Here’s one of the things I love most about Boston: If it were possible to drop Paul Revere in downtown today, he could, quite literally, find his way home. Not just to the site of his former home, but to his actual house. Incredibly, enough landmarks still exist in Boston that he could find his […]
The end of 2019 marks the end of an era, when one of the world’s premier institutions for research on early America, The David Library of the American Revolution, closes its doors. The collections will be moved to the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, so the material will still be accessible—although under different conditions—but the […]
A motorist travelling northbound through New Jersey along Interstate 295, which tracks the east bank of the Delaware River from the Delaware Memorial Bridge, passes opposite Philadelphia, and ends a short ways beyond Trenton, might think he or she is in Europe, based strictly on fleetingly observed exit signs rather than any resemblances evoked by […]
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 […]
In October 2016 my wife and I went to visit the Schuyler Mansion in Albany, New York. We went because of Susan’s interest in Alexander Hamilton who, as many know, married Gen. Philip Schuyler’s daughter Elizabeth, and then went on to help change the world only to perish in a duel with Aaron Burr. As […]
An interview with Lin Olsen, Executive Director, Great Bridge Battlefield and Waterways History Foundation Question: Why is preserving the Great Bridge Battlefield important? We have been blessed with one of the most important pieces of our American heritage and the beginning of our great nation. It is our responsibility to share the legacy of this […]
In a cemetery behind the Salem United Church of Christ, in Reamstown, Lancaster County, a boulder stands: This grinding bowl from East Cocalico is placed to Commemorate ITS MAKER THE AMERICAN INDIAN AND The Boulder, Three other local figures, who lived abreast of the loftier Traditions of their time, light and race: THE SOLDIER of […]
Ten years in the planning and construction, the new fifty million dollar state of the art American Revolution Museum at Yorktown was officially dedicated in a thirteen day series of events celebrating each of the thirteen original states in the order in which they ratified our Constitution. From March 23 through April 4, 2017, daily […]
Almost anyone that develops a passion for history can point to an event deep within themselves that spawned an imaginative interpretation of events, and out of that, perhaps a lifelong passion for a certain historical period. The battlefield at Yorktown, Virginia covering the 1781 siege, certainly excites the imagination as one treks through the British […]
Walking into the Museum of the American Revolution’s spacious rotunda, museum patrons will be met with polished terrazzo floors and an elegant curling staircase illuminated with the natural light from the George Washington standard flag six-pointed star skylight. At the start of the Museum experience, an orientation video depicts differing perspectives from founding mother Abigail […]
Under English rule, trading vessels sailed back and forth from the Delaware River and Bay to Philadelphia, New York, the British Isles, Southern Europe, Madeira, and the West Indies. Raw materials were sent to England for manufacture, traded with non-British entities, and the proceeds spent on British-made goods. Daily runs between Cape Henlopen, New Castle […]
Six months of struggle shaped into twenty-six characters. A – Arrival The Continental Army under Gen. George Washington trudged into Valley Forge on December 19, 1777. About 14,000 soldiers and hundreds of women and children came to this winter encampment, the third of the Revolutionary War. The army left Valley Forge six months later, on […]
In 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 in Penobscot Bay a few hundred yards from Fort Pownal (present-day Stockton Springs, Maine). The fort’s gunner, Jonathan Lowder, looked out upon the waters and saw two schooners. They turned out […]
On June 18, 1775, soon after learning that he had been chosen to lead the Continental Army, George Washington sat down to write a difficult letter to his wife, Martha, who was back home at Mount Vernon, to tell her about this unexpected change in circumstances and what it would mean for her: “… I […]
Everybody has heard of Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. On the other hand, mention Mount Independence and one usually encounters the puzzled lowering of eyebrows and cocking of the head to the side. Most will be quite surprised to learn how that rocky thumb of land on the Vermont shore opposite Ticonderoga actually played a […]
If one looked into Benjamin Franklin’s time on Craven Street, they might initially believe he lived at 36 Craven Street the entirety of his two stays in London based on the plethora of articles on the internet that say so. If they dug a little deeper they might read that he lived at No. 27 […]
Almost every day, I drive past a Revolutionary War roadside marker. It commemorates a house that served as the headquarters of patriot Gen. Israel Putnam in 1777. Putnam occupied the elegant brick building briefly while he mustered militia to oppose a British incursion up the Hudson River. The enemy raid was intended to relieve Burgoyne’s […]
Taxation without representation has been the traditionally accepted cause of the American Revolution. Such an understanding of the Revolution, while valid, does not give credit to its complexity. An often-neglected aspect of Virginia’s American Revolution experience is the importance of the frontier. Soil exhaustion, a recurrent problem of Virginia’s tobacco economy, turned planters into land […]
Arlington National Cemetery’s founding story is well known. During the American Civil War, Union forces occupied Robert E. Lee’s 1000-acre estate on the Potomac River directly across from Washington, DC and, as a form of retribution for Lee joining the Rebel cause, turned it into a cemetery. What is lesser known is the link between […]
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 […]
Niagara Falls, known to Indians, explorers, missionaries, and fur traders in the seventeenth century, became a waystop in the eighteenth century for settlers and government officials as Upper Canada was developed, as well as a familiar landmark to loyalist refugees who migrated to the area from the warring colonies. American travelers were drawn to this […]
But what still hightens our Apprehensions is that those unexpected proceedings may be preparatory to new Taxations upon us: For if our Trade may be taxed why not our Lands? Why not the produce of our Lands and every Thing we possess or make use of? This we apprehend annihilates our Charter Rights to Govern […]
In 1779 George Washington moved the Continental Army into New Jersey. He wanted to be within striking distance of New York City but at the same time be able to respond to an attack in or around Philadelphia. He chose Morristown at Jockey Hollow in the Watchung Mountains as his camp and headquarters. To protect […]
“For it’s a tall old tree and a strong old tree. And we are the sons, yes, we are the sons… the sons of liberty”[1]. So went the catchy song that the tea-dumping Sons of Liberty sang loudly in the streets that night, all in perfect harmony and accompanied by mysterious instruments that came out […]
Following their victory at the Battle of Long Island (Brooklyn) on August 27 1776, the British established their headquarters in New York City where it remained throughout the war. They extended their control eastward into Long Island, intending to use it as a combination barracks, larder, and fortress. The British studded the Island’s northern shoreline […]
On August 25, 1777 General William Howe with 17,000 men landed at Head of Elk, Maryland; he was 57 miles south of the city of Philadelphia. Over the next month, he battled the Continental Army at Brandywine Creek and the South Valley Hills before marching into Philadelphia on September 26. Because he planned to spend […]
Being ten unexpected and edifying quotations from the third winter encampment. I – “We live uncommonly well for Camp…We have Milk and sugar in plenty…I have my hair powdered every day.…”Samuel Ward, Jr. to Phebe Ward, Valley Forge, 5 May 1778.[1]The letters of “Sammy” Ward, who had been married only a month when he came […]
In 1662, Charles II, the restored monarch of Great Britain, issued a charter for the founding of Connecticut. The colony’s borders were delineated as spreading from Narragansett Bay in the east to the “South Sea on the West.” Later the colony of New York took exception to this clause, and the two colonies battled over […]
Control of the Hudson River was important strategically during the American Revolution. The river, along with lakes George and Champlain, was a potential invasion route from Canada. It also was a physical separator of the colonies. Men as well as supplies crossed the river. To split off the northern colonies from the South and interrupt […]
“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world…He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our […]
When George Washington returned to Mount Vernon in the last days of 1783, he became the new Cincinnatus. Roman senators in the fifth-century B.C. made the farmer Cincinnatus a dictator during a national crisis, but after the war was over he voluntarily resigned his position and returned to his plow. Similarly, Washington laid down his […]
Benedict Arnold and John André met after midnight on September 22, 1780 to conclude the selling and taking possession of West Point. André, having been picked up from the fourteen-gun British sloop, the Vulture, by two oarsmen, finally met his co-conspirator on a wooded slope south of today’s Haverstraw. Based on Sir Henry Clinton’s readiness […]
The story of General Benedict Arnold and Major John André takes about a minute to convey in a high school classroom. The real story, however, is worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster with all the essential elements: heroes and villains, supporting roles, intrigue, greed, lust for glory, betrayal, danger, close shaves and a nation in peril. […]
After the Americans’ stunning victory at Saratoga on October 17, 1777, King Louis XVI ordered his ministers to negotiate a formal alliance between France and the United States. Conrad Alexander Gérard of France and Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee of the United States negotiated the terms of the Franco-American alliance in the Treaty […]
Lying between Vermont and New York, astride the border between the United States and Canada, accessible via canals from the St. Lawrence and Hudson Rivers, and 125 miles long, Lake Champlain is a major boating attraction. On any summer’s day, hundreds of watercraft displaying registrations from numerous states and Canadian provinces will pause for a […]
The city you probably never thought about for its role in the Revolution had a tremendously important role in the conflict. Boston, Philadelphia, Newport, and New York are well known for their Revolutionary War history. The smaller southern towns of Williamsburg, Charleston, and Savannah are also recognized for their Revolutionary significance. Yet one city stands […]
Have you ever tried to imagine what it would have been like to witness an important historical event? If so, the Boston Tea Party Annual Reenactment is a must-attend event. On Monday December 16, 2013, I attended the 240th Anniversary Boston Tea Party Annual Reenactment presented by the Old South Meeting House and the Boston […]
It was January 1776. In a bold plan hatched in London to end this rebellion, General Sir Henry Clinton was to sail from New York with 2,000 British regulars to the Cape Fear coastline of North Carolina. Meeting him in Brunswick, North Carolina with more troops would be naval commander Commodore Sir Peter Parker and […]
In April 1775 the Fairfield, Connecticut, mansion of the Honorable Thaddeus and Eunice Burr was a-bustle. Preparations were being made to welcome a contingent of key patriots: John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Lydia Hancock and Dorothy Quincy. Word had reached Burr (who was High Sheriff of the County), Colonel Gold Selleck Silliman (he hadn’t yet been […]