History of the American Revolution
David Bushnell (1740 – 1824), while a patriot student at Yale University, imagined a submersible craft capable of underwater attack upon enemy shipping. To achieve his vision, the future combat engineer and munitions expert had to develop several innovations that ultimately modernized naval warfare. But unfairly, history has pretty much credited Bushnell as the sole …
By Harry Schenawolf, author of the Shades of Liberty Series about African American soldiers in the American Revolution. June 27, 2015, a plaque marking the site of New York City’s 18th century Slave Auction House was unveiled in Lower Manhattan by Mayor Bill de Blasio. The plaque commemorates the location of where thousands of lives …
Once, where now large buildings crowd downtown Manhattan, a substantial and beautiful pond spread out in a pristine valley between the forested countryside. Collect Pond, or Fresh Water Pond, was a body of fresh water near the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City, that covered approximately 48 acres (194,000 m²) and ran as …
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 …
When the British abandoned Boston, George Washington and his generals knew King George was far from listening to the colonist’s demands. They would be back, and in force. But where? All information and common sense pointed to New York City. Though smaller in size than Philadelphia and not the center of the fledgling rebel government, …
During the mid 1700’s, New York City catered to the darker side of life with its many ‘disorderly houses’, ‘tipling shops’, and brothels. They were all located in a seething slum of shacks and portable houses on land owned and leased by the largest Anglican Parish in the city: Trinity Church. It was for that …
In 1776, Trinity Church stood along Broadway on the high ground opposite the west end of Wall Street. It was one of three churches in the Anglican parish in New York City; the other two were St. Paul’s, located further north on Broadway and St. George’s to the east on Beekman’s Street. New York was …
September 16, 1776 A cold faceless wind swoops up from the Vye and sweeps over the heights. George Washington, supreme commander of the Continental Army, tugs at the stiff facings, pulling the flaps tighter around his neck. Lifting his head, he turns in the saddle and gazes south – out over the flicker of countless …
As a small boy, Harold Goldstein recalls being taken on a walking tour of New York City’s waterfront. He describes something that astonished and delighted him: “a number of small harbors, inlets from the East River, rectangular in shape and about the size of a city block, in which rusty freighters and even a few …
Eighteenth century battles were fought on the field of honor. In Europe, it meant that each army lined up and pounded away at each other over a spacious, flat field. If there were fortifications, massive trenches were dug, inching cannon forward until close enough to reduce the walls to rubble and encourage surrender. Continuous broadsides …
A letter written by Peter Schaghen from the ship Arms of Amsterdam in November 1626 is the first to refer to the island as Manhattes. The Dutch, early on began calling the Native Americans who resided on the island they settled as well as to the surrounding region as Manhattan Indians, however no such tribe …
At the start of 1776, General George Washington agreed with most New Yorkers that their city was defenseless. Yet the problem was deeper. In reality, no matter what efforts were taken to strengthen its response to invasion, the city could never be defended. Though every general politician knew it; they were also aware they had no …
Maryland Regiment at the Battle of Long Island Tuesday, August 27, 1776. Since dawn, four hundred young men from Maryland exchanged volley for volley with some of England’s finest troops. Colonists from influential families, the former Baltimore Independent Cadets were experiencing their baptism of fire. In company with soldiers from Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, they …
McGowan’s pass was once a prominent feature in the lives of those who traveled beyond New York City’s frontier to the New York Highlands and the colonies of New England. During the colonial period, three main routes were open to one leaving New York City bound for northern destinations. Two were by water and one …
Each, axe in hand, attacked the honored tree, Sweating eternal war with Liberty. But e’er it fell, not mindless of its wrong, Avenged it took one destined head along. A Tory soldier on its topmost limb, The genius of the shade looked stern at him, And marked him out that self-same hour to dine, Where unsnuffed lamps burn low at Pluto’s shrine. …