4
The House at Penny Ferry, Burnt: Skirmishes on the Mystic
byIn the summer of 1775, American forces had succeeded in bottling up the British army on the Boston peninsula and laying siege to the…
1775
4
17
Displaced: The Donation People of 1775
byIn late November 1775, just as the bone-chilling New England winter started to settle upon Massachusetts, British General Howe loaded three hundred poor, sick…
6
The April 19, 1775 Civilian Evacuation of Lexington
by“This is My Little Girl That I Was So Afraid the Red Coats Would Get” One important aspect of the Battle of Lexington that…
4
Anxiety and Distress: Civilians Inside the Siege of Boston
byOver the years, historians have written countless works on the military and political aspects of the Siege of Boston. Unfortunately, little attention has been…
Hezekiah Munsell Goes to War with the Connecticut Militia
byIn the spring of 1841, a correspondent from the Hartford Courant went to East Windsor, Connecticut looking for an elderly man who was a…
4
Fort Pownal, Colonial Maine, 1775
byIn early morning fog on April 15, 1775, just days before the momentous clash at Lexington and Concord, two innocent-looking vessels appeared off Cape Jellison…
1
March to Quebec and the Fog of War
byOn June 13, 1775, writing from Crown Point on Lake Champlain, Benedict Arnold reported to the Continental Congress that Britain had only 550 “effective…
1
The Loyalist Guides of Lexington and Concord
byWhen Parliament passed the Boston Port Bill in 1774, in an attempt to break the Massachusetts colonists of their resistance to crown policy, it…
The Seizure of the Virginia Gazette, or Norfolk Intelligencer
byOn April 20, 1775, John Hunter Holt announced to the public his recent acquisition of the Norfolk newspaper, the Virginia Gazette or Norfolk Intellingencer….
1
Richard Williams Maps the Siege of Boston
byBritish Lieutenant Richard Williams was one of the few artists to document the siege of Boston from 1775 through 1776. He created maps, sketches,…
6
Prelude to Rebellion: Dunmore’s Raid on the Williamsburg Magazine
byApril in Virginia is regarded by many as the best month of the year. Sandwiched between the chilly bluster of March and the growing…
10
The Bermuda Powder Raids of 1775
byIn 1775, the tension between the American colonies and Great Britain escalated into armed conflict at then-little-known places such as Lexington, Concord and Bunker…
2
Reconciliation No Longer An Option
byOn June 23, 1775, the Continental Congress appointed a committee to write a declaration that would explain the military conflict with England to the…
The Twice Captured Lusanna
byWe often see books which boast of an “unknown story” or “secret history” of an era, and the American Revolution remains ripe fodder for…
5
Billy Flora at the Battle of Great Bridge
byBilly Flora was cold. That was not surprising. He was crouched in the lee of a pile of shingles next to a burnt out…
6
Misinformation, Disinformation, and Gen. Washington’s Gunpowder Supply
byIn the summer of 1775, Gen. George Washington fell victim to bad information about the Continental Army’s gunpowder supply. When he finally received accurate…
41
The Tryon County Patriots of 1775 and Their “Association”
byOn August 14, 1775 some North Carolina colonial men, possibly as many as four dozen or so, met at the Tryon County courthouse. That…
5
9
The First American Declaration of Independence? The Disputed History of the Mecklenburg Declaration of May 20, 1775
byBook Review: The First American Declaration of Independence? The Disputed History of the Mecklenburg Declaration of May 20, 1775 By Scott Syfert. Jefferson, NC:…
12
The Fate of the Royal Savage
byIn the summer of 1775, the British built two warships at St. John, Quebec, on the outlet of Lake Champlain. That fall, the American…
8
Did Paul Revere’s Ride Really Matter?
byThe biggest myth of Paul Revere’s ride may not be that Revere watched for the lantern signal from the North Church spire, as Henry…
4
Paul Revere’s Other Rides
byMyth: “The fate of a nation was riding that night,” Longfellow wrote. Fortunately, a heroic rider from Boston woke up the sleepy-eyed farmers just…
71
Who Shot First? The Americans!
byAt dawn on April 19, 1775, the British detachment of light infantry under Maj. Pitcairn reached Lexington, about two-thirds the way to Concord. There…
1
Dissecting the Timeline of Paul Revere’s Ride
byI’m a scientist by training. I received my master’s degree from MIT, which is incidentally where I fell in love with Boston’s revolutionary history….
9
Dr. Joseph Warren’s Informant
byWith April 19 nearing, marking the anniversary of the start of the American Revolutionary War (the official regional holiday of Patriot’s Day in New…
4
The Memory of Revolution and the War of 1812
byOn June 18, 1812, the United States declared war on Great Britain. American political and military leaders planned to attack the British provinces of…
3
The Siege that Saved Quebec
byThe failure of the rebellious colonists to capture the fortress of Quebec during their invasion of Canada in 1775 had many causes; ironically, a…
5
Paul Revere’s Other Riders
byMyth: “Alerted by signal lanterns, express riders Paul Revere and William Dawes eluded British patrols and spurred their horses toward Lexington along separate routes…
4
Thanksgiving in 1775, 1777 and 1779
byWhile the modern, formalized definition of Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November was not set as a national observance until the time of…
4
Before Washington: The Revolution’s First Commander-in-Chief
byOn June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress officially announced the creation of the Continental Army, a military force representing all of the colonies…
2
The Armchair General’s Proposals
byFor as long as there have been dispatches from the front, there have been armchair generals attempting to call the shots from afar. Some…
8
The First Naval Skirmish of the Revolution
byIn mid May 1775, just weeks after the bloody Battle of April Nineteenth had sparked the start of the American Revolution, the perhaps first…
6
When were they Patriots and Loyalists?
byAt what point during the American Revolution is it most acceptable to classify colonists as either Patriots or Loyalists? 1776. Before this, many…
7
Dissecting The Battle of Bunker Hill Painting by Howard Pyle
byGotta love those redcoats, mechanically marching in neatly aligned ranks into the slaughtering fire of rebel marksmen hidden behind earthworks. This is the iconic…
7
Richard Gridley: A Nearly Forgotten Patriot
byAs the British surveyed the fortifications being built upon Breed’s Hill across the harbor from Boston proper, beside the farmers, shop keepers, tradesmen and…
20
The Gunpowder Shortage
byAs we know from our history books, the War for Independence began with the shots fired at Lexington and Concord. Those shots required gunpowder,…
The Committee of Secret Correspondence
byAs the struggle between Great Britain and her colonists in the thirteen North American colonies entered a state of armed resistance against British military…
5
Reverend Seabury’s Pamphlet War
byIn the fall of 1774, just before adjourning, the First Continental Congress outlined the Articles of Association, an aggressive plan of economic resistance to…
12
Chaos in the Backcountry: Battle of Ninety Six
byA Frontier Crossroads Today a remote and quiet corner of South Carolina, Ninety Six was once a bustling center of activity, and one of…
1
Fort Halifax: One Stop on the Way to Quebec
byOn Sunday, September 28, 1975, six hundred Revolutionary War reenactors appeared in Winslow, Maine. Some paddled the eighteen miles up the Kennebec River from…