“When I finish with these instructions, every competitor will draw three targets and line up, ten across, in sixteen ranks behind the firing line. On my order, the ten contestants in the front rank will go down-range, place a target on the 200, 250, and 300-yard lines, and return to their place on the firing line.

“I will then give the command, ‘Right face’ and the ten contestants in the front rank will turn right, go twenty yards to the right, and line up between those two flags. That is the start and finish line for a one-mile course, marked in lime, on the field around the tavern.

“Behind each one of you at the starting line, there will be an evaluator with a pocket watch. The evaluator will write down your name on a sheet of paper and be responsible for keeping your elapsed time. When I fire my pistol, everyone on the starting line will start the one-mile course.

“Once you finish the run, don’t dawdle. Proceed immediately to your position on the firing line and start engaging your three targets down-range.

“The evaluator will record how long it took you to complete the run and fire your nine shots. When everyone in your rank has fired nine shots, you will proceed down-range to pick up your three targets and report here to Major Angus McDonald. He will tabulate your final score. As each rank moves off the firing line, the next rank will move up and repeat the process.

“This is not complicated. If each of you pays attention to what’s happening in front of you, and everyone moves with alacrity, it should take about a half hour for each rank to complete the one-mile run and fire nine shots. That means we can all be headed home by four o’clock this afternoon.”

That estimate proved to be wildly optimistic.

Captain Morgan’s orders were clear enough, but no one anticipated the inevitable delays. Though every shooter brought with him his rifle, powder, shot, tomahawk, and hunting knife, no one anticipated the crowd of family, friends, and supporters who brought with them victuals and ample supplies of wine, cider, and prodigious quantities of rum.

The first seven ranks went off without a hitch, but as the day wore on, the crowd of “observers” became increasingly boisterous.

As the eighth rank took off on their run, a cousin of one of the contestants decided to aid his relative by tripping the lead runner. This outrage prompted a melee involving close to 500 of the contestants and observers. It took nearly an hour for Major McDonald, Rev. Thruston, and Captain Morgan to restore order and get on with the competition.