Michael J. F. Sheehan holds a bachelor's degree in History from Ramapo College of New Jersey. He is the Senior Historian at the Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site where he has been since 2008. Michael has spent most of his time studying the American Revolution with a focus on the role of the Hudson Highlands and Lower Hudson Valley, where he has lived his whole life. In his free time, he is currently working on a book about the history of King's Ferry during the American Revolution and he has been playing live traditional Irish music in the Stony Point area for five years. Deeply involved in the Brigade of the American Revolution since 2008, Michael has reenacted and spoken at countless historic sites and societies in New York and New Jersey, and is currently serving as a board member for Lamb's Artillery Company.
On the second day of 1780, Capt. Silas Burbank of the 12th Massachusetts Regiment sat down to record a deposition from William Walker, a private soldier in the 2nd Massachusetts Regiment. Walker wasn’t sure if he was in trouble, but after losing £2,561 worth of clothing destined for the Continental Army wintering in Morristown, he […]
Constant Avery of Eaton, in New York’s Madison County, travelled sixteen miles to the county seat in Wampsville in the first week of October 1832. On October 8 he appeared in open court to apply for a federal pension for his years as a soldier in the Continental Army. Avery was “aged seventy three years […]
The Healey Library at the University of Massachusetts Boston defines primary sources as “immediate, first-hand documents of a topic, from people who had a direct connection with it.” As students of history, many of us make frequent use of primary sources: muster rolls, pay rolls, returns, letters, maps, etc. Generally speaking, primary sources are our […]
When old Revolutionary War soldiers applied for their military pensions in the first and second quarter of the nineteenth century, they generally reported the basic information of their service. Occasionally, a soldier provided detail of his service that highlighted their adventures and sufferings. One such soldier was Private James Noble, originally of Maryland. James Noble […]
Every now and then, one comes across a pension application of an old soldier that includes extraordinary detail. Occasionally the application includes a journal or memoir, as in the case of Connecticut’s Isaac Grant or Virginia’s William Tiller. Tiller’s journal is full of detail, but unfortunately few muster rolls for his regiment exist, making certain […]
Gen. George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, arrived at the American defenses at West Point “very much fatigued.” He had ridden one his two beloved mounts, either Nelson or Blueskin, nearly fourteen miles over rugged hills. It was late afternoon on July 19, 1779, and Washington was just getting settled after “returning from Stony […]
It is often a tradition among soldiers and sailors to give monikers to their commanders. American military history resounds with names like Gen.Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Gen.Lewis “Chesty” Puller, Gen. Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson, and so on. One such sobriquet, “Mad Anthony” for Gen. Anthony Wayne, has stuck on and off in the American consciousness for […]
Orderly books are great sources of information for military historians. Their contents are a treasure, and include everything from general and regimental orders, returns, lists, troops movements, guard postings, and the day to day activities of the men themselves. They also include the results of courts- martial, giving insight into what a particular soldier did […]
Some people are drawn to flame, perhaps just a momentary fascination, but it can get one scolded, especially by the Commander-in-Chief. “I had just finished my letter when a blundering Lieutt . . . without knowing what he did pickd up a Candle & sprinkled [the letter] with grease.” It was excused, however. Lt. Henry […]
The old man stepped out into the sun, shut his door, and turned north, leaving his home in Gainesville, New York, for the county seat in Batavia; a roundtrip journey that would take him a few days and near fifty miles. Luckily, the weather was cool and clear for the middle June, and he had […]
Early in the morning of July 16, 1779, Gen. Anthony Wayne and his Corps of Light Infantry successfully stormed the British works at Stony Point, launching the rocky peninsula on the Hudson River into the American memory. Having served as both a garrison and a western landing of the King’s Ferry for nearly the entirety […]
Sgt. Benjamin Gilbert of the 5th Massachusetts Regiment awoke near Verplanck Point on May 31, 1779 with cause to celebrate: it was his birthday, and he was now “four and Twenty Years of Age.” He didn’t celebrate too long, for British “Shipping appeard in sight this Morning and came & [played] upon” Fort Lafayette, the […]
The American War for Independence, like any great historical episode, has its share of legends and mythology. The period from 1775 to 1783, perhaps more than any other period in our short history, went through the wringer of nineteenth century romanticism perhaps a little worse for the wear. Students of the period too often find […]
Since the dawn of humanity, thunder and lightning have both terrified and awed. Protection was sought from deities like Zeus and Thor; and in later ages God and St. Barbara. By the third quarter of the eighteenth century, the Enlightenment had brought about a new sense of curiosity; reason began to replace superstition. There were […]
A great deal of the American Revolution took place in New York’s Lower Hudson Valley. The region was home to a number of forts, skirmishes, battles, and encampments; one site, King’s Ferry, can lay claim to having hosted all of the above. Actually two sites separated by the Hudson River, Stony Point and Verplanck Point […]
Jamaican-born Scotsman Colonel Ann Hawkes Hay of the 2nd Regiment of Orange County Militia looked over his property in Haverstraw, New York towards the wide expanse of Haverstraw Bay in the Hudson River on the morning of March 23, 1777. What he saw shocked him: British sails in the river. Col. Hay wrote to General […]
In late October of 1777, America celebrated its first capture of a British Army; General Horatio Gates had defeated General Sir John Burgoyne near the village of Saratoga in upstate New York. The prisoners, known as the Convention Army after the semi-treaty that effected their surrender, were moved to a camp outside of Boston. By […]
In the early morning hours of July 16, 1779, Brigadier General Anthony Wayne and the Continental Corps of Light Infantry successfully stormed and carried the British works and garrison at Stony Point on the Hudson River. Not long after, gunners from the Continental Artillery turned the captured guns across the river to fire upon the […]
