Non-Profit Dedicated to Historical Education of the American Revolution and the Colonial Period
Major General Joseph Spencer (October 3, 1714 – January 13, 1789) was a good officer. Through three wars, rising in rank from lieutenant to major general, he followed orders and demonstrated clear thinking and carefully thought-out decisions. But he was not a great general. He had not the daring and drive of a Benedict Arnold, …
By the spring of 1781, six years of war in America had witnessed thousands of homes and homesteads plundered and torched. British and American punitive raids and foraging parties scoured coastal and inner regions. Politics and hatred morphed into one as a civil war erupted between militia bands of patriots and loyalists. In early April, …
An American army emerged from a militia system of self-protection. For decades these militias had been supplied and nourished by the British, only to turn on its mother country in an act of violent defiance. By 1776, patriots proved they could gather in mass and were willing to fight and die for a cause they …
No man dare speak. They crept through the woods and marshland, silently lowering themselves into the water, knowing if their musket fell from their shoulder, or they hesitated even a moment, orders demanded they be speared to death. And with still a hundred yards to go before reaching the abattis of sharpened stakes that blocked …
When the British charged that hot day on August 16, 1780, the militia, two-thirds of the American army, threw aside their weapons and broke ranks, most never even firing a shot. But not all Americans turned and ran for their lives. The Continental soldiers left on the battlefield, now grossly outnumbered, stood firm. They did …
As far as battles fought during the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Harlem Heights was considered a smallish affair. As far as victor, most historians consider the contest a draw based on the number of casualties and because all parties returned to their former lines. However, its impact on both sides was immediate and …
Participant in the Three Major Surrenders of the Revolutionary War Major General Benjamin Lincoln was present with Major General Gage when they accepted British General John Burgoyne’s surrender at Saratoga – an event that historians agree tilted the scale for the Americans in their path towards independence. Lincoln was the commander of American forces at …