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The Battle of Quebec was an attempt on December 31, 1775, by American colonial forces to capture the city of Quebec, drive the British military from the Province of Quebec, and enlist French Canadian support for the American Revolutionary War. The British governor of Quebec, General Guy Carleton, could not get significant outside help because the St. Lawrence River was frozen, so he had to rely on a relatively small number of regulars along with local militia that had been raised in the city. Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold led a force of about 1,200 American army forces and Canadian...

In the winter of 1776, General George Washington and his ragged army had experienced only defeat and despair. The War for Independence was going badly, with failure following failure. ... General Washington hatched a daring plan to cross the Delaware River under the cover of darkness, march to Trenton and attack the Hessian outposts in and around Trenton. The boats to be used for the crossing were gathered earlier in the month in compliance with Washington’s orders, primarily as a defensive measure. Various types of boats were collected; most notable were the large, heavy Durham boats used to carry pig...

The ultimate historical traveler's guide to the American Revolution Nearly 150 chronologically arranged entries on everything from meeting halls to battlefields Includes contemporary accounts and the writings of leading historians, offering site-by-site details and an overview of the Revolution Written for the vast and ever-growing crowd of history tourists In 1996, Congress commissioned the National Park Service to compile a list of sites and landmarks connected with the American Revolution that it deemed vital to preserve for future generations. Some of these sites are well known--Bunker Hill, Valley Forge, Fort Ticonderoga--and in no danger of being lost; others less so--...

My daughter faced a personal crisis last week as she started back to work after a three-month maternity leave. She loves her profession as a pediatric dentist, but how could she possibly leave the little person who appears to grow and change by the minute? A ten-hour day away loomed as half a lifetime. snip... As women still struggle with how to "do it all" in terms of work and family, Mercy Otis Warren is an inspiring example of an early American woman who successfully faced this challenge. snip... What they might be surprised to learn, is that just as...

House passes bill to seek change of status for Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument A 149-foot-high shrine to American Revolutionary War POWs that stands majestically over Fort Greene Park could be on its way to becoming a national monument to be maintained by the U.S. Department of the Interior if a bill approved by the House on April 28 is passed by the senate and signed into law by President Obama. Members of the Society of Old Brooklynites present a wreath at the base of the monument. Photo by Eugena Ossi The House passed the Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument Preservation Act,...

It looks really, really good from the previews/website. I don't want to go beyond crazy here, but it seems to have a slant that Freepers would like. We can only hope...From their website:"Based on Alexander Rose’s book Washington’s Spies, AMC’s TURN tells the untold story of America’s first spy ring. A historical thriller set during the Revolutionary War, TURN centers on Abe Woodhull (Jamie Bell), a farmer living in British-occupied Long Island who bands together with his childhood friends to form the Culper Ring -- an unlikely team of secret agents who not only went on to help George Washington...

This is part three of a 6-part 1997 PBS documentary on the Revolutionary War. The episode is titled "The Times That Try Men's Souls" (1776-1777). In addition to the Delaware River crossing and Hessian camp attack it also covers the British invasion of New York and subsequent Battle of Brooklyn, aka, The Battle of Long Island. "Days after the Declaration of Independence is signed, a British force arrives in New York harbor. Washington and his troops are driven to New Jersey. With only a few days of enlistment left for many of his volunteers, a desperate Washington leads his army...

As many of you know, there was an hiatus between Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown (October 19, 1781) and the Treaty of Paris (September 3, 1783). Washington stayed with his army and did not return to his beloved Mount Vernon until word of the treaty’s signing reached him, and he would see the British Army and Navy depart NYC on Evacuation Day, November 25, 1783. New Yorkers had made up a rhyme, “From Kip’s Bay to Evacuation Day” that had much meaning to them since Kip’s Bay (near present day First Avenue and 30th St. on the East River) was the...

RICHMOND, VA. – A group working to preserve a New York military cemetery from the Revolutionary War says it has identified 15 soldiers from Virginia believed to be buried there. The Friends of the Fishkill Supply Depot has pored over old muster rolls, military correspondence, private letters, physicians’ journals and other documents to identify soldiers buried in unmarked graves on privately owned land in New York’s Hudson Valley. So far, they’ve been able to identify 84 listed in the records as having died at Fishkill. The group announced the new identifications on Monday, including the soldiers from Virginia who died...

ALEXANDER ROSE: Thankfully, this isn’t a chicken-and-egg question, so the answer is a simple one: Washington’s spies, otherwise known as the Culper Ring. There were five primary members. First in seniority was Benjamin Tallmadge, a dragoons officer who acted as the Ring’s manager in American-held Connecticut and made sure their intelligence was passed on to Washington back at headquarters. The agent who sailed back and forth across Long Island Sound (I prefer the more colorful contemporary description of it, “the Devil’s Belt”), tussling with freebooters and dodging patrol-boats, was Caleb Brewster, a former whaleboatman who really, really liked fighting. Brewster’s...

Revolutionary War reenactors at Princeton Battlefield. Douglas Sherlock, a bombardier, in the Continental Army, help pull the canon, during a Revolutionary War reenactment held at the Princeton Battlefield, May 25, 2013. Mary Iuvone/For The TimesPRINCETON — Preservationists opposed to the Institute for Advanced Study’s plan to build faculty housing on land they say was a Revolutionary War battlefield have appealed a court decision allowing the construction project to proceed. The appeal filed Friday continues a long-running dispute over the historical significance of the site next to Princeton Battlefield State Park. The planning board approved the construction project last year and...

The surrender of General Cornwallis at Yorktown, 1781 Photo: courtesy Library of Congress Britain’s loss of America in the War of Independence (1775-1783) is typically attributed to the failings of its key political and military decision makers who were, in Andrew O’Shaughnessy’s words, “associated with opposition to progress and with attempting to introduce an authoritarian style of government”. They have, he writes, become cartoon figures of incompetence and mediocrity in a story with an inevitable ending, “as history progresses towards modernity”. Not any more. In this fascinating, well written and extensively researched study of 10 of those British decision makers...

I thought this would be an appropriate reference for today. God Bless America.Franklin's Woodcut from 1754...not a flagBunker HillThe Bedford FlagFirst Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry First Pennsylvania RiflesThe Gadsden FlagNavy JackThe Hanover Associator's FlagGeneral Sullivan's FlagFlag of General Washington's Life GuardGeneral Washington's HQ FlagThe Culpepper (VA) Minute MenBenningtonFlag of the Grand Union

If you know the musical “1776,” you know the plot of Joseph J. Ellis’s breezy new book. It’s a stirring and conventional story. A handful of famous men struggle to create a republic against insurmountable odds. In the long run, their greatest challenge is the problem of slavery. But the most immediate threat is the military might of Britain. Toward the end of June 1776, as the Continental Congress nears a vote on American independence, the first of 427 royal ships carrying 1,200 cannons, 32,000 soldiers and 10,000 sailors appears off Long Island. Things look dire, a point made repeatedly...

The US Supreme Court announced this week that it will take up the question of whether it’s OK for Greece, New York, to open meetings of the town board by letting citizens voluntarily offer a prayer. It’s a potential landmark case in the contest over religion in the public square. But it’s not the first time this question has arisen. The moment invites a telling of the story of the Reverend Jacob Duché. It was he who, in 1774, gave the most famous prayer ever delivered at a governmental meeting in America. His tale takes a surprise turn that could...

Nathaniel Philbrick's new book gets at the on-the-ground reality of the American Revolution, which the author writes began as 'a profoundly conservative movement.' John Trumbull's "Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill." (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston / Viking / May 12, 2013) It turns out the modern incarnation of the tea party may have more in common with the original Boston hell-raisers than people think. Americans have long romanticized the events leading to the Battle of Bunker Hill and the start of the American Revolution, most without really understanding what happened or what was at stake....

After I (Pharmboy) returned from King's Mountain (the wife and I stopped by there on the way back from attending my son's graduation from US Army Ranger School at Ft Benning), Bert told me that he and his wife would be following the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail (OVNHT) from Eastern TN to King's Mountain, SC. I told Bert that I would love to see his account of the trip, and that I would also like to post it to FR: well, he did a terrific job on his blog, here are some excerpts. Go to the blog for more!...

SAVANNAH, Ga. May 5, 2013 (AP) Less than two months after British forces captured Savannah in December 1778, patriot militiamen scored a rare Revolutionary War victory in Georgia after a short but violent gunbattle forced British loyalists to abandon a small fort built on a frontiersman's cattle farm. More than 234 years later, archaeologists say they've pinpointed the location of Carr's Fort in northeastern Georgia after a search with metal detectors covering more than 4 square miles turned up musket balls and rifle parts as well as horse shoes and old frying pans. The February 1779 shootout at Carr's Fort...

Associated Press/Mark Scolforo - In this photo made on Tuesday, March 26, 2013, Carol Tanzola, president of Friends of Camp Security, points out the property on a 47-acre parcel, located about four miles east of York, Pa. It includes the spot where a 1979 archaeological study found numerous artifacts that confirmed local lore that the area had once served as Camp Security, a prison for the English, Scottish and Canadian soldiers who were captured after defeats in the battles of Saratoga and Yorktown. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo) (AP) — The mud of a south-central Pennsylvania cornfield may soon produce answers about...

Revolutionary War history Last Ohio surviving soldier buried in Noble Co. HIRAMSBURG-Nestled off the beaten path in Noble County in a small family cemetery are two headstones marking the final resting place of Private John Gray, the last surviving Revolutionary War soldier in Ohio, and the second to last in the nation. Though Gray fought in many battles during the war, he otherwise did little that would have gained him renown. He was born the oldest of eight into a poor laboring family near Mount Vernon, Va., and worked most of his life as a laborer. He was not a...