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“Who?”… is the most common response when mentioning Artemas Ward. With the popularity of sixties iconic TV shows, another’s reply might be, “Don’t you mean Artemas Gordon?”…referencing Ross Martin’s sidekick role on the Wild Wild West TV series that ran four seasons starting in 1965. Of course there might be the more smug response, “Oh, …
“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 …
Summer, 1777 – all along New York’s pristine Mohawk River Valley, a cauldron of simmering violence that flamed in sporadic brutality erupted in savage warfare. On August 6th, an American militia of settlers and Oneida warriors, over 800 men ages 16 to 60, from throughout Tryon County, New York, answered the call to arms. With …
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. …
Similar knives used during the American Revolution pre-dates the Viking Age. The word knife possibly descends from knifr, which is the Old Norse word for blade. The knife was all important to these hardy people of the north. From their craft and design, descended many of the knives that found their way all over Europe, …
In just the past couple of years there’s been a wealth of invigorating new books published on the American Revolution. We find great biographies; some long over due that highlight both Americans and British warriors as well as statesmen. Featured are the likes of John Haslet of the famed Delaware regiment, Benjamin Rush, army surgeon, …
By 1774, colonial Americans had spent decades governing themselves. They were ingrained with a spirt of independence that strengthened with each new generation. Local legislatures were chosen by regional landowners. Provincial assemblies made laws, oversaw magistrates to enact laws, ruled over disputes, levied penalties, and saw to the daily needs of their communities. They organized …
The seeds of self-governance began in America with the first splash of the Mayflower’s anchor in 1620, nearly seventy years before the idea of self-rule was encouraged in England. Great Britain’s Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the 1689 Bill of Rights established that the British Parliament, and not the king, had the ultimate authority in …
From early October to mid-November 1777, the main Continental Army, commanded by General George Washington, and main British Army, commanded by General William Howe, were locked in a desperate, on-going battle for control of the Delaware River. For the British and their allies, they would suffer the second largest number of casualties throughout the war …
Revolutionary War Journal is published by Harry Schenawolf, author of the Shades of Liberty Series about African American soldiers in the American Revolution. It is a continued pleasure to offer my good friend Ken Bohrer, University Educator and Renowned Photographer of American Revolution Reenactments, this platform to help share his incredible photographs. They are truly …