Ill-armed, still worse clothed, mostly unshod, scantily fed, discipline lacking, and poorly officered; these and more were accurate descriptions of the American Army that fled to the outskirts of Philadelphia in the fall of 1777 after their disastrous defeat at Brandywine Creek, Maryland. However, many saw evidence of hope among all this despair, especially those …
Cliveden (Chew) House & Its Role in Battle of Germantown The Americans advanced in force caving in pickets, outposts and all resistance. One hundred British regulars, outnumbered with shot canisters full and plenty of powder, streamed inside the stately country mansion of wealthy Quaker loyalist Benjamin Chew, Pennsylvania supreme court justice. The British commander, battle …
Royal Regiment of Foot Guards in the American Revolutionary War The British Brigade of Guards that fought in the American Revolutionary War was rooted in the English Civil War period of the mid seventeenth century. This select group of guardsmen raised specifically for the American conflict was chosen from the three guards regiments: First Foot …
Always to the front in a fight and the last in a retreat, Lord Rawdon proved himself a brilliant and successful partisan leader. Sir George Otto Trevelyan Francis, Lord Rawdon[1] epitomized the perfect British officer in the eyes of those fine gentlemen who sat smugly in their distinguished seats in the House of Lords. …
Throughout the eighteenth century, upper and lower classes both shared the same woes when it came to decaying teeth and the somewhat primitive, even barbaric means of dental care. Diseases like smallpox, malaria, scurvy, and syphilis (to name a few) were rampant. So too were the diets heavy on sugar, sweetened teas, fortified wines, and …
Then did we see old Bonner rise, and borrowing Spite from Hell, They stride along with magic eyes, where Sons of Freedom dwell Lemuel Haynes Oliver Cromwell was an African American soldier who participated in nearly every major battle of the Revolutionary War’s northern campaign. He spent six years and nine months in the New …
Should African Americans Serve in the Continental Army? Washington and a new nation struggle with their convictions, morals, and necessity O’er the raging billows borne. Men, call’d Christians, bought & sold me, Paid my price in paltry gold; But though their’s they have enroll’d me, Minds are never to be sold. W. Cowper, Esq. 1774. Humanity was not ready to bestow …
Welcome my friends, from every land. Where freedom doth not reign; Oh! Hither fly from every clime, Sweet liberty to gain – John Mason Harlem Heights, ten miles north of New York City as the crow flies; September 16th 1776 – one hour before dawn. The Continental Army is entrenched on the high ground facing the British army, …
It is the year 1663. The big day has arrived. The town of Walloon[1] is brimming with anticipation. This small Dutch settlement on the Long Island shore – the nucleus of the future Brooklyn – has its residents eagerly preparing their carriages for a jaunt to the ferry crossing the East River to New Amsterdam. …
Two gentlemen called upon Captain Wilson and asked him to sign the agreement which a number of colonists had entered into to resist the mother country England to the last. This Captain Wilson positively refused to do. “I am an Englishman,” he said, “and my sympathies are wholly with my country. I do not say …