Category «Battles»

Attack on German Flatts 1778

The raid on the frontier settlement of German Flatts occurred on September 17, 1778, at present day Herkimer, in central upstate New York on the Mohawk River. It was enacted by British partisan forces of Loyalists and four nations of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Confederation, mainly Mohawk and Seneca, under the overall command of Mohawk Chief …

Cherry Valley Massacre

The Cherry Valley Massacre, November 11, 1778, was one of three major attacks in 1778 on American ‘rebel’ wilderness settlements and military outposts. British Loyalists and Native American forces, particularly four tribes of the Iroquois Nation Confederation; Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga, and Cayuga ascended on the New York settlement, destroying it while killing and capturing many …

General Sullivan’s Expedition Against the Iroquois and the Battle of Newtown

Skoi Yase Heoweh gnogek Once a Home, Now a Memory: Iroquoian In the spring of 1779, Major General John Sullivan was selected to lead an expedition against the Iroquois Nation that was launched later that summer. Most of the Native American Confederation (known as the Longhouse Confederation) had aligned with the British. The campaign was budgeted by …

Siege of Vincennes: Dedication, Sacrifice, and Bloody Murder

The Siege of Fort Vincennes, February 22 – 24, 1779, was a desperate attack by approximately 200 Virginia militia and French Volunteers to maintain the American momentum established in 1778; capturing British forts and settlements in the far western regions from Kentucky to the upper Mississippi River Valley. Colonel George Rogers Clark, older brother of …

General John Sullivan Soldier and Congressman

General John Sullivan of New Hampshire commanded troops in most of the American Revolution’s major battles. An ardent loyalist turned patriot; he was a member of the First New Hampshire Provincial Congress. He was voted to represent his state at the First and Second Continental Congress where he was commissioned as a Brigadier General, even …

Washington’s Crossing and African American Prince Whipple: Fact and Fiction

Much has been written about Prince Whipple over the years (c. 1750 – 1796); mainly related to folk lore and romantic vignettes that gained prominence when Prince was incorrectly associated with two paintings depicting General George Washington crossing the Delaware River. Bare bones facts indicate that as a free child in Africa, Prince was caught …

Battle of Lenud’s Ferry: Tarleton’s Continuous Attack on American Cavalry

The Battle of Lenud’s Ferry, South Carolina, May 6, 1780, also known as Lanneau’s Ferry, was a sounding patriot loss and further blow to American cavalry in the south.  It was a continuation of the sudden and vicious attacks on patriot dragoons and militia by Banastre Tarleton’s Loyalist Legion of Dragoons and Mounted Infantry. At …

African American Jordan Freeman Dies Defending Fort Griswold

Fort Griswold

The Battle of Fort Griswold, Groton, Connecticut, was fought on September 6, 1781, between Connecticut militia and British Regulars under turncoat traitor Benedict Arnold. Jordan Freeman, African American patriot, stood firm before the onslaught of enraged redcoats pouring over the fort’s walls. Just as British Major William Montgomery mounted the rampart, Jorden grabbed a 10-foot …

Battle of Moores Creek Bridge

In the predawn fog of February 27, 1776, battle-crazed Scots, like warrior clad berserks of old, shattered the night in a sudden roar. As many had done at Culloden, they charged with claymores (35-inch double-edged broadswords) and dirks. The Battle of Moores Creek Bridge, 18 miles northwest of Wilmington, North Carolina, had begun. Scot Tories, …