Free Republic

Todd Andrlik became a newspaper collector by chance. It happened at a bookstore in Galena, Ill., where he came across a copy of an old newspaper declaring President Abraham Lincoln dead. “I was reading the first draft of history about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the reward for the capture of his conspirators,” Andrlik said. “It triggered in me this intense passion and enthusiasm in history that I previously hadn’t had.” From there, Andrlik said he went around the country searching for old newspapers and found many from 18th-century colonial America. These newspapers inspired Andrlik, a marketing-media professional by...

One of the few accomplishments of a “do nothing” Congress may be to help a Connecticut man who for decades has tried to win recognition of the Revolutionary War’s black soldiers. The Senate approved a bill this week that would authorize $631 billion in Pentagon spending for a vast array of purposes — and it would approve the transfer of federal land in the heart of Washington D.C. toa group that wants to build a new memorial to black Revolutionary War soldiers and sailors. The memorial amendment was sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. “This would...

Over 150 people gathered Sunday at Trinity Church in Manhattan to honor Gen. Horatio Gates. Mention “the Victor at Saratoga” and people may think that you are talking about a horse. Yet that so-called victor, Gen. Horatio Gates, the commander of the American forces at the Battle of Saratoga, played a crucial role in the triumph there over the British forces of Gen. John Burgoyne in October 1777. Though other figures of the War of Independence are still widely revered and studied, Gates faded from the national memory. He died in New York in 1806 and was buried at Trinity...

The road from Reading to Easton, now Route 222, was called King's Highway in 1776. It was a critical artery for the movement of troops and supplies during the American Revolution. Indeed, there's strong evidence that Gen. George Washington himself traversed the road on his way to upstate New York in 1782, stopping off in the Moravian town of Bethlehem. Revolution, however, was not on the minds of most colonists when the Reading-to-Easton road was proposed by Conrad Weiser, William Parsons and other leaders in 1753; Indians were. There had been massacres of settlers pushing north from Philadelphia to settle...

CONFIDENT Bob Furman suspects that up to 256 Revolutionary soldiers lie under this lot in Gowanus.Dave Sanders for The New York Times NOTHING is visible at the intersection of Third Avenue and Eighth Street in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn to indicate that anything extraordinary is there. The artisanal-pie place on one corner and the auto body shops across the way suggest it is merely another spot in the city where grit is giving way to gentrification. But if a small group of history enthusiasts are right, this particular corner of Kings County is hallowed ground. HEROIC Kim Maier,...

ORISKANY—Nearly 200 people gathered Monday to remember the 235th anniversary of one of the bloodiest battles during the Revolutionary War at The Battle of Oriskany. It was a commemorative ceremony held by members of the Oneida Nation and representatives from the National Parks Service at Fort Stanwix. During the ceremony flags were lowered to half-staff, wreaths were placed at the monument, and men wore military costumes while firing off muskets. “There were hundreds of people who lost their lives here in this battle and it’s really important to remember those people who gave their lives for our freedom today,” said...

Ask Ron Devlin: Country they fought against became home Reading Eagle: Tim Leedy The state historical marker for Hessian Camp on Mineral Spring Road. Dorothy Johnston, who grew up near Hessian Camp in Reading, wondered what happened to the German mercenaries imprisoned in Reading during the Revolutionary War. First, some background. Faced with open revolt in its American Colonies, Britain arranged with the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, the Duke of Brunswick and other German nobles to send troops to the Colonies. By some estimates, 30,000 German mercenaries, including those called Hessians, were sent to help the British squelch the rebellion. After...

The Princeton Battlefield Society has filed an appeal of the Princeton Regional Planning Board’s decision to allow the Institute for Advanced Study to build faculty housing on a part of the battlefield known as Maxwell’s Field on Friday, and is also seeking funds to support the society’s fight. According to the society, the proposed development area of the battlefield is believed to be the site of a winning counterattack lead by George Washington during the Battle of Princeton. The appeal includes 12 counts that challenge the Planning Board’s decision. ”The Planning Board failed numerous times to properly support its decision...

The passion of American ministers for political freedom in 1776 reflected their belief in religious toleration.On Sunday morning, Jan. 21, 1776, at a church in Woodstock, Va., Rev. Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg brought his sermon to a dramatic and unexpected crescendo. His text was taken from the book of Ecclesiastes. "The Bible tells us 'there is a time for all things,' and there is a time to preach and a time to pray," said Muhlenberg. "But the time for me to preach has passed away; and there is a time to fight, and that time has now come." Stepping down from...

George Washington is justifiably called the "Father of America" for his military and civilian leadership during the American Revolution and his two terms as America's first president, however, in the new book, George Washington’s Military Genius, General David Palmer persuasively argues that Washington's strategic military talent was key to his success. Gen. Palmer, who is a former superintendent of West Point, attempts to bust the myths surrounding Washington’s American Revolutionary War experience and to put the accomplishments on the battlefield in perspective. Some historians view Washington as an incompetent bungler who merely got lucky in a few engagements with the...

Land awarded to a Polish freedom fighter more than 200 years ago by a grateful United States has been turned into a park bearing the name of the man who spent his life championing liberty and equality in America and Poland. The 36-acre Thaddeus Kosciuszko Park in Dublin, which opened this month, was part of a grant of 500 acres awarded by Congress for Kosciuszko’s contributions as a military engineer and Continental Army colonel during the Revolutionary War. Alex Storozynski, president and executive director of the Kosciuszko Foundation based in New York, said Kosciuszko was ahead of his time in...

This undated sketch portrait of Gen. Benedict Arnold by an unknown artist was provided by the Library of Congress. While most Americans know Arnold as the man who betrayed his nation by trying to turn over the American fortifications at West Point to the British, then joining the redcoats when the plot was uncovered, his heroic actions at the Revolutionary War's Battles of Saratoga are detailed in a new exhibit opening Thursday, May 10, 2012 at Saratoga National Historical Park. ALBANY, N.Y.—Benedict Arnold is a hero again, at least temporarily, at two upstate New York historic sites where his...

If you come to downtown New Bedford tomorrow and happen to see the flag of Portugal flying in front of City Hall, it is because March 15 is recognized in Massachusetts as Peter Francisco Day, commemorating the Hercules of the American Revolution immortalized by the U.S. Post Office in 1975 with an 18-cent commemorative stamp: "Contributors to the Cause ... Peter Francisco, fighter extraordinary." Peter Francisco lived in Virginia since age 5, when he was found abandoned at City Point, now Hopewell, on June 23, 1765. Left there by Moorish pirates, he was kidnapped from his parents' backyard on a...

Brooklyn civic groups are leading a charge to discover the exact burial place of over 200 Revolutionary War soldiers killed at the dawn of the United States and dumped near the Gowanus Canal. “These are the men who allowed America to come into existence — it’s a question that needs to be resolved,” said Marlene Donnelly, a member of the Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus,... “The Battle of Gettysburg has an entire field put aside to remember it — and this one, we just don’t remember,”... The grave concern is that development in and around the putrid canal, a...

SHELBURNE, Vt. — Richard Ketchum, a historian, writer and editor who co-founded a magazine about country living and wrote 17 books, has died. He was 89. Ketchum died Thursday at the Wake Robin retirement community in Shelburne. Ketchum wrote 17 books, six of which focused on the American Revolution, including "Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War," and "Winter Soldiers." After moving to Vermont for good in 1974 with his wife, Ketchum co-founded Blair & Ketchum's Country Journal, written for people who had moved to rural areas after growing tired of hectic city and suburban life.

What made Revolutionary War riflemen in the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Line so special? They were good shots using the right gun, a Pennsylvania long rifle with curved grooves in the barrel and a soft lead ball, according to reenactors. "These were sharpshooters who usually fought in pairs and were accurate in hitting a target within 200 to 300 yards," said Gregory A. Kreitz, 62, of Lower Heidelberg Township, a reenactor with the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment. Using the Pennsylvania long rifle, a second sharpshooter was usually ready to fire when the first one finished, often from behind the...

A very rare manuscript Revolutionary War map. Estimate: $1,000,000-1,500,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2011. NEW YORK, N.Y.- On November 15, Christie’s will offer a very rare manuscript Revolutionary War map (estimate: $1,000,000-1,500,000) as part of its autumn Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts including Americana sale at Christie’s New York Rockefeller Center saleroom. It is the only known such manuscript in private hands―one of five known versions of this map made. The others are all in institutions or libraries. Made in New York by Hessian mapmaker Charles Auguste de Gironcourt in 1780, the monumental map (12 sheets, 83 ⅜ in x...

"...they were not able to effect any Thing on Acco of the heavy & incessant Fire from the Enemies Forts & Ships; no less than Eight Coll: & Lt. Colonels have been taken, died or killed since the Landing on L: Island" By the end of September 1776, the George Washington's Continental Army was in the midst of a stubborn retreat from New York City. In late August the British Army under General Sir William Howe maneuvered the Americans off Long Island. On September 15th, Howe landed at Kip's Bay, forcing the Americans to evacuate New York City and retreat...

More than 230 years after their death, British soldiers who perished in Cheraw during the American Revolutionary War will be remembered in a special service this November at Old St. David’s Cemetery. What began as a conversation between Cheraw Mayor Scott Hunter and local physician Dr. Joe Newsom three years ago, evolved into extensive research for British natives and Cheraw residents Noel and Stephanie Briggs. “In our conversation, Dr. Newsom mentioned that while Cheraw gave attention to the Civil War, our Revolutionary War history was also rich,” Hunter said. “That reminded me what I had always heard about the graves...

One of the most important battlefields of the Revolutionary War is going to be excavated by archaeologists ahead of an EPA cleanup. Back in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, General Electric dumped polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the Hudson River near Saratoga, New York. The dumping was banned in 1977 due to risks to public health, and the EPA has ordered GE to dredge up the affected silt from the river. Dredging destroys archaeological sites, though, and has already damaged Fort Edward, a British fort in the area dating to the mid 18th century. Archaeologists are working to excavate the stretch...