Non-Profit Dedicated to Historical Education of the American Revolution and the Colonial Period
Honor is like an island; Steep and without Shore; They who once leave; Can never return. French poet Nicholas Boileau Originally Published January 26, 2021 It is with a heavy heart that Revolutionary War Journal must post this opinion. I must share with my readers my outrage over the horrendous attack on our nation’s capitol …
African American slaves and bondsmen were issued clothing based on the master’s financial means and his/her willingness to provide for their ‘property’s’ wellbeing. On larger estates, those chosen to work the land or labor in the many outbuildings wore either homespun clothing or simple cloth imported from England. They would finish work and return directly …
American colonies claimed by European nations were for the most part initially run by the private sector through investors in joint corporations. Later, once the colonies proved profitable; two other types of colonial governments would emerge. It required a large sum of money to extract the natural resources and establish trade for each new territory. …
In novels and film, we often come across the exchange of colonial money whose odd assortment of names and values are confusing at best. This exchange of colonial currency lends authenticity to period romantic novels (you know -the ones whose cover has some hunk who misplaced his shirt), or historical colonial dramas set in the …
One of the first journal entries of Virginia’s original settlers had to do with the topic of fisheries. George Percy was aboard one of three sailing ships that entered Chesapeake bay on April 27, 1607. He wrote that “We came to a place where they [natives] had made a great fire, and had been newly …
Champer Ederson was an African American soldier from Rhode Island. In January 1779, during the American Revolution, he enlisted in the Fifth Company of the Hessian Knyphausen Regiment, serving as a drummer. When the British and Hessian troops abandoned Rhode Island in October, 1779, he sailed with them to New York City. He would not …
Blacksmith, politician, and soldier, Seth Pomeroy never lived long enough to see the country he helped forge. But perhaps more lasting than what he did, is what he gave us. He yet stands alongside a rail fence on an immortal hill amidst hell’s fury. Before a wall of British steel, he turns his face from …
My good friend Ken Bohrer of American Revolution Photos allowed me to share his February 2021 blog on Valley Forge – #32. I highly recommend you view his other blogs along with thousands of great photos of the many American Revolutionary War reenactments he has chronicled over the years. Please click here and enjoy: American …
“In the history of the Revolutionary War, perhaps no single incident is recorded which, at the time of its occurrence, created more intense sympathy, or aroused a spirit of more bitter indignation, than the massacre of Jane McCrea.” David Wilson, 1853 On July 27, 1777, in Argyle, New York, north of Saratoga, John Allen’s family …
Generations of scholars have written countless texts about the myriad origins of the American Revolution. Some are quite good. Some quite bad. Yet all are informative, except maybe one partisan publisher of ‘alternate facts’ that recently made the news. This article tosses another possible source of rebellion into the mix; it is a link to …
This afternoon, January 30, 2021, while watching President Joe Biden take the oath of office as the 46th President, I was moved by the peaceful transition of power that reaffirms our democracy and that which binds us together as one nation. And how, these past couple of months, we came so close to witnessing its …
If we advert to the nature of republican government, we shall find that the censorial power is in the people over the government, and not in the government over the people. James Madison, 1793 According to University of Virginia Professor John Stagg, James Madison, our fourth president, was “from the early days of the American …
The first distinctive American Flag indicating a union of the colonies was known as the Grand Union Flag, the Great Union Flag, the Continental Flag, or the Cambridge Flag. It was flown for the first time, January 1, 1776, by troops of the Continental Army around Boston. The thirteen stripes stood for the union of …
The first major clash between British soldiers and a colonial mob was not the March 5, 1770 Boston Massacre, a title given by Boston’s skilled propogandists. The first instance of open aggression between opposing forces in America occurred in New York City, on January 19, 1770, nearly two months prior. After the 1763 conclusion of …
The stakes were first laid for Fort George in 1625, marking the official seal of New Amsterdam and what would become New York City. From pine palisade to earthen embankments to stone fortress, the fortification was reconstructed many times by the Dutch and English on the tip of Manhattan Island, mainly with African slave labor. …