Tag: Virginia

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The Service of Colonel William Campbell of Virginia

Colonel William Campbell was the quintessential commander for the tough, independent-minded riflemen who formed the militia units from Campbell’s home in the mountains of the southwest Virginia. Tall, muscular and dignified (although he had a fiery temperament when aroused), Campbell resembled a Scottish clan leader straight from a Sir Walter Scott novel, even carrying his […]

by John Beakes
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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 Virginia.  Lee and the rest of Colonel Theodorick Bland’s 1st Continental Dragoon Regiment had joined General Washington’s army in New Jersey fifteen months earlier.  As commander of a troop of cavalry […]

by Michael Cecere
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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, which the British parliament adopted so that the American colonists would pay their “fair share” of Great Britain’s massive French and Indian War debt, (and also contribute to ongoing military expenses), […]

by Michael Cecere
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The Armchair General’s Proposals

For as long as there have been dispatches from the front, there have been armchair generals attempting to call the shots from afar. Some months after the battle of Bunker Hill, Britons received news of another British defeat at Great Bridge, Virginia on 9 December 1775. Although much smaller than the action outside Boston, Great […]

by Don N. Hagist
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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 New York as Washington had long hoped, but was instead destined for the Chesapeake Bay. Washington’s plan for an allied attack on British held New York City depended heavily on the […]

by Michael Cecere
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Grading British General Benedict Arnold

Prior to September 1780, Benedict Arnold earned a great reputation among Patriots for his bold, brave actions at Quebec, Valcour and Saratoga.  In return for his treason, Arnold received commission as a General in the British army but the question remained unanswered as to whether he actually possessed the formal military command skills expected of […]

by Wayne Lynch
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Establishing the Tory Myth

Our understanding of loyalists in the American Revolution is a relic of the eighteenth-century turn from what one might call “constitutional sense” to a more “revolutionary sensibility” in Anglo-American political culture, a shift further reinforced by romantic nineteenth-century writers.[i]  To understand them as they saw themselves unfurls a rather different historical narrative. For most men […]

by Taylor Stoermer
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Mrs. Byrd’s “Affair at Westover”

In traveling upriver on his raid to Richmond in early January 1781, General Benedict Arnold disembarked his army at Westover on the James River where they confiscated enough horses for the advance party and set up camp.  Westover was actually a large plantation owned by Mary Willing Byrd.  She was the widow of William Byrd […]

by Wayne Lynch
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Spring Break Road Trip – Day 4 (MD, VA)

After an early morning drive-by of multiple Maryland monuments and historical sites, we focused our attention on Virginia. Whoever said doing Mount Vernon and Colonial Williamsburg in one day was impossible never drove a Porsche Cayenne. George Washington’s estate opens at 8 am, Colonial Williamsburg closes at 5 pm, and they are separated by a […]

by Editors