Non-Profit Dedicated to Historical Education of the American Revolution and the Colonial Period
The raid on the frontier settlement of German Flatts occurred on September 17, 1778, at present day Herkimer, in central upstate New York on the Mohawk River. It was enacted by British partisan forces of Loyalists and four nations of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Confederation, mainly Mohawk and Seneca, under the overall command of Mohawk Chief …
In the predawn fog of February 27, 1776, battle-crazed Scots, like warrior clad berserks of old, shattered the night in a sudden roar. As many had done at Culloden, they charged with claymores (35-inch double-edged broadswords) and dirks. The Battle of Moores Creek Bridge, 18 miles northwest of Wilmington, North Carolina, had begun. Scot Tories, …
On April 14, 1780, at 3 AM, Banastre Tarleton’s Partisan Legion, a loyalist mixture of dragoons and mounted infantry, thundered out of the dead of the night in a terrifying charge. Sabers slashed downward on startled Americans torn from their sleep. The surprise attack on mainly patriot light dragoons, both Continental troopers and South Carolina …
Philip Abbot (also spelt Phillip Abbot or Phillip Abbott) fought and died at the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, Charlestown, a hefty stone throw over the Charles River to Boston, Massachusetts. Philip was a slave, owned by Nathan Abbott who survived the carnage. We don’t know much about Philip. Except he was there; …
To call the fight there a battle would lend it a formality it did not possess. It was a clash of two armed mobs. Toward the end the fighting resembled an old-fashioned Pier 6 brawl between longshoremen and strikebreakers. Historian/Author John Buchanan The Battle of Ramsour’s Mill, also spelt Ramseur, and Ramsaur, for Derick Ramsaur, …
Battle of Tearcoat Swamp (also known as Tarcote and Tarcot), fought Oct. 25, 1780, was one of a string of battles that highlighted the military ingenuity of what legend has labeled, the Swamp Fox. By the fall of 1780, it became apparent that the new American Congress had blown it in selection of commanders of …
Thomas Heyward Jr (July 28, 1746 – March 6, 1809) was a planter, lawyer, judge, politician, and soldier. One of the Founding Fathers who attended the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, he was among the last to sign the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776. On February 3, 1779, as captain of artillery in …
The Battle of Beaufort, also known as the Battle of Port Royal Island, February 3, 1779, near Beaufort, South Carolina, was considered an American victory that, along with the Battle of Kettle Creek, Georgia, exactly one month later, on March 3, 1779, was a shot in the arm for American forces in the south. As …
At the start of the American Revolution, not all British colonies on the mainland of North America rebelled against the mother country. Thirteen did; however, the four distinct colonies to the north that made up Canada and, in the south, East and West Florida, did not. They remained loyal to England. As such, the rebellious …
The Battle of Kettle Creek, February 14, 1779, was a partisan clash of arms between Loyalists and Patriot militias; approximately sixty-five miles northwest of Augusta and eight miles west of present-day Washington, Georgia. By 1778, the southern colonies of the American Revolution had become a battleground of partisan warfare. A bloody civil war had erupted …
Literally caught between a rock and a hard place, the American position at Brier Creek, Georgia, on March 3, 1779, commanded by Brigadier General John Ashe of North Carolina militia, proved to be a death trap. Situated on a triangular plot of land, the American choice of encampment was fatally flawed. Their backs were to …
Steno Ferry was fought on June 20, 1779 just southwest of Charleston, South Carolina, between the British and a slightly larger American force. It was a battle ill-conceived and did nothing to alter the situation of the two opposing armies. England’s troops were completing their retreat from ‘rebel’ defenses outside Charleston, South Carolina, when American …
September 8, 1781 and the Battle of Eutaw Springs destroyed any hope England had of reclaiming the southern colonies. But sixteen months earlier, that was nowhere near the case. American General Benjamin Lincoln had just surrendered the southern army at Charleston to British General Henry Clinton on May 12, 1780. The devastating loss of over …
Blacksmith, politician, and soldier, Seth Pomeroy never lived long enough to see the country he helped forge. But perhaps more lasting than what he did, is what he gave us. He yet stands alongside a rail fence on an immortal hill amidst hell’s fury. Before a wall of British steel, he turns his face from …
“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, …