Today Savages Detachment is headquartered in Rome, NY with members all over the Central New York area. Our primary purpose is the education of the public about the lives and sacrifices made by the soldiers, women and children in the American Revolution. We do this by recreating, on a very small scale, a unit that actually existed during the war. We chose Savage's Detachment for two reasons, first it as an artillery unit- and second the original Savages Detachment served in our back yard, being garrisoned at Fort Stanwix (Schuyler), located in Rome, NY for nearly two years.
As a unit we
strive to accurately portray what an artillery detachment would look like both
in garrison and in the field. To accomplish this hundreds of hours of research
and years of experience have been put forth by all members to determine what
uniform(s) were 
worn by the men, what types of clothing the civilians would be
wearing, what military equipment the soldiers would have been issued, the proper
drills, and procedures used by the army at the time and the correct types of
food that the soldiers were fed.
When in the field, the men and women of Savage's Detachment strive to give the visitor a small glimpse of what camp life in the Continental Army was truly like by traveling extremely light. All soldiers are expected to be able to carry all their personal and military equipment on there person or in their knapsack, save the tents witch were placed in wagons, as the men had to 225 years ago. The women of the army also had to be able to carry all of their possessions with them when they traveled from place to place. We carry with us no extra equipment such as dining flies, benches or chairs, and heavy iron cookware, as such things were virtually nonexistent in the Continental Army.
While the unit is on duty- usually from reveille between 6 and 7 AM to retreat between 5 or 6 PM - strict military discipline is enforced. The Continental Army, after 1777, was not an ill disciplined mob but an army and the conduct of Savage's Detachment will reflect the discipline and training the American army had.
That is not to say that we do not have fun in Savage's Detachment, but we save the fun for off duty hours, after retreat when the membership can sit back and relax, telling stories about the days events or reliving events past, visit with friends in other units both Congressional and Crown or sing songs of the 18th century around the campfire. We in Savage's Detachment find the friends and comradely we share at events, both within and outside our unit are some of the greatest perks in doing living history.
On the Battlefield we have fun also, but in a different way- we get to fire a
cannon at the enemy! It is not every day you can maneuver and fire a reproduction
18th century artillery piece- but we in Savage's Detachment do so several time a
year and the membership finds that reproducing the role of the "King of
Battle" is very rewarding.
The men, women and children of Savage's Detachment are what make the unit special and without their special efforts the unit would be nothing. If you would like to learn more about the members please follow this link. If you would like to see what we are up to, please stop into our photo gallery and take a look.
We are always looking to enlist more good men and women into the ranks of Savage's Detachment, Second Continental Artillery, so if any of this sound interesting to you, or if you have any questions about us please email us at [email protected]