Some runaways took only the clothing they had on, and lacked even a complete ensemble. Running away without shoes shows either desperation or determination. Run away, the 13th of this instant July, from the subscriber, near Newtown, Bucks County, an Irish servant girl, named Judy Fagan, between 15 and 16 years old, of a dark […]
For some reason not all advertisements included the name of the missing person. Whether this showed an impersonal knowledge on behalf of the master, or was a simple oversight by either the person placing the ad or the publisher, we can only wonder. RAN away from the subscriber in Newport, on the night of the […]
Throughout the eighteenth century, newspapers advertised servants, slaves, soldiers, spouses and others who had fled from contractual obligations. The advertisements give us remarkable textual descriptions of everyday individuals about whom little else is known. Each day this week, we’ll present an advertisement for a runaway woman, accompanied by an illustration of carefully researched, handmade clothing […]
Burgoyne’s campaign of 1777 has been termed a turning point in the American Revolution.[1] Marked by the Continental Army’s victories at the battles of Bennington and Saratoga, the campaign came to show the limits of the British army and gave credence to and international recognition of the American cause. Hidden in these histories of Burgoyne’s […]
Only 1,457 pounds of wool? George Washington was astonished. He had 568 sheep, so that meant the recent shearing at Mount Vernon and his other farms yielded an average of just over two and a half pounds of wool per animal. Washington was not home to supervise the process; it was June of 1793 and […]
In his Colonel George Hanger to all Sportsmen, and particularly to Farmers and Gamekeepers (London, 1814) Hanger retails a diverting anecdote about the prowess of American riflemen, but, ever since, the date and precise location of the incident to which it relates have remained a mystery: Colonel Tarleton and myself were standing a few yards […]
Peter Oliver, the Crown-appointed Chief Justice of provincial Massachusetts, knew how to discredit popular protest. Mindless and incapable of acting on their own, crowds that opposed British imperial policies “were like the Mobility of all Countries, perfect Machines, wound up by any Hand who might first take the Winch.” They needed a director who could […]
Book review: From Slaves to Soldiers: The 1st Rhode Island Regiment in the American Revolution by Robert A. Geake (Westholme, 2016) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] Author Robert A. Geake, an established author of early Rhode Island history making his first foray into the Revolutionary War, writes of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment of the Continental Army, […]
Experience had taught George Washington a great many things. His father had passed away at a young age, denying him the chance for the college education in England that he had been promised. Instead of lecture halls and libraries, his factories of learning were to be the wildernesses of the Virginia frontier, the battlefields of […]
Henry Defendorff enlisted as a sergeant in Christopher P. Yates’s Tryon County company of the 2nd New York Provincial Battalion commanded by Col. Goose Van Schaick, on July 20, 1775. The position of his name on the company muster roll indicates he was the company’s second sergeant.[1] The original company didn’t exist for long; shortly […]
Our readers are avid consumers of history, continually hunting for the next great book about the Revolutionary War. And there’s no shortage of options. Amazon alone sells more than 12,000 books categorized as “Revolution and Founding.” With so many choices, where does any student of the Revolution begin? Which tomes are the most credible for […]
A truly French and American hero, Marquis de Lafayette, a nineteen-year-old nobleman without significant military or political experiences, joined the fledgling American Revolution at a low point. He distinguished himself from other French officers by volunteering to serve in the Continental Army without commission and pay. Worldly beyond his years, Lafayette rapidly sized up the […]
Though he was just twenty-two years of age, Walter Stirling already possessed enviable social advantages. He had powerful family connections and enormous personal wealth. A successful banker himself, his renowned father was on the verge of being raised to one of the most prestigious posts in the Royal Navy as Commander-in-Chief, The Nore.[1] If he […]
An incongruous spectacle greeted a scorching Caribbean sun that shone upon a stone quay. Tall slim palms seemed to wave a mournful farewell while providing a much-needed cooling sea breeze. A crowd of darkly dressed Jewish men, their bearded faces hidden in the shadows of broad-brimmed dark hats, huddled on the pier. They were surrounded; […]
Book review: The American Revolution Reborn, edited by Patrick Spero and Michael Zuckerman (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] For decades, the American Revolution’s scholarship has mostly fallen within the same interpretive schools with little departure. In The American Revolution Reborn, a collection of essays edited by Patrick Spero and Michael Zuckerman, […]
Strong in the memories of North Carolina veterans of the Revolution were images of Tory (Americans loyal to the British government) terrorists, mounted on horses (some stolen from Patriots) and flourishing guns and swords.[1] Few of these soldier veterans had been at home during a Tory raid. More often, what the men said in their […]
Before ever he was a president, vice president, ambassador, Continental Congressmen, or Massachusetts lawyer, John Adams was a schoolmaster in a rural hamlet in Colonial Massachusetts. And he was in a state of torment. “I find myself very much inclined to an unreasonable absence of mind, and to a morose and unsociable disposition,” he lamented […]
The war between Britain and her North American colonies shut off the availability of raw materials, specifically timber, tar, and pitch, for the British Royal Navy and her commercial fleet. This placed greater concern on protecting their second biggest supplier, the Baltic States. Part of that protection included confiscating all contraband and naval stores […]
As the colonies of South Carolina and Georgia moved closer to open rebellion against Great Britain in the summer of 1775, leaders of the revolutionary movement found themselves facing a host of potential threats. In addition to the numerous loyalists in both colonies, the tribes of pro-British Indians on their frontiers, and the possibility of […]
Book review: The Ides of War: George Washington and the Newburgh Crisis by Stephen Howard Browne (University of South Carolina Press, 2016) [BUY BOOK ON AMAZON] The Ides of War is an in-depth analysis of the Newburgh Crisis. The author, Stephen Howard Browne, is a professor of rhetorical studies and his expertise informs his analysis of […]
THE CHARLESTOWN CAMPAIGN Beginning with the siege of Charlestown, the southern campaigns would prove to be Britain’s last throw of the dice in the Revolutionary War. As preparations for the Charlestown campaign got under way, Hessian general orders on December 10, 1779 again sought volunteers for a chasseur company to accompany it under George Hanger’s […]
He describes it as “the best role” of his career. Yet actor William Daniels, whose portrayal of John Adams in both the Broadway and movie versions of 1776 – the Tony Award-winning musical about the signing of the Declaration of Independence – left an indelible mark on a generation of theatergoers, film aficionados and history […]
Duncan Grant was proud of his wife. She was someone to write home about, and that’s exactly what he did. In a letter to his father, he boasted that she kept him “more like a gentleman than a Soldier.” That was quite a compliment; if it was true, Margaret Grant must have been quite an […]
Over the years, historians have written countless works on the military and political aspects of the Siege of Boston. Unfortunately, little attention has been given to the impact of the siege upon the residents of the city. As British military and political authorities attempted to recover from the disaster of April 19, 1775, the residents […]
Due to the work done by many people since 1976 in uncovering the lost history of the American Revolution, for the first time in more than two centuries the people who risked and sacrificed so much in that conflict are no longer just names but human beings. An excellent example of how far the historiography […]
The prevailing academic theories that attempt to interpret the motivations of those American colonists who rebelled against British taxation of, and ultimately, British sovereignty over the Thirteen North American colonies during the American Revolutionary War tend to center their focus on one of two broad themes: either political ideology or economic self-interest. While proponents of […]
Reflecting on the service of American soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines this past Veteran’s Day prompted an interesting question: Who was the first Continental soldier to die in combat during the American Revolution? The death of the first general officer, Brigadier General Richard Montgomery, during the failed American assault on Quebec on December 31, 1775, […]
Last month, Americans observed the peaceful transition of power from one president to another, from one political party to another. Some will point to a tradition that begins with George Washington, who voluntarily stepped down as the first president under the new U.S. Constitution when his second term ended. In fact, the new nation was […]
Its list of battle honors nearly constitutes a history of the Revolution itself. During seven years of service, the Delaware Regiment earned a staggering combat record at the most legendary engagements of the war, including Long Island, White Plains, Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Camden, Cowpens, Guilford Courthouse, Hobkirk’s Hill, Ninety-Six, and Eutaw Springs.[1] They were […]
Book review: The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution, by John Oller (Da Capo Press, 2016) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] Given the important role that Francis Marion played in the American Revolution, it is surprising that no biography of the famous South Carolinian has been published since Robert D. Bass’s The Swamp Fox: […]
PHILADELPHIA TO RHODE ISLAND Having pursued a chequered and colourful path in Europe, including a rake’s progress through London high society,[1] George Hanger reached New York City on May 16, 1778 and three days later set sail for Philadelphia to join the Hessian Jäger Corps as a staff captain. He was not unduly surprised to […]
Armies are tasked with enforcing government policies. When it came time for the British military to enforce parliamentary policies concerning the American colonies, however, some members of the army and navy found themselves unable to answer the call because they disagreed with their government. A number of officers across all grades, who were distinguished for […]
Under English rule, trading vessels sailed back and forth from the Delaware River and Bay to Philadelphia, New York, the British Isles, Southern Europe, Madeira, and the West Indies. Raw materials were sent to England for manufacture, traded with non-British entities, and the proceeds spent on British-made goods. Daily runs between Cape Henlopen, New Castle […]
Many of those who served with George Washington in the French and Indian War also served during the Revolutionary War. Some of his former comrades, like Thomas Gage, served the British in both conflicts and were Washington’s enemies in the Revolution. Others, Horatio Gates and Adam Stephen for instance, later served with Washington against the […]
Book review: Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It (Knopf, 2016) by Larrie D. Ferreiro. [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] American students of the Revolutionary War may not like to hear it, but author Larrie D. Ferreiro, in his excellent new book, persuasively argues that the United States […]
Hans Christian Febiger was born on the island of Funen, Denmark in 1746. Around the age of sixteen his father died. For the next two years he received a military education, most likely in Copenhagen. In 1765 he travelled to the West Indies with his uncle who had been appointed the governor of the island […]
In June 1780, Gen. George Washington told a lie. In fact, he planned a major deception. But as it was intended to deceive the British high command during the midst of the Revolutionary War, most Americans would likely forgive him. General Washington, with the aid of Major General Lafayette, wanted the British to believe that […]
Book review: From Revolution to Reunion: The Reintegration of the South Carolina Loyalists by Rebecca Brannon (University of South Carolina Press, September 2016) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] First and foremost, let me just start by saying what a unique and interesting subject Ms. Brannon chose for her book. There are many books out on what […]
Book review: Frontier Country: The Politics of War in Early Pennsylvania by Patrick Spero (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016). [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] For many Americans, few historical topics elicit such a visceral reaction as the frontier. Decades of Hollywood potboilers have certainly perpetuated distorted misconceptions, but as author Patrick Spero illuminates in his book […]