Gavin: "I must study politics and war, that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy, to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music."

John Adams.

Godzieba: These are the times that try men's souls.

The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country.

But he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

And we plan to return to the Jerseys.

And I promise you, we will be victorious.

Commanders, prepare your troops for the boats.

Gavin: New Jersey is, without a doubt, the state with the most rich Revolutionary War heritage, and in many ways that is credited with saving the revolution itself.

My hope would be that when individuals attend a reenactment at a place like Princeton, we want to try to take history out of a book and bring the words to life.

Man: Present.

[ Drum bangs ] Fire.

Gavin: The mission of Princeton Battlefield Society, really we work hand in glove with the state of New Jersey, staging a portion of the Battle of Princeton.

[ Gunfire ] I think when you look at reenacting, it's an art, it's a science, and it's educational theater, to make history tangible for folks.

Man: Fire!

Gavin: To learn about history, to learn about the past.

If you look at the American Revolution as a really innovative experiment that has the capability, and I think the key word is really "capability," to lead not just to the emancipation of human beings, but the emancipation of humanity from the condition we know as suffering, that American Revolution never ends.

[ Fifes and drums playing ] So if we want to think about how we stage an event like Experience the Battle of Princeton, it's rooted in the history itself.

In political and philosophical thought, we have a real obligation to stage that in a way that respects the honor and the memory of individuals who fought there, who were maimed there, who died there, of the civilian population left to worry about and clean up the aftermath of something as horrific as combat.

So it really begins and ends with research -- how the choreography of the event will flow and what actions we want to portray.

What are they going to be wearing?

Lichack: I make historical reproductions of clothing, especially military uniforms, that a lot of the living historians and reenactors use for battle.

We look at all these different resources, paintings of the time, engravings, firsthand accounts, in order to, you know, decipher what people wore.

And then my wife, Eliza, and I will then assemble the garment for the person.

The sewing machine wasn't invented yet during this time period, so everything would be done by hand.

The point of it is, when the public comes, they're going to look at how the uniforms are and they're going to determine that that's how it looked back then.

And that's one thing that we pride ourselves in doing to keep the authenticity level high like that.

[ Fifes and drums playing ] Gavin: There's a lot of dedication that goes into the research.

And then we put together the battle.

[ Fifes and drums conclude ] Man: Forward march.

[ Drums play ] Gavin: The final 45 minutes to an hour before, all of the commissioned officers, Continental and Crown Forces, are having basically what amounts to a final huddle, going over the choreography of the day.

Man: These are people that you need to fill in.

Man: None of this or this.

Or there will be slope.

Gavin: The timing elements and components.

Man: Let's get through this exercise, lads.

Come on.

Man: Oh.

Man: That's alright.

That's alright.

Man: Take aim.

Fire!

[ Gunshot ] Gavin: The musicians as well, the musicians are practicing, because musicians in the 18th century, they are the timepiece for the army.

[ Fifes and drums playing ] Spontaneity is really important to have in place in the course of a reenactment.

We do need individuals or whole units to react to developing situations around them that force them to move and maneuver in a realistic kind of way.

So a lot ends up falling on the command staff in making sure that the choreography is moving as it should.

Man: Do not anticipate me.

Participate based on my orders.

Gavin: So it is a mixture of loose and really highly choreographed moments that make it all come together, and then it's off to the races.

[ Cannon fires, men shouting ] Man: Fire!

[ Cannon fires ] [ Drum beats ] [ Man shouts indistinctly ] [ Men shouting ] Take the fence!

Charge!

Praria: Whether it's a historic home or a historic landscape, essentially is our stage.

People can smell the smells of the gunpowder.

They can see what it's like to fire off a musket or a rifle.

[ Gunshots ] Watts: To be out there and hear the sounds, hear the cannons, hear the commands being shouted see some of the confusion when things don't go exactly as planned, we become the people who we portray.

Gavin: I've been a reenactor for over 20 years at this point in time.

Whether or not you're portraying an individual and you know their name or you're portraying a soldier or a civilian and you're doing a living history program on the actual ground where it took place, it's very emotional.

There's a lot of weight to those moments, because you can't help but reflect upon the reality of what they experienced and what they suffered.

[ Cannon fires ] We try to tell a holistic story.

It was not just the men on the field.

It wasn't just the military.

You saw females who were present there.

You saw people of color.

There are people of color in the army.

Watts: People of color have fought for this country since its inception and even before its inception.

We were here and we served.

It warms my heart over the last 18 years of doing this that our stories are coming out there and being talked about, because as a kid, you would not even see us.

I would not see us.

Praria: The women were there, whether we were there as camp followers... Woman: Anybody else?

Hot meat pie?

Praria: ...or whether it was being at home with the battle in your front yard.

Having some sort of portrayal of -- of that, I think it really -- it helps make it a more human experience instead of just a military experience.

Lichack: We all work together to put on a good show.

It all kind of comes together as one happy union to portray history.

It's very satisfying to see your own work and especially you could really feel they appreciate making these things to recreate a war that, you know, won our independence from Britain.

Watts: If we don't know who we were, where we came from, how we came to be, how can we be or aspire to what the Founding Fathers really wanted us to be?

E pluribus unum -- out of many becomes one.

Gavin: What is the American Revolution?

How does it go on?

How do we extend those promises of freedom to ever-broadening groups of individuals?

And I think that's exactly what Adams is hinting at when he talks about why he must study war so his children can study these other things.

I think the individuals who fought through the American Revolution had a very keen understanding of the fact that they were planting a seed.

This was not necessarily for them.

This was the beginning of something new within the world that would be for the benefit of future generations but that future generations would also have to nurture over time if this great experiment was going to continue to succeed.