowd to let me live, they wish me dead.  After my death on the fourth pair to fight one of the gladiators turns and attacks the prefect.  It was awesome to see the Slayer from Syracuse fight off two fully armed legionaries, and he was not alone some of the other gladiators helped.  At the end of the fight the editor of the event, our prefect from Kentucky presented our centurion with a very special gift, a baton.  For those of you that don’t know the purpose of the baton, in Roman times the baton was only given to those that had the full backing of the Senate and carried only by those of the rank General or higher.  It caught him off guard and I think I saw a tear in his eye. 

After the gladiator fights were over all the spectators left.  We all were a little curious about that, but the show went on.  In the afternoon we were going to do more drill, needle felt combat, and the confusion of Justus, but we just ended up doing the needle felt combat.  In the needle felt combat we did the bouts but the first one the Romans spilt up into two groups one the main force and the other the “reserves”.  Before I go into how they turned out I want to explain the rules we were given.  One: we should fight like we are ten thousand Germans and they are twenty thousand Romans, in simpler terms no flanking.  Two: the Germans should loose sense we are the bad guys.  Well, we didn’t like either of those rules but we agreed to follow the no flanking rule.  Like I had mentioned earlier in the first bout the Romans spilt their force into two groups, one being the main attack force and the other being the “reserve”, to make it short we won.  They waited until the main force was dead until they sent in the reserves, and they did not hold there formation very well.  The second bouts the Romans won but only because they broke one of the rules that they made, no flanking.  The third we decided to break that rule as well, why not the Romans did.  That bout was quick and easy, we took them on their left flank.  We took out there optio, which was there best fighter and the man next to him and then just cut them up from behind.  Not bad if I do say so myself! :) 

After that we took some pictures for the Cherusci website, which were the Cherusci members standing over the bodies of the dead Romans.  Those came out really good!  We also took group shots of all the groups that attended Castra which included Legio VI, Legio I, Legio XI, Legio V, and The Cherusci.  Once the pictures were done we all got comfortable and talked about what we had done during the day and really just enjoyed each others company.

When the sun went down we went back to the arena for more gladiator combat before the great feast.  There was only three bouts.  I only remember the first bout because I won!!!!  The other two I was to busy soaking in the memory of winning and changing back into my chieftain gear for the feast. 

The feast hall…. Wow!!!  I was one of the last people to walk into the feast hall and it looked awesome.  It was very impressive with the Persian carpets on the floor, candles very wear, furs on the wall, and the standards in the back.  After everyone was seated one of the legions new recruits lead us in a prayer.  We started out with a few appetizers like bread with an olive spread and cheese mixed with garlic spread, cold cuts, grapes, and cheese.  After about maybe fifteen minutes the main course came in.  Now I forget which order they came in but we had roast duck with plum sauce, lamb, chicken with green beans, and the list goes on.  The cook did a wonderful job with the meal!!!  After the meal we all just kind of did what we wanted to, me and a buddy went to do a little needle felt fighting, others went by the fire, and some stayed in the tent and horsed around.  After all that no one stayed up late. 

October 22  After a very cold night we all woke up really early for some reason.  We also woke up to see the sky full of clouds.  We thought about doing a quick “nature hike” (in a sneaky low voice) and maybe an ambush, but everyone had to leave.  After everyone was up we had a small church service which was done by one of the legion’s new recruit, which by the way is a chaplain in the 82^nd Airborne.  I thought it was a very good sermon, he incorporated what we were doing that weekend into his service.  I was touched by the message.  After that most everyone had to go so we helped everyone pack and the few that stayed helped us pack the truck.  We had all the tents down and folded, the arena rolled back up, and the market packed when it started to rain, and when I tell you it rained it RAINED!!!  We got soaked from the first hair on our heads, to the very bottom of our shoes, even our underwear and soaks were wet.  While it was raining we still had to tear down the feast hall and pack it, pack the tents, pack the camp gear, tear down and pack the centurio tents.  We started packing at about 1000 or 1030 and got home around 1400.  What would have taken us four hours at most took us about six because of the rain.  Now because of the rain we now have an order with in the legion called “The brotherhood of the Fish”.

October 23  We got up, well we tried to get up, around 0900 to unpack the truck.  We were all stiff as a board, and wondering why we do this for fun.  First we took a friends truck to the mechanic sense it messed up at Castra, and then went to breakfast.  We got back to the house around 1100.  We were not in a hurry to unload the truck so we went slow not to mention we had to unfold all the tents to let them dry.  We finally finished up around 1730 hours. 

That the is report for Castra Romana.  The first event of The Cherusci tribe!