Delaware re-enactment seen as a double-cross
When another group of men recreate the event this Christmas Day, they won't be cursing a long-dead English king, but a living, breathing bureaucrat.
Michael Bertheaud's title — site administrator for Washington Crossing Historic Park in Pennsylvania — is less impressive than King George's. But he is, in the view of some re-enactors, just as much a tyrant.
"This park administrator has a history of using us and abusing us," said Joseph Majdan, a medical school professor, occasional oarsman, and spokesman for the re-enactors.
The feud erupted this fall, when Bertheaud decided who should ride with whom — especially who rides in the lead boat with Gen. Washington.
That decree brought to the surface the re-enactors' other grievances: Bertheaud's insistence on firing a cannon during the re-enactment — it was supposed to be a sneak attack, after all — and his refusal to recognize historical personages besides Washington.
"He is now revising history," Majdan said.
The re-enactors last month asked a Pennsylvania judge to block the boat reassignments. They lost, but vow to appeal.
The re-enactors vow to remain part of the event, though they bristle under Bertheaud's direction.
Bertheaud would not comment.
The re-enactment, initiated 49 years ago by a group of local boosters and history enthusiasts, attracts thousands of spectators who line the Delaware's banks to watch about 100 men cross from Washington Crossing Historic Park near Taylorsville, Pa., to Washington Crossing State Park in New Jersey. (This year's program begins at 1 p.m. Wednesday.)
As the event has grown, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission — which controls Washington Crossing Historic Park — has muscled into the act. To clarify who was responsible for what, state officials and the Washington Crossing Reenactors Society reached an agreement in 1999.
The park's administrator, according to the agreement, is "the final decision-maker on all issues." The society would provide oarsmen and soldiers, train them, and recommend boat assignments.
But some people thought they had been unfairly left out of the first boat, so Bertheaud decided to change the crew assignments this year, said John Robinson, a spokesman for the state commission.
"I think they are truly dedicated to the crossing and what it means, and so I think it's hard for them to look at the bigger picture and say, 'I've been doing this for 25 years, perhaps I should give way to someone who hasn't had this thrill yet,' " Robinson said.
Bertheaud's move was as provocative as the Stamp Act. Leaders of the Reenactors Society contend Bertheaud had no business splitting up their cohesive, carefully assembled teams.
"If the boats are not staffed with people who are capable of getting them across the river quickly, efficiently, in a seaman-like manner, people would tend to laugh at the event instead of be solemn and serious about it," said Steele Chadwell, a lawyer and vice president of the re-enactors' group.
What really chafed their britches was Bertheaud's decision to reassign Lonzie Rinker, a retired biology professor who usually plays the role of Col. John Glover, commander of the boat crews that ferried Washington's soldiers. Bertheaud demoted Rinker to "alternate" oarsman, meaning he would sit in the boat, but not row.
Rinker's plight, re-enactors say, highlights Bertheaud's utter disregard for Washington's supporting cast, including Lt. James Monroe, who, like Washington, went on to become president.
Washington hasn't been written out of the script. But even he has become a point of contention.
Under the 1999 deal, a new actor is selected for that role every two years, chosen by a three-judge panel that includes the Reenactors Society. This year, the society contends, it was excluded from the process, which resulted in the selection of Jim Gibson — a re-enactor, but not a Washington Crossing Reenactors Society member.
"We have nothing against him," Majdan said, "although we think the person who has been picked does not have the ideals and has not led the life that Washington would have lived."
State officials say the Reenactors Society — with its complaints about characters and cannons — may be taking authenticity a bit far.
"That whole thing is not a historical re-enactment," Robinson said. "If it were, it would be done at night."