Happy Fourth of July, everyone! Have you ever wondered about fencing and martial combat during the Revolutionary War? Are you looking for a way to blend your historical fencing enthusiasm with the celebration of the United States’ two-hundred and fiftieth birthday? Then, do I have the blog post for you!
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Today, we will be traveling back in time and exploring what martial skills a non-commissioned officer of the Continental Army might have learned around the time of the Revolution. This blog post is combined with a fun workshop we did at our fencing club to celebrate the Fourth of July. So, grab your tricorn hats and take a swig of switchel as we explore the history and martial arts around the Revolutionary War!

I want to give a huge shoutout to our photographer, Zane Kupper, and to Purpleheart Armoury for providing the gear for this workshop! Also, This workshop would not have been possible Without the help of Kyle Norris who did the deep-dive on the sabre system we selected for this workshop. Thank you all for helping this workshop come to life!

The day is July 4th, 1779. The Battle of Lexington and Concord was over four years ago, and the newly formed country you find yourself serving is entrenched in a bloody war. The Continental Army has seen its fair share of victories from the Battle of Trenton to the surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga. However, the war seems far from over. The British still occupy New York City and have recently captured Savannah. On top of that, a nation that was once an enemy is now seen as an ally and provides pivotal training and supplies to your fledgling nation’s army. After a couple of years of service, you have earned the rank of non-commissioned officer (NCO). With your new commission, you are studying the Valley Forge system in your Blue Book for your roles and responsibilities. You are expected to ensure the officers’ commands were done properly, drills were performed satisfactorily, and that your men maintain order during battle. On top of that, there are new gear requirements:

​While you were expecting a new uniform based on the new standards, the reality is that the new uniforms are delayed, so you don a red sash over your old uniform to signify your new rank. However, the rank does come with the carrying of a sword, a new piece of equipment to you… and even more weight on the battlefield.

While less impactful than the bayonet, swords also still proved to be effective tools on the battlefield. There are many accounts of officers raising their swords to rally troops and to signal their command during combat. Furthermore, the light dragoons, a mounted light cavalry unit fielded by the United States and commanded by Col. Benjamin Tallmadge, participated in several cavalry actions with swords as their primary weapon  (Tallmadge, 1858).

Due to difficulties in production and supply, swords were not as uniform for the Continental Army as later European armies would be in periods more commonly studied in the historical fencing. Based on the catalog presented in Swords and Blades of the American Revolution by George G. Neumann, popular swords of the conflict on both sides were hangers, hunting swords or cuttoes, short sabres, spadroons, small swords, basket-hilted swords, sabers, and naval cutlasses. George Washington famously carried a silver and ivory-hilted cuttoe in the later years of the Revolutionary War (Mount Vernon, 2026). To celebrate the Fourth of July, Purpleheart Armoury has created a synthetic trainer modeled off of one of George Washington's hangers for all those interested in experimenting with this type of sword.

​Admittedly, the days of swordsmanship ruling the battlefield were long in the past by the Revolutionary War. However, officers and aristocrats still found themselves dueling to defend their honor, though, admittedly, more often with pistols in the United States than with swords (Neumann, 1973). Furthermore, like their European counterparts, the American colonies also had their own fair share of fencing guilds. The techniques of the various colonial fencing schools varied, and it is difficult to say which sources were being used. Boston featured a fencing school that printed advice on the backsword that appears to overlap with the techniques of William Hope and Donald McBane, but it is not stated definitively enough to suggest those were the systems being taught (Miller, 2009).

So perhaps as a newly commissioned NCO, you have been provided with a sabre and seek ways to learn how to use it. Swordsmanship is not part of the regular exercise and drills of the Continental Army, so you have to seek other avenues for learning fencing. You could learn from the other officers in the camp or potentially attend a fencing school in a city you are near.

For the workshop, we chose to focus on Thomas Page’s The Use of the Broad Sword, published in 1746. This system was relatively new and may have been taught around the time of the Revolutionary War, and it may have been based on Scottish swordsmanship observed during the Jacobite Rebellion. That war led to many British military lessons and tactics, which were then applied in the French and Indian War, during which many colonists learned the art of war before the Revolutionary War.

​What was most interesting to us about Thomas Page’s sabre was the differences between it and the systems we primarily study, Henry Angelo. The main differences come from Page’s under-utilization of the lunge compared to Henry Angelo. This results in more passing steps being used, which come with guards designed for left or right leg forward, as opposed to Angelo’s dominant leg forward guards.

While the sword was more of a symbol of status, the bayonet was a critical battlefield tool during the Revolutionary War, and as an NCO picked from the ranks of soldiers, you would be very familiar with the musket and bayonet. At the Battle of Bunker Hill, the British army successfully took the Massachusetts militia’s position using bayonet charges (National Park Services, 2026). This engagement highlighted the colonists’ lack of bayonets, which led to the Continental Congress in February of 1776, forming a committee to contract the creation of muskets and bayonets for the United Colonies (Continental Congress, 1776).

One of the major changes Steuben and the Valley Forge system brought was the professional use of bayonet for combat. Steuben believed that “The American soldier, never having used this arm, had no faith in it, and never used it but to roast his beefsteak, and indeed often left it at home” (Landrigan, 2026). Bayonet drilling became a major feature in the Continental Army after 1778. This was a major shift and began to give them the tools needed to meet the British Army on the field.

​Joseph Plumb Martin’s memoirs from the Revolutionary War give us a rather unique perspective on the bayonet. Martin was a soldier, as opposed to an officer, in the Continental Army, so his primary melee weapon was the bayonet, as opposed to the sword, like Col. Benjamin Tallmadge discussed previously. He participated in the battle of Stony Point, one of the most decisive U.S victories in the war, which critically relied on bayonet for key action (Maloy, 2026). Martin describes how light infantry entered Stony Point with fixed bayonets and their muskets unloaded, as to not have an incident that would alert the enemy army of their raid (Martin, 1830). His memoirs also features less exciting jobs as a soldier with bayonet such as standing guard at camp.

​Interestingly, Bayonet techniques were not formally viewed from the individual perspective until the 19th century, such as the techniques taught in the Bayonet Exercise Manual for the U.S Army in 1852. That manual includes specific guards and parries that an individual could use in a bayonet fight (United States War Department, 1852). Instead, bayonet combat was looked at as a psychological tool for breaking armies. This led to most bayonet exercises at the time of the Revolutionary War to focus on maintaining formation while marching with a bayonet, as well as how to strike from the line with the bayonet. Some drills developed by the British prior to the war, such as the Culloden Drill, included instructions on how to attack when in an infantry line and in charge. In that instance, the drill was to attack to the right rather than the left, striking an opponent’s side not covered by a shield, a tactic commonly seen during the Jacobite Rebellion (Ritchie, 2023). These types of drills also sometimes included advice to not lunge with the bayonet because a lunge would put the attacker out of formation, resulting in them being uncovered or defended by the soldiers on their left or right.

I hope you enjoyed this little deep dive into the history surrounding the arms of NCO’s for the Continental Army of the Revolutionary War. What fascinated me about the sources surrounding this manuscript was the contrasts with later-period sources on the same weapons. It highlights the shifting of warfare that was experienced after the Napoleonic Wars and also the shifts the United States had to make to achieve victory in its independence.

Most importantly, the club had fun!

Thus concludes the memoirs of Col. Benjamin Tallmadge. What a beautiful and interesting look into the mind of someone not interested in dueling, a rare perspective than generally seen in the sources that inform historical fencing.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone! Have a fun and safe weekend, and I’ll see you for my next blog post.

The day has finally come. My Interpretation of I.33 has been published and is available at Purpleheart Armoury (USA), Fallen Rook Publishing (UK), and Zwaard en Volk (NL). 

So today, as a bonus treat for all the Funky Buckler readers, I wanted to give you all a behind-the-scenes look at the book. This was a project I started back in 2021, and it was quite the journey to get here.

But before we get started, I want to give a huge thank you to this community for the love and support I have received for the book. From reviewers who helped refine my communication on techniques to people who have gone out of their way to promote the book, I am so grateful to have all of you in my life, and I could not have done this without you!

​There are over three hundred pictures in my book. Some of the original manuscript, some of my students, and I are replicating the images. In the early drafts of the book, I wanted to really capture the essence of the manuscript, so we took our pictures in costume.

​However, like any good book, it was saved by the publisher. Keith Farrell was quick to point out that large tunics hide the body and the technique, so he highly recommended we pivot to wearing modern HEMA clothing. Also fun fact, I could not find medieval shoes in my size so in this picture, my shoes are stuffed with newspaper. You would not know it but I am on the balls of my feet with my feet up in those shoes!

The costumes did not go to waste, though! My costume became the basis for my historical castle shows for I.33 and has since become a regular staple for me in exploring how the system feels in period-authentic clothing. That research, while not as explicit in the book, helped fuel much of my interpretation.

Through the years, I have been fortunate to discuss I.33 with people from all over the globe. What I always found fascinating was how we would read the same text and see the same images, but come to different conclusions about the actions. It led me to think about how a small difference could bleed into other techniques throughout our interpretations.

So, in the book, I had editor feedback to include my thoughts on others’ interpretations and how their differences could affect my book's interpretation. I was hesitant at first, but I do feel it gave the project a more academic feel.

However, I never wanted it to read like a callout. To me, it is just two individuals passionate about the sources who want to teach others. So, I reached out to a few of them and gave them a heads-up that I was writing a book and was referencing their content. This led to great discussions and really highlighted the scholarly nature of our community.

So I started to use the term “The I.33 Scholars” in the book. The idea being that all of us trying to teach from I.33 are not the priest, but rather the scholar. Always learning. There are so many names I could list regarding this . 33 Scholars I have traded notes with, but I want to give a special shout-out to David Rawlings, Anthony Buonomo, Roland Warzecha, Herbert Schmidt, Federico Malagutti, Stephen Hand, Bettina Miriam Sehner, and Michael Lammer, who all have gone out of their way to interpret this beautiful source and publicly state their opinions on it. To me, this is a team effort, and while we may disagree on interpretation, we are all joined by a common goal.
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Any reference to other interpretations in my book is not a call-out but a shout-out, and I am happy to spotlight your names in my book to give you the flowers you deserve for the work you have put in as well.

Our interpretation of I.33 will continue to grow as more people define their interpretations. However, there is still room to explore teaching aids and tools to help students learn the techniques and counters of the system. Another well-known HEMA researcher who has also published books dipped their toes into other paper-based media to teach the sources they were passionate about.
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Maybe I will do the same, and maybe more news on that will be coming in July of this year. Stay tuned!

​Several historical manuscripts discuss the importance of other workout routines that improve swordsmanship. We have already discussed De Re Militari but another manuscript covering workout routines for swordsmen is the Poem of the Pel. In that poem, it discusses: 

I think many of us would agree on the health benefits running provides and how better cardio could help our fencing. But here is the thing, it is one thing to point to manuscripts and say “this is why we should run”, it's another to do it.
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Today, we will discuss my personal experience with running and HEMA. But don’t just take my word for it! We have a special guest writer. Beau Hulgan, multi-medal-winning HEMA competitor, good friend to Funky Buckler, and all-around great guy, will also be sharing his experience with running and HEMA.

I was a runner before I was a fencer. Throughout high school and college, I competed in various sports like Cross Country, Track and Field, and Triathlon. However, when I started HEMA, my running took a backseat. On top of that, ankle instability led to multiple injuries, making running consistently even more challenging.

After my surgery, I began running and training for 5Ks again. As my pace improved, I noticed that my fencing became snappier and quicker, and the added cardio allowed me to compete at a higher intensity for longer periods.

A teammate and I began training for my first half-marathon in over ten years. Most of the training focused on increasing my total mileage, and all my workouts revolved around my long run. I stopped training for pace because getting enough miles in a week to avoid injury at the race was the name of the game. During this time, because all of my workouts for the week revolved around prepping for my weekly long runs, I felt my fencing feel more sluggish. In biomechanical terminology, my slow-twitch muscles were building at the expense of my fast-twitch muscles.
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However, now that the half-marathon is complete, I have pivoted back to training for pace and racing 5Ks. The mileage base I built during the half-marathon has led to longer runs at increased paces. So my big takeaway is that adding a half-marathon once a year, outside of HEMA tournament season, will help improve my quick-running training, which directly contributes to my fencing.

After winning gold at Gessellen Fechten 2022, someone made a comment, “It was so quiet. All we could hear was your breathing.” I watched the replay with the sound on, and sure enough, even on tape, I could hear myself blowing hard through the mask. Someone else said, “I was worried about you wearing out; you were breathing so hard.”
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The ironic thing was, the week before that tournament, I ran a 13.1-mile Spartan Race. I won two gold medals at GF 2022. The next week, I would compete again in a HEMA tournament, followed by a CrossFit-style competition the week after that, and top it all off with a full marathon the week after that… so no, I was not tired.
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That wasn’t the last time someone commented on my breathing hard through my mask, mistaking it for windedness. On the contrary, breathing like that was something I learned through run training; deep breaths in, hard blow out, slow and steady. My run training kept me in shape enough to compete at high-level tournaments without becoming exhausted. I owe most of my success to that training because staying in shape is an integral part of being a winning fighter.
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When I started HEMA in 2018, I had already run a handful of Spartan races and sponsored 5ks.  I was training for my first Spartan Beast, a half-marathon mud run.  I was also no stranger to competition, having fenced in college.  So, in my first HEMA tournament, I entered 3 different weapons, unbeknownst to me that would set a precedent for my career to come.
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And indeed, if I could afford it, every HEMA tournament I entered in as many events as I could. Because why not?  I was there to compete, I wanted to fight.  At Olympic fencing tournaments, you usually have only one round of pools, then go to DEs.  So in one event, you really don’t fight that much.  
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I thought it would be the same for HEMA.  But pre-pandemic, a shift began away from a single round of pools to at least 2 rounds, with the intention that people could get more fights in. Which was fine with me, since I was already getting as much fighting in as I could with multiple weapons, but I began to notice something else: I rarely fought the same people with two different weapons.
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Most fighters were hesitant to fight multiple weapons, and I really didn’t understand why.  The more tournaments I went to, the more I understood: not everyone was in the greatest shape.  
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I noticed fighters were winded after every bout, huffing and puffing by the end of pools, sweating profusely after the first round of DEs, and collapsing after being eliminated.  The fighters who weren’t struggling were the ones who made it to the finals.  Mostly because they were in good shape or knew how to conserve energy.  

As for me, my training outside of HEMA was paying off.  I could fight with multiple weapons, advance to multiple quarter-, semi-, and final matches, and keep going if I wanted to.  In a fight, it became obvious very quickly who was winded and who was in shape.  I could draw matches out, use my patience, and bait opponents into exerting more energy than necessary.  I could wait them out until they became tired or impatient, and while they were distracted by their exhaustion, I would strike. Then move on to the next round, still with a lot left in the tank.  
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This is not to say the key to winning is fitness, but it certainly helps. Skill and knowledge play an important part, for sure.  You need to know how to react, feint, parry, use angles, and do blade work.  But I’ve also fought really good fighters who just can’t go the distance. If you go far enough in a tournament, you will fight more than anyone else. That’s just how it works.  And at the higher levels, whoever is most fit and less exhausted starts with an advantage.  Not to say it’s the only advantage, nor does staying fit guarantee a win, but staying fit and training cardio will get you farther than you think.  
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This is also not to suggest you should start marathon training to prepare for HEMA.  I tried it; it wasn't fun. Ran an ultra-marathon; won’t do it again. But you should consider some light cardio, even just 2-3 times a week, to avoid getting too winded.  
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What does that look like?  The easiest is obviously running.  There are a multitude of running apps and running routines out there in the multiverse. I started with a Couch to 5K app, but you can also do a quick Google search and find a routine for you.  
Running doesn’t have to be the only thing to help, though. People have bad knees or ankles, so they need a lower-impact approach.  Swimming would be ideal, but not everyone has access to a pool, a lake, or a place to swim.  Biking is also a great exercise.  Get on a bike and just go.  Ride around for 20-30 mins, get the sweat running. Nowadays, there are also all kinds of aparati you can hook on your bike to ride inside too.  Of course, there are also all sorts of treadmills, assault bikes, rowing machines, and ski machines to get your heart rate up, but those are expensive and take up a lot of room.  
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If nothing else, walk.  Walking has been proven time and time again to be the lowest impact and long-term most beneficial exercise you can do.  Just get up and go.  Or incorporate it into your everyday.  Park farther away than you normally do, take stairs instead of the elevator, and walk around the block at dusk.  Just get up and move.
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I can only attest to running. That sustained movement, finding a cadence, finding a rhythm, getting comfortable, and learning how to breathe.  
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That circles us back to HEMA.  The reason I was breathing so hard that even on the fight replays, you could hear me is that I was utilizing my breathing rhythm while fighting.  I’d become so used to how I breathe when running that I didn’t realize I was doing it while fighting.  I will say the mask created breathing resistance I didn’t expect.  I may have been breathing harder than normal just to get more oxygen in, and breathing into the mesh made a sound louder than necessary. Learning to breathe with the mask on wasn’t a great adjustment, and I could carry on my marathon running breath cycle easily.
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I ran my ultra marathon in Spring 2023. I stopped training hard outside of just doing HEMA.  That November, I competed in the Tournament of Defense, where they piloted a continuous 3, 3-minute round rule set.  I chose to use a rapier and a small Viking-style shield.  If you’ve ever fought with a Viking shield, you know how deceptively heavy they can get after a few rounds with one. Despite my dumbass choosing the heaviest weapon set in the tournament, I still made it to the gold medal match against Vince Dominic.  At that time, Vince told me he ran a 5K a day. I was lucky if I was running twice a week or sparing the same amount, but obviously, there was some holdover from my training. By the end of the 3rd round, Vince was struggling to stay on his feet, and I was struggling to hold on to the shield, but we both made it to the end.  That would not have happened if either one of us weren’t consistent runners. (Vince won the match by the way).
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In closing, if you hear someone breathing heavy through their mask, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are tired.  In fact, I would encourage big breaths in and out, and keep the rhythm.  Running is the easiest way to keep your cardio up, but not the only way.  Work on a light cardio routine to improve your HEMA.  No, running will not guarantee getting to the top, but if you get in a match with someone with a similar skill set to yours and you are in better shape, you are more likely to win.  ​

Beau and I's experience with running and HEMA is just a small sample of the people who use additional workouts to improve their fencing. Some people do not like running, so they use biking or swimming to build their cardio. So what are your experiences? I would love to hear from you all as we continue to work together in improving our overall fencing.