History of the American Revolution
Colonel Mordecai Gist actively recruited some of the finest young men from good Maryland families to form a regiment which, like the famed Highlanders of the Black Watch, were to forge its own legend in a war of rebellion that gave birth to a new nation. In the very first contest of the American Revolution …
Colonel William Douglas (January 27, 1742- May 28, 1777) from North Branford, Connecticut was a successful merchant mariner and later farmer – honest, fair, hardworking, and successful in business. He was also a tragic figure, having invested and lost everything he had for the cause of liberty – his fortune, his family’s future, his health, …
Great generals are scarce; there are few Morgans. General Nathanael Greene Bar-room brawler, drinker, gambler, and womanizer; six feet tall and built like a brick yard with tree trunk arms, Daniel Morgan (1736 – July 6, 1802) was an imposing figure in any time period. Yet beneath this rough frontage, was an honest and passionate figure …
Was Captain Allan McLane (Aug. 8 1746 – May 27, 1829) the stuff of mythological tales, whose heroic feats clashed with British steel and titans of oppression? Did his covert operations save the American Army from a surprise attack and later General Lafayette from capture? Did he charge upon British dragoons with flashing saber and …
Lieutenant John Mansfield (1748 – 1823) was one of the faceless thousands who valiantly served his country from the first to last shots of the American Revolution. It is difficult to encapsulate, in a couple of thousand words, eight years of hardships – the struggle, the bitterly cold winter camps, the hunger and the fear, …
Deborah Sampson (Dec. 17, 1760 – April 29, 1827) enlisted as a soldier, saw action in heated skirmishes, was wounded, and during her seventeen months in her disguise as a man, had won the “applause” of her officers and fellow soldiers in arms. From the time Deborah Sampson’s memoirs were printed in 1797 and rewritten, …
Boyrereau Brinch, also known as Jeffrey Brace, left an account of his experiences and exploits as a light infantryman in General George Washington’s army. In this incredible excerpt of his memoirs, Brinch was confronted by a British Dragoon or horse-soldier. A desperate hand to hand struggle ensued in which he parleyed saber strokes with the …
Kip’s Bay, mid-Manhattan Island, New York, September 15, 1776. American militia, including New England brigades of Continental Soldiers, among the best in the American army, ran for their lives before invading British steel. What occurred next, occasionally seen by General George Washington’s inner family of staff, was rarely if ever experienced by the rank and …
On October 7, 1777, in the second and conclusive action of what has become the American Revolution’s Battle of Saratoga, one of England’s bravest and considered the most experienced officer of wilderness warfare fell mortally wounded. At the height of the battle, when American General Daniel Morgan’s riflemen, like a ‘hoard of wildmen,’ fell upon …
Local Carolina residents had already responded to the threat by strengthening Fort Sullivan. Palmetto logs were laid into the partially completed fort which proved to be a blessing. Though General Lee recommended that the fort be abandoned, Colonel William Moultrie and Colonel William Thomson, who commanded militia from South and North Carolina, including some native …