Britain, Russia, and the Armed Neutrality of 1780
Like a rock dropped into a smooth pond, the American Revolution spread ripples across the European world. French and Spanish entry into the war…
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John Rutledge: Governor of South Carolina, 1779
John Rutledge had been prominent in South Carolina politics virtually since establishing his Charleston law practice in 1761. He served in the General Assembly,…
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John Rutledge: President of South Carolina, 1776–1778
John Rutledge was born into Charleston’s elite in 1739 and by April 1775 had established himself as a defender of English rights in the…
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John Rutledge: Delegate from South Carolina, 1765–1775
John Rutledge is one of those members of the founding generation who often get overlooked. Yet, for every Jefferson, Adams, or Washington, there were…
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The Connolly Plot
During the Revolutionary War, Pittsburgh was a place of constant political and economic intrigue, double-dealing, subversion, back-stabbing, disloyalty, and treachery. One of the earliest…
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Betty Zane and the Siege of Fort Henry, September 1782
In 1774, as tensions between colonials and Native Americans living along the upper Ohio River grew, settlers either fled east of the mountains or…
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The Siege of Fort Laurens, 1778–1779
During the American Revolution, British-allied Native Americans raided American homesteads and settlements all along the Ohio Valley. As the war progressed, the increased frequency…
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The Treaty of Fort Pitt, 1778: The First U.S.–American Indian Treaty
In June 1777, Henry Hamilton, the British lieutenant governor for Quebec and Superintendent for Indian Affairs at Detroit, held a council at Detroit with…
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Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History
Book Review: Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History by Roy Adkins and Lesley Adkins, (Viking, 2017). BUY THIS BOOK FROM AMAZON It is…
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The Indian World of George Washington
Book Review: The Indian World of George Washington by Colin G. Calloway (Oxford University Press, 2018) BUY THIS BOOK FROM AMAZON In writing The Indian…
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A Curious “Trial” on the Frontier: Zeisberger, Heckewelder, et. al. vs. Great Britain
For most of the American Revolution, a community of Lenape/Delaware, Munsey, Mahican, and Mingo Indians who had adopted the Christian faith lived along the…
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Moravians in the Middle: The Gnadenhutten Massacre
In 1782, six months after Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown, Patriot militiamen committed one of the most heinous war crimes of the Revolutionary War. On…
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General John Dagworthy: George Washington’s Forgotten American Rival
Every summer, millions of tourists flock to the beaches and resorts on the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia (Delmarva) peninsula sandwiched between the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. …
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Dunmore’s War: The Last Conflict of America’s Colonial Era
Book review: Dunmore’s War: The Last Conflict of America’s Colonial Era by Glenn Williams (Westholme, 2017) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] In 1763, King George…
Washington’s Farewell Advice to the Nation
Last month, Americans observed the peaceful transition of power from one president to another, from one political party to another. Some will point to…
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Manufacturing Independence: Industrial Innovation in the American Revolution
Book review: Manufacturing Independence: Industrial Innovation in the American Revolution by Robert F. Smith (Westholme Publishing, August 2016) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] In his 1961…
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Joseph Addison’s Cato: Liberty on the Stage
The study of ancient Greece and Rome was a significant part of upper class education in Colonial and Revolutionary America. The founders were familiar…
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Captain John Peck Rathbun: As Audacious as John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones tends to overshadow the study of the American Revolution at sea. While his accolades are well deserved, Jones earned many of…
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The Revolutionary War Generation and Thanksgiving
Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation established Thanksgiving as the national holiday we celebrate today, making him the father of modern Thanksgiving.[1] The Revolutionary generation, however,…