Robert McDouall was born to a merchant father in March of 1774 in the town of Stranraer, Scotland. Educated at the Felsted School both his father and uncle hoped he would follow in the family trade as a merchant, placing young Robert at a business in London. Robert, however, was drawn to the military life much to his father’s dismay and with his reluctant approval purchased a commission as an ensign in the 49th (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot only to three days later purchase a lieutenant commission in the 8th (King’s) Regiment of foot in 1797. He served during the 1801 Egyptian Campaign against theRead More →

While one of the least known engagements during the War of 1812, the siege of Prarie du Chien, was part of the drama that happened during the entire span of the war and sealed British dominance in the northwest until the signing of the Treaty of Gent that ended the way. The battle was the only one fought on the soil of what would become the state of Wisconsin. Two hundred years ago the small fur trading post of Prarie du Chien was a part of the Illinois Territory. Founded by the French in the late 1600s, turned over to British control following the French-IndianRead More →

This year it was a real shame that Polaroid Week just snuck up on me. It serves me right for not watching social media a little more closely. But I still managed to get out on the last day to get some Instant film shooting in. This year I was sort of limited. My wonderful Automatic Land Camera Model 250 has a dead battery and I didn’t have time to fix it up with the AAA battery fix. Also I didn’t get in any order from Impossible to run my Spectra (the only Integral Polaroid I have working), and didn’t get a couple packs ofRead More →