Between heroes like George Washington and villains like Benedict Arnold, the Revolutionary War was full of historical actors of all stripes. But one man in particular defies an easy sorting between hero and villain. Washington’s first adjutant general, Horatio Gates, does not have a secure place in historical memory as either hero or villain. In […]
We often think that the Siege of Yorktown, Virginia, and the surrender ceremony of October 19, 1781, was the effective end to fighting in the American Revolution. There were smaller skirmishes in isolated places, and some fights, but the two main armies never fought again. Yet the surrender allowed the French navy to return to […]
To historians of the American Revolution, the date of 1775 for French participation in the Patriot cause may seem incredible. The enigmatic “Monsr Dubuq,” “Dubuc,” or “Dubuque” was nonetheless, one of the first French officers to assist in the American Revolution, before envoy M. Julien Bonvouloir,[1] and two years prior to the arrival of Baron […]
