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The Battle of Barbados, March 7, 1778, was one of the largest joint Continental and State Navy operations of the war. The frigate USS Randolph, under Captain Nicholas Biddle, former British naval officer, was besting a double decker ship-of-the-line, when the American tragically exploded after a spark entered the powder magazine. Three Hundred and one …
Crawford’s Defeat, also known as the Battle of Sandusky, May 25 – June 12, 1782, ended in the rout of around 500 Pennsylvania militia by an equal number of Native Americans; mainly Wyandot and Lenape Delaware, with some Shawnee, Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi, including a company of Butler’s Rangers. The Sandusky Expedition by Pennsylvania settlers, …
The Moravian or Gnadenhutten Massacre, March 8, 1782, resulted in the vicious rape and murder of 96 Moravian Native Americans by Pennsylvania militia settlers in the closing months of the American Revolution. The converted Christian Lenni-Lenape and Mohicans were mostly old men and women and children. Innocent pacifists, because of their commitment to non-violence, they …
By John Pezzola Known as the Battle of the Hook or Gloucester Point, this engagement became the most significant cavalry clash of the American Revolution. If victorious, the British forces could have provided a means for Cornwallis’s army to escape from the siege at Yorktown across the York River. The battle took place on Wednesday, …
On September 12, 1782, Elizabeth Zane, age seventeen, braved death in a solo dash over open ground to retrieve a keg of gunpowder stored in a nearby blockhouse. Her action helped save her family and friends from certain death, becoming a wilderness legend in her own time. On September 11, 1782, a strong force of …
December 1782 and the roar of cannon and crash of massed muskets were silenced. After seven years of war, opposing armies in America watched and waited for peace. But a civil war still raged. Splintered between rebellious patriots and loyal kings’ men, causes had morphed into hatred with vengeance the driving force. Before the doors …
It is always a pleasure to share Ken Bohrer’s photographs with our readers and this, his 100th blog. Considered among if not the best photographer in his field, Mr. Bohrer has spent decades recording American Revolution reenactments. Thank you Ken for your skill and keen eyes from all of us at Revolutionary War Journal. It’s …
Major General Robert Howe (c. 1732 – December 14, 1786) is not known for his accomplishments, but what he had failed to achieve. In fairness to the only major general in the Continental Army from North Carolina, he was given an impossible task that few men could press on to success. Unfortunately, General Howe was not one …
What occurred at Matthews Bluff and Wiggins Hill epitomized the hatred and violence that raged across the deep south in the closing chapters of the American Revolution. Families and neighbors torn apart by a cause unleashed the worst of humanity. Pillaging, destruction, and savagery by both sides spawned vengeance that fed upon itself. Matthews Bluff, …
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 …
Speak of South Carolina’s role in the American Revolution and four names rise above all others: William Moultre, Andrew Pickens, Thomas Sumter, and of course, Francis ‘Swamp Fox’ Marion. But turn the browned pages of early historical texts, and one name appears first and foremost among South Carolina’s founding fathers; Richard Richardson (May, 1704[1] – …
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 …