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The Dueling Sword

Originally published in 1884, Claude La Marche's L'Epee was the first book ever written on the use of the epee, the dueling sword of the 19th century. The book in no way deals with the modern Olympic sport of epee fencing—rather, it covers in a passionate narrative style the rituals and techniques of combat dueling with the sword, "the war of surprises" that is the epee bout.

This first English translation of La Marche's masterpiece by fencing expert Brian House, The Dueling Sword delivers not only a valuable treatise on historical sword fighting but extraordinary insights into the psychological stress of individual combat. La Marche writes, "the art of the epee is essentially a psychological art," and in his book he provides a comprehensive, integrated system for producing stress in the opponent and conditioning one's self to stress during a duel. Through detailed instruction in the guards, attacks, parries, ripostes, and counters, La Marche drives the reader toward the goal of practical combative fencing: the well-directed, surprising thrust to the opponent's body.

The Dueling Sword is a pioneering work in the study of human psychology under stress and a fascinating manual on the traditional combat duel, "a meeting whose outcome is without appeal."

Operation Long Horn The close of World War II brought new tensions to America that led to the Cold War. Under fear of communism and nuclear assault, the U.S. Army and Air Force simulated a war in one of the largest maneuvers ever to be staged on American soil. Called Operation Long Horn, the simulation included thwarting an invasion and recovering from an atomic attack.
To carry out the mock war, which began in late March 1952, ranchers between Waco and San Angelo signed easements to their land. Several Lometa-area ranches became sites of battles and campgrounds as more than 115,000 troops came to Texas for maneuvers. The town's population grew from 900 to 22,000, and the troops and supporting civilian staff members faced life in a small town. Local residents cooperated and participated by rationing and trading with troops, offering facilities for a mock U.S.O. (United Service Organizations) facility and attending programs and presentations given by soldiers. Such programs included an airdrop of 2,500 troops, as well as weapons, equipment and rations, in a training maneuver that pitted the 31st Infantry, 47th Infantry, and 1st armored division against the 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
In a nationally publicized event, aggressor forces captured and occupied Lampasas (17 mi. SE), establishing mock control of media and setting curfews. The city was liberated near the end of the simulation on April 9, 1952. The $3,300,000 exercise left local residents with damaged ranch land, outbuildings, fences and gates, as well as spooked livestock, but also gave them an opportunity to experience war in their own community.

This is a shot of the Museum and Learning Center located at the Cicero Historical Society complex. The gates were locked the day I was there so unfortunately all the building pictures have the fence included. Now a little bit of history: The Museum and Learning Center was opened in 2006 and displays many artifacts from the years past which have been contributed or loaned to the Historical Society by town residents. Items on display include many tools and equipment used by farmers in the town's early years being that Cicero had quite a connection with the farming community. Also many historical records and documents have been preserved and are on display here. The artifacts which are on display illustrate the different periods in the town's history. The displays at the museum and learning center consist of both temporary and permanent exhibits. It is located at 6453 State Route 31 in Cicero, NY.

From the distant times of ferocious open field battles held either between villages or even nations, to the most basic and oldest self defense scenario of having to confront gangs of robbers, Mankind has always been daunted by the need to face larger groups of opponents. Being Jogo do Pau the only living European Martial Art with an unbroken lineage, the systematization presented of its main skills for this type of combat establishes a bridge between present and past, allowing for a better understanding of the history, technique and combat skill found in other European Fencing schools such as the German and Italian. The Doebringer manuscript is a clear example of this in which it reads “just make sure, that they can’t get at you all at once” ... “that you quickly attack the ones on the outer ends, before the others turn against you, then they will have to turn after you since you are leading. Then you can well notice, when it is or is not save to move away from the opponent and then leap away from him as I say. There is no hurt or disgrace to run away from four or six”. The additional analysis presented regarding the evolution of these arts as combat leisure activities, more focused towards single combat, as well as their transference to shorter one handed weapons such as the baton and walking cane, came about as a result of the social changes brought by the creation of industrial cities, and make this document unique and extremely valuable for anyone interested in the historical, cultural and martial interpretation of these arts.