Non-Profit Dedicated to Historical Education of the American Revolution and the Colonial Period
A man will retain things for the preservation of his own life longer than he will retain things for the taking of life…In other words, the soldier will include his canteen as one of his best friends. Lt. Colonel Philip Reade, History of the Military Canteen, 1901. Simple in design but critical to hydrate a …
Savannah, Georgia was quickly taken on December 29, 1778, by a small British invasion fleet that within a few hours of disembarking troops, routed Georgian Continentals and militia. The rebels suffered severe casualties with the remaining force retreating into the interior. As early as the summer of 1778, after three and a half years of …
The summer of 1778 saw Supreme British commander General Henry Clinton with troop concentrations in three major locations; Newport, Rhode Island, New York City, and East Florida at St. Augustine. New York City and East Florida would remain in British hands, but Rhode Island’s troops would soon be contested by an expedition that combined French …
In the early morning hours of January 18, 1777, on a hillside redoubt (a small fortification) called ‘Negro Fort,’ just north of the Harlem River at Kings Bridge in what is now the Bronx, around 100 armed black loyalists were attacked by a patriot militia force of 3,500 men under Major General William Heath. The …
On January 17, 1777, Major General William Heath, under orders from General George Washington, took approximately 5,000 militia troops of the Hudson Valley army south to the Spuyten Duyvil at Kingsbridge, about a 15-mile trek. Washington had marched his main army into New Jersey to counter British General Howe’s threatened attack on Fort Washington and …
The onset was violent, and the conflict carried on principally with the broad sword. By John Pezzola. John formerly served in the United States Army. He received a master’s degree in Military History and Civil War Studies. He presently teaches 7th-grade US history and military history at American Military University. Encamped at an outpost in …
General William Heath was an excellent administrator. Versed in military training from his militia leadership role during the French and Indian War, he was loyal, hardworking, and dedicated to duty. In fact, it could be said that Heath was everything a good commander could be, except one major flaw; he was rubbish in combat. Early …
By John Pezzola. John formerly served in the United States Army. He received a master’s degree in Military History and Civil War Studies. He presently teaches 7th-grade US history and military history at American Military University. The cannon fire from the fort was terrible, and the grapeshot flew thick and, at times, when it ricocheted …
Capture of the British outpost Fort Galphin, May 21, 1781, by Continental troops and South Carolina militia under Lt. Colonel Henry “Lighthorse Harry” Lee was more akin to an episode from the 1960’s western comedy sitcom ‘F-Troop.’ Lee had sent a small diversionary force to assault the fort, serving as bait to draw out the …
The Battle of Cape Henry, March 16, 1781, occurred just outside the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay off the Cape of Henry. Though the French fleet of eight ships-of-the-line and one frigate under Admiral Charles Destouches inflicted far greater damage as they bested the seven ships-of-the-line under British Vice Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot, Destouches did not …
By the spring of 1781, six years of war in America had witnessed thousands of homes and homesteads plundered and torched. British and American punitive raids and foraging parties scoured coastal and inner regions. Politics and hatred morphed into one as a civil war erupted between militia bands of patriots and loyalists. In early April, …
The surrender of British outpost Thicketty Fort and ninety-six British loyalists on July 26, 1780 (one sources gives July 30th) to six-hundred-armed patriot militiamen, many frontiersmen carrying rifles, was strategic not as a battle, no shots were fired, but for what the fort’s capitulation meant to future British plans to placate the south. In the …
The important thing to remember about the Ferguson Rifle is that it was not invented by Patrick Ferguson. The breechloading rifle that historians, novelists, gun enthusiasts, and countless internet articles state was born of the creative mind of Major Patrick Ferguson (1744 – 1780), had been around since the early stages of firearms. Breechloading matchlocks …
Colonel Isaac Shelby (1750-1826) was an exceptional leader of patriot militia who, by the end of his life, became one of the country’s most admired men. Born to fight, he grew up in the wilderness where at an early age, stood second in command to his father’s company against the Shawnee. When war with England …
The Battle of Earle’s Ford and Fort Prince, South Carolina, July 15, 1780, [some sources state the 14th while others list the 17th] were both American victories that involved the same belligerents. At Earle’s Ford on the Pacolet River, just south of the North Carolina border, a British force of Provincial Dragoons and South Carolina …