Month: February 2014

News Posted on

Top 10 Articles of February 2014

A belated happy Valentine’s Day to all our loyal readers! We hope you enjoyed our action-packed month of articles, which included gripping features about battles, retreats, espionage, mobs, drugs, ambushes, massacres and, oh yeah, our first celebrity interview (Hal Stalmaster, the actor who played Johnny Tremain in the Disney film). Below our the 10 most […]

by Editors
Techniques & Tech Posted on

Infantry vs. Cavalry

Throughout the War for American Independence, infantry reigned as the primary martial arm of the conflict. Their principle weapon was the smoothbore musket, followed with the bayonet. A musket had an effective range of approximately eighty yards – meaning a fired musket ball would typically land somewhere on a man sized target at eighty yards.[1]  […]

by Daniel Murphy
People Posted on

Henry Knox, Drug Dealer?

How many times does someone get the chance to read through the business correspondence files of one of the Founding Era’s most fascinating personalities? I had the distinct privilege of doing just that while researching an angle of Henry Knox’s Boston bookstore. I learned that Henry sold much more than just books – he sold […]

by John L. Smith, Jr.
People Posted on

Top 10 American Loyalist Officers

Many historical accounts over look the impact of American loyalist military leaders and their revolutionary war contributions to the British cause.  50,000 or more soldiers in loyalist combat units actively participated in most major revolutionary battles throughout North America[1].  In addition to much needed combat power, they provided valuable scouting, battlefield intelligence and geographic knowledge. […]

by Gene Procknow
People Posted on

The Hated Benjamin Franklin

The front page of April 18, 1765, Pennsylvania Gazette featured one of the earliest American printings of the Stamp Act. “Printed by B. Franklin, Post-Master, and “D. Hall,” the newspaper offered no critical comment on the new law as threatening people’s liberties. Benjamin Franklin became publisher of the Gazette in 1729. He took on Scottish […]

by Todd Andrlik
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

The Battle of St. Louis

While the War of American Independence was won on the Eastern seaboard by American and French battling the British, the future of the United States was determined in small, seemingly inconsequential battles in the western theatre. The battles west of the Appalachian Mountains would shape the destiny of the American nation by determining what land would become the United […]

by Jimmy Dick
Prewar Politics (<1775) Posted on

You Won’t Believe How Samuel Adams Recruited Sons of Liberty

In his 1936 biography Sam Adams: Pioneer in Propaganda, John C. Miller wrote this about the leader of Boston’s Whig activists: Sam Adams discovered these taverns with their “tippling, nasty, vicious crew” excellent recruiting grounds for the mobs he later raised against the Tories and Crown officers. Adams himself was a familiar figure in Boston […]

by J. L. Bell