Regrettably I arrived about 45 minutes late, after following some convoluted Mapquest directions, so I missed all but the last few minutes of the first session, American Knife Fighting: Bowie and Beyond with Steve Huff. A park ranger directed me to The Orangery, a small building constructed to grow citrus fruits for the Ridgely family who originally lived on the estate:

Inside students were practicing with wooden Bowie knives, and at the tail end of the class when they put together what they had learned. Afterwards there was a short break and I walked outside to take a better look at Hampton. I felt shy about not knowing anyone there, truthfully, and was glad when Mark Donnelly called out to me, introduced me to his associates, and said they'd make sure I didn't sit on the sidelines watching. And indeed they didn't, so thank you to Professor Donnelly and to his students Noah, John, and Taylor.

I continued my stroll of the grounds. Hampton is a magnificent historic estate, beautifully preserved and maintained. In 1790, its mansion was the largest private house in the United States. By 1820 more than 300 slaves toiled at Hampton, making it one of the largest slave-holding estates in Maryland. It was owned by the Ridgely family for over 150 years, until the National Parks Service purchased it in 1948. I wished I had time to see the interior and the other buildings on the estate. Next time I visit Baltimore, I'll definitely be back.

We reconvened on the lawn for our next session, Victorian Era Sport Fencing Single Stick with Mark Donnelly, who gave us an overview of single stick and its history as a sport in England. He described its origins as "fencing for peasants" with challenges presented at country fairs. In the 18th century opponents stood at a fixed distance with feet immobile, similar to academic fencing. The goal of a single stick bout was to draw an inch of blood from the opponent's head. A single stick player wrapped his stock around his left hand and tied the ends under his thigh. The left elbow was raised to protect the face, as Professor Donnelly demonstrates below:

Sherlock Holmes described himself as "a bit of a single-stick expert" and Watson also referred to Holmes as "an expert single-stick player." In the 19th century, single stick was popular at universities, and was used as military training for the sabre. (Here's a video of Bob Brooks, Marshal of the Hotspur School of Defence and Professor Mark Donnelly "using Highland methods prescribed for the basket-hilt broadsword with singlestick.") Professor Donnelly and Mr. Huff demonstrated single stick play slowly for our benefit.

Rattan single sticks were distributed to the participants and we gave it a try, one step beyond striking distance for safety. First we tried at a fixed distance with feet immobile, using a lunging motion to strike and evade, and then with feet mobile, moving linearly. This was a lot of fun, although quite unfamiliar to me, but the Bartitsu workshops I've taken with Professor Donnelly were helpful background. All too soon the session was over and it was time for the house tour. I was sorry to miss it, but my friend picked me up for lunch. Upon my return I took a stroll on the terrace to look at the formal gardens below:

A stray photo of Professor Donnelly's students John and Noah; I'm not sure what sort of weapon the latter is wielding; looks like some sort of flail. (Note from Professor Donnelly: "The weapon is Slung Shot - a traditional 18th and 19th century sailor's weapon. Handmade by sailors serving on ships, they were a common tool for aiding in casting lines, but were adapted as weapons in various sizes, especially when carried by sailors on land in foreign ports.")

At 1:00 we resumed with Civil War Infantry. A park ranger and re-enactor led us through the McClellan bayonet drill.

The participants had fun with the drill as it was relatively simple.

Professor Donnelly and Mr. Huff talked about Civil War bayonets relative to other weapons of the era. Below the professor and his student Noah demonstrate bayonet vs. sabre:

As always the participants took a turn. We were encouraged us to give a sort of vengeful "Hah!" as we lunged forward. We practiced bayonetting each other, from a safe distance, of course, lunging forward and back. Professor Donnelly instructed me to leap back with as much vigor as I lunged forward. I recalled my many Systema lessons about withdrawing our motley collection of practice knives (which include a dulled Russian bayonet), which we practice by clasping the blades tightly between flattened palms while our partners practice whip-like or twisting movements to extract them. It may seem rather grim to practice extracting a knife from a corpse, but for self-defense and military purposes, a knife is useless if you cannot retrieve it.

Next up was Civil War Cavalry Training. Victor Markland led us through the eight cuts of the cavalry sabre, first with our hands, then with wooden sabres. I was quite lost for most of these, although I tried lining up my feet with Mr. Markland's but still didn't quite follow along. Certainly I found the sabre the most difficult of the training; all forms of European swordsmanship are quite unfamiliar to me. My background is Systema, a Russian Martial Art, and while the shashka is a traditional Russian weapon, it is not taught as part of modern Systema because the Russian military no longer uses swords. The emphasis is more on the knife, gun, military shovel, and other modern Cold-War-era weaponry; traditional swords and especially the steel-cored Cossack whip are used as a training tools but it is not expected that students will carry these weapons for self-defense or as part of military training.

To simulate horses the participants held folding chairs. I am a lapsed equestrienne and love horses, so I couldn't help but think of the million or more horses who died during the Civil War, not to mention all the various battlefields throughout history. Thankfully horses are rarely used in modern warfare. Professor Donnelly and Mr. Huff explained that the success of the calvalry was largely dependent on the military decision of the officer who commanded them, that all cavalry held their sabres in their right hands, and that that the better horseman had the advantage more so than the better swordsman. It does take a great deal of skill to maneuver even a well-trained war horse into the chaos of battle.

Professor Donnelly and Mr. Huff demonstrated protecting the rider's head, horse's head, horse's flank, and rider's sword arm. I was curious as to how they protected their horse's heads from such a distance; the instructors had said that our chairs were much smaller than actual horses; they were more like Shetland ponies than chargers. Professor Donnelly explained that they leaned forward over their horse's necks, almost in a jumping position, as you can see in this 1895 painting.

And of course, the audience gave this a try as well. I found this quite daunting and "dismounted" in order to give it a try. Professor Donnelly and Noah were incredibly patient and I managed to get the hang of it once with much coaching: