Non-Profit Dedicated to Historical Education of the American Revolution and the Colonial Period
For centuries, the redoubt was a well-established type of military fortification, however throughout 18th century America, it often became the stand-alone fortress. In North America, where military fortifications were frequently constructed in relatively remote and inaccessible locations, works built from readily available materials (typically stone, lumber and earth) tended to be more common than the …
General William Tecumseh Sherman wrote, “…earthworks play an important part in war, because they enable a minor force to hold a superior one in check for a time, and time is a most valuable element in all wars.” Frederick the Great said, “Officers require different kinds of knowledge, but one of the principal is that …
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 June 18, 1778, British Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant General Henry Clinton vacated Philadelphia and marched his army across New Jersey. General George Washington’s Army pursued at a cautious distance and attacked ten days later at the Battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778. Clinton retreated before hostilities could begin anew the next day and bottled himself up …
One year after the famed Boston Tea Party, an American company of militia, during a raging snowstorm, attacked a British Fort. Cannon and shots were fired while farmers and sailors stormed the fortification. They came to blows with the defenders and wounded the English commander and another soldier. This clash between armed British subjects firing …
September 27, 1778. “It appears that very few, or none of the British Officers [who] entered the quarters of our Troops on this occasion, that no stop might be put to the Rage and Barbarity of their Bloodhounds…Southward Cullency has 12 wounds, 10 of which are in his breast, belly, and back. He says, that, …
Almost nothing is known of Virginian and former slave George Latchom. Most of what we do know relates to one incident during the American Revolution in which he displayed incredible strength and unselfish courage. He was not a Continental soldier; over eight hundred African Americans would ultimately fight alongside patriots in the Virginia Line. Nor …
“The Colonies will no longer need Britain’s protection. She will call on them to contribute toward supporting the burdens they have helped to bring on her, and they will answer by striking off their chains.” Comte de Vergennes at the close of the French and Indian War Myth 1: Americans were the subject of intense …
The number of African American soldiers who stood beside their patriot white comrades in arms during the American Revolutionary War has frequently been dismissed as unimpressive or inconsequential. An incorrect argument can be made to support such an opinion when taking the total number of soldiers who fought the entire war and factoring the ratio …
American slaves took interest when sporadic cases by individual African Americans questioned the rights of white ownership in court and won their freedom. They took heart after the Somerset ruling in which England’s Chief Justice William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield stated that the air of England was too free for a slave to breathe …
Boston Tea Party, December 16, 1773, was the overt action that sparked a revolution in America. When approximately one hundred ‘patriots’ disguised as Native Americans, catapulting Smuggler John Hancock, Failed Brewer Samuel Adams, and Silversmith Paul Reverie into the annuals of legend, dumped sack upon sack of East India tea into Boston’s murky waters, one …
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 …
From October 8th to the 14th, Burgoyne had been preparing his army to begin the long and dangerous trek back to Fort Ticonderoga. On October 10th, he had dispatched Lt. Colonel Nicholas Sutherland with two regiments up the west bank of the Hudson to assess the situation north of them. The idea, suggested by German …