Patriots Day may commemorate the battles in Lexington and Concord that started the Revolutionary War 233 years ago, but for some people the past isn't something to remember - it is something to live. For them, the holiday is an unofficial start to a season of parades and reenactments that continue till fall. Some reenactors adopt characters, changing their personalities and voices, just as they change from their work clothes into outfits that are meticulously assembled for historical accuracy.
MIKE GREELEY
AGE: 43
HOME: Dedham
OCCUPATION: Train attendant on the MBTA's Orange Line for 21 years
CHARACTER: Grenadier Sergeant Pitt
UNIT: His Majesty's 5th Regiment of Foot
WEAPON: King's Arm Brown Bess Musket
As an MBTA attendant, Mike Greeley travels between Forest Hills and Malden. As Sergeant Pitt, he travels back in time to 1775 for today's Patriots Day Battle of Lexington reenactment.
Greeley, who has been reenacting since 1990, has portrayed colonials but says he has the "face and attitude" to be British. "Somebody has to play the bad guy," he says. He's been told he looks like a "big meanie." The 6-foot-2 Greeley, wearing a foot-tall bearskin cap and boots with risers, towers over 7 1/2 feet as Sergeant Pitt.
To be ready for the dawn battle today on Lexington Green, Greeley will have gone to bed at noon yesterday, woken at 7 p.m., and spent six hours preparing his uniform. He planned to be in Lexington by 3 a.m. today to inspect his troops prior to the battle. Greeley also owns a fully restored World War II tank, which he drives in parades.
ANDREW SAVARESE
AGE: 14
HOME: Northborough
OCCUPATION: Student, eighth grade, Melican Middle School
CHARACTER: Drummer
UNIT: Middlesex County 4-H Fife & Drum Corps
Andrew Savarese considers Patriots Day a unique holiday - "a lot of nuts out there, colonial nuts, dressing up in colonial garb, and it's really cool to see all these people really into it."
"Remembering our history . . . and playing it loud!" is the Corps' motto. They're not technically reenactors, but in their colonial dress they could be marching in the 18th century. Today the Corps will march in parades in Concord and Lexington.
A snare drum he received as a Christmas present at age 5 started Savarese drumming. He also plays in the middle school jazz ensemble and in a band with some classmates called Blindfolds Aside.
Savarese is a Revolutionary War buff, influenced by his father, who died last October. Todd Savarese, who was codirector of the Middlesex County 4-H Fife & Drum Corps, brought Andrew to many reenactments. Andrew, however, will miss today's parades and battle - he's on a school trip to Wash ington, D.C.
CARRIE D. MIDURA
AGE: 33
HOME: Billerica
OCCUPATIONS: Office manager, Andover Historical Society; owner of Cherry Dawson, Milliner, a tailoring business specializing in historical clothing
CHARACTER: Cherry Dawson, milliner and camp follower
UNIT: Colonel Bailey's 2d Massachusetts Regiment
Carrie Midura's love of historical clothing led her to reenacting. Though she participated as a spectator in Battle Road events last week, Patriots Day isn't anything special for her character. As a camp follower, her character earns rations by cooking and mending for her Regiment, but at the time of the Lexington battle, the war had not started and there was no Army.
During the five or six weekend reenactments Midura attends each year with Bailey's Regiment, she sleeps in canvas tents on straw and cooks using 18th-century-style pots and utensils. The historical clothing Midura makes is all from the wool, linen, silk, or cotton fabrics available in the 18th century, though she admits to sewing more pockets, since people carry more things now.
As for actually living in the 18th century, Midura says she "wouldn't mind visiting, but I like my gas stove and climate-controlled housing."
DR. BARRY CUNHA
AGE: 54
OCCUPATION: Dentist, retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel
HOME: Lexington
CHARACTER: Sergeant Francis Brown
UNIT: Lexington Minute Men Company
WEAPON: French Charleville Musket
Dr. Barry Cunha plays a historical character who was one of three to fire shots sounding the alarm that summoned the militia before the Battle of Lexington.
"When you're there, you become that character," says Cunha, who'll fire his musket today outside Buckman Tavern on Lexington Common. Brown was wounded on the afternoon of April 19, 1775, during the British retreat from Concord. He survived, but every April 19 Cunha visits Brown's grave.
Cunha didn't become a reenactor until after he retired from the Air Force. After watching a battle reenactment, he joined the Minute Men. "When you're there and you see all those British approach," Cunha says, "you really get the feeling of what it must have been like, this ragtag group of militia, confronting his majesty's best."
