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The French Army in Williamsburg, Virginia, 1781–1782
For most of 1781, the inhabitants of Williamsburg lived in a constant state of anxiety. Already economically devastated by the loss of the state…
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“Virginia Makes the Poorest Figure of Any State”: The Virginia Infantry at the Valley Forge Encamplent, 1777–1778
“Virginia Makes the Poorest Figure of Any State”: The Virginia Infantry at the Valley Forge Encampment, 1777-1778 by Joseph Lee Boyle (Clearfield, 2019) Joseph Lee…
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Patrick Henry’s March on Williamsburg, May 1775
It had been a very hectic week in Williamsburg for Peyton Randolph, the Speaker of Virginia’s House of Burgesses and the President of the…
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Williamsburg Becomes an Armed Camp, 1775
No one disputes that the fighting that erupted at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 ignited a war between Great Britain and her…
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Williamsburg on the Eve of War
A visitor to Williamsburg prior to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War would have discovered a city of just 1,900 inhabitants, roughly 900 of…
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The Fighting Parson’s Farewell Sermon
The history of the American Revolution is rife with heroic tales and amazing myths of patriotic American heroes that offer inspiring and entertaining stories….
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General Isaac Gregory’s Fictitious Treason
Col. Josiah Parker of Virginia was at a loss at what to do. He had just arrived outside the British outpost at Great Bridge…
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Picking Up the Pieces: Virginia’s “Eighteen-Months Men” of 1780–81
The first half of 1780 had gone disastrously for Virginia. The surrender of Gen. Benjamin Lincoln’s army at Charleston and the destruction of Col….
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The Court Martial of Major Henry Lee
Aside from Gen. Anthony Wayne’s successful assault upon a British garrison at Stony Point in July, military activity in the first eight months of…
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The Penobscot Expedition of 1779
For much of the Revolutionary War, the relative obscurity and isolation of the three Massachusetts counties of York, Cumberland, and Lincoln along the coast…
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Daniel Morgan: A Revolutionary Life
Daniel Morgan: A Revolutionary Life by Albert Louis Zambone (Westholme Publishing, 2018) Few figures in the American Revolution contributed more towards victory over Great…
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The 240th Anniversary of the Battle of Monmouth, June 16-17, 2018
In addition to museums and historical sites, a way to learn about Revolutionary War history is to attend a reenactment. There are many, large…
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Resolved, an American Experiment: Interactive Theater at Colonial Williamsburg
I attended a new program at the Capitol in Colonial Williamsburg recently called Resolved. I have long missed the days when the reconstructed Capitol…
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Take Them At Their Word: Virginia’s Opposition to the Townshend Duties
The other day I became indirectly embroiled in a disagreement about what belonged on a historic road sign that was to be posted to…
Election Fraud and Voter Suppression: 18th-century Style
There was certainly no love lost between two of the three Virginia gentlemen from Prince William County who stood for office in the county’s…
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Battle of Gwynn’s Island: Lord Dunmore’s Last Stand in Virginia
With the Revolutionary War entering its second year in May of 1776, the focus of most Virginians was not on events to the north…
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A Tale of Two Cities: The Destruction of Falmouth and the Defense of Hampton
Destruction of Falmouth (modern day Portland, Maine) On October 8, 1775, a British naval squadron of four ships, led by the lightly armed vessel Canceaux,…
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The Village of Machias Confronts the Royal Navy, June 1775
The winter of 1774-75 had been difficult for the colonists nestled near the falls of the Machias River on the far eastern edge of…
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A Posture of Defense: Virginia’s Journey from Nonimportation to Armed Resistance
A month into the historic 1774 meeting of the 1st Continental Congress, delegates John Adams of Massachusetts and Richard Henry Lee of Virginia sparked…
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The Rise of Virginia’s Independent Militia
Like thousands of colonists in British North America, Virginians were alarmed in the summer of 1774 by news of Parliament’s harsh reaction to the…
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The First Continental Congress Responds to the Intolerable Acts
The summer of 1774 was eventful for the colonists of British North America. News of Parliament’s harsh measures against Massachusetts, and particularly Boston, for…
George Washington Makes the Case for a Boycott
The news that many dreaded reached Virginia in May 1774. The British parliament, determined to punish the inhabitants of Boston for the destruction of…
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Captain Lee’s Genius
Captain Henry Lee III’s promotion to Major in April, 1778, capped a year of impressive service for the 22 year old cavalry officer from…
How Lund Washington Saved Mount Vernon
The inhabitants of Alexandria, Virginia, awoke on April 11, 1781 to a disturbing sight. A flotilla of enemy ships that had spent the last…
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Race to the Dan:
“Pushed with Great Expedition”
It had been a tense three weeks in the Carolinas for General Nathanael Greene, the commander of the American southern army. In the wake…
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Virginia on the Eve of Revolution
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,…
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Washington’s Deviation to Virginia
General Washington received the disappointing news on August 14, 1781. Comte De Grasse’s powerful French fleet of nearly thirty warships was not sailing for…