General Discussion

A friend of mine was a corporal in the light company of the American Royal Welch Battalion, which was (and is) an organization of American Revolution reenactors, representing the (British) 23rd Regiment of Foot, the Royal Welch Fusiliers. They were doing a show in DC during some period of unrest or other, and the President at the time (think it was Ford) was planning on reviewing them, but the Secret Service was afraid that the crowds might get a bit disruptive. Anyway, some spook or other went up to the colonel of the regiment and basically asked them if they would "defend your President" if things got ugly. The Colonel immediately turned and ordered the regiment (about 20 or 30 strong, these are reenactors, after all) "Fix your bayonets."

Nothing came of it, which is kind of a shame in a way, as it would have made great TV to see a bunch of Redcoats in 18th-century uniforms defending the President of the United states with Brown Bess muskets and bayonets.

-- Mal