Richard C. Wiggin is the author of Embattled Farmers: Campaigns and Profiles of Revolutionary Soldiers from Lincoln, Massachusetts, 1775-1783. This book is a very detailed study of all the Revolutionary War soldiers from one American town, designed to preserve their names and biographical information. In the late nineteenth century, many town histories contained a chapter with that basic goal. Embattled Farmers far outdoes those old local histories because of the depth of Wiggin’s research, using today’s computer-aided resources and rigorous judgments about evidence. We decided to interview Rick about his research process and findings,...

Edward Snowden and the NSA documents. Julian Assange and the WikiLeaks diplomatic cables. Daniel Elsberg and the Pentagon papers. Benjamin Franklin and the Hutchinson letters? Snowden, Assange, and Elsberg all considered themselves to be self-appointed whistleblowers. Individuals who wanted to open governments by disclosing sensitive government documents. Without a doubt, all three started huge controversies when their confidential documents were leaked. But, should Benjamin Franklin be included in that list? The kindly Philadelphian who printed witty sayings in “Poor Richard’s Almanack”? The scientist who flew the kite in the storm,...

On 10 November 1775, slightly more than four months after he had taken command of the American troops besieging Boston, Gen. George Washington sent a list of books to an old military colleague in Virginia. William Woodford (1734–1780) had just been reappointed an officer for their home colony. Woodford complained about the “inexperience” of his troops, and Washington answered that problem was “only to be remedied by practice and close attention.” The commander-in-chief also sent this advice: As to the manual exercise, the evolutions and manoeuvres of a regiment, with other knowledge necessary to the soldier, you will acquire them...

In early February 1780, General George Washington’s main army was encamped at Jockey Hollow, New Jersey. But the general maintained his headquarters about three miles away in Morristown, at the house of the widow Theodosia Ford. That separation enticed the British high command into undertaking an operation that, if successful, would cripple the Continental Army and demoralize the Patriot cause: the capture of Washington. The winter of 1779-1780 was the most severe the Continental Army ever experienced. Deep snow and sub-freezing temperatures stopped most mills and made long-distance transportation exceedingly difficult. The impossibility...

On 6 December 1773, Lt. Col. Alexander Leslie of the 64th Regiment of Foot wrote a letter to the highest ranking official in the British army, Lord Viscount Barrington, the Secretary at War. It may seem unusual for an officer of Leslie’s rank to write directly to an officer subordinate only to the King, but the army was not particularly large and Leslie happened to be the highest ranking army officer in Boston at that time. He was little more than a spectator to the rapidly increasing political tensions in the colony of Massachusetts, being posted with his regiment in barracks at Castle William on an island in Boston Harbor. Although they...

1. Myth: Tarring and feathering could be fatal. Busted: The notion that hot tar caused severe, sometimes fatal burns is based on the assumption that “tar” meant the asphalt we use on roads, which is typically stored in liquid state at about 300°F (150°C). But in the eighteenth century “tar” meant pine tar, used for several purposes in building and maintaining ships. As any baseball fan knows, pine tar doesn’t have to be very hot to be sticky. Shipyards did warm that tar to make it flow more easily, but pine tar starts to melt at about 140°F (60°C). That’s well above the ideal for bathwater, but far from the temperature of...

As a near-life-long New York resident and “struggling actor,” it is always a pleasure to see the ever-present throngs of theatre-goers throughout the City. Theatre has for well over a century been recognized as an American art form, especially the musicals that so dominate Broadway. Yet while common today, the theatre had a far different, and darker, connotation in Revolutionary New York. “Freedom” and “liberty” are words so often applied to American government, culture and society during the Revolutionary period that it is sometimes easy to forget that late-eighteenth-century folk and us...

Thanks to the porous state of the British lines around Philadelphia and the industry of General Washington’s secret agents, there is little doubt that American officers at Valley Forge were aware of the dramas that a British Army theater company known as Howe’s Strolling Players presented at the Southwark Theater during 1777-78. The Americans considered themselves officers and gentlemen on a par with their redcoat counterpart. Ignoring the fact that the Continental Congress had banned plays as corrupt influences early in the war, they too decided to stage some plays. During the winter, these theatricals were performed for...

Parliament’s passage of the 1765 Stamp Act is rightly viewed by many as a key moment in the American Revolution. This new “internal” tax, which the British parliament adopted so that the American colonists would pay their “fair share” of Great Britain’s massive French and Indian War debt, (and also contribute to ongoing military expenses), sparked outrage and opposition throughout the colonies, not because the tax promised to be a financial burden on the colonists, but rather, because of the principle of taxation without representation. Virginians, as evidenced by Governor Francis Fauquier’s January 30, 1763 Report to the Board...