Free Republic

Paul Revere gets all of the credit, but he never actually finished that famous ride, and in fact warned the British that the Americans were coming. William Dawes and Samuel Prescott were left out of the poem and subsequently most elementary history books: it was actually Samuel Prescott who completed the midnight ride. In addition to Dawes and Prescott, dozens of other men helped spread the word that night. Revere started other express riders on their way before leaving Boston, and he also alerted others along his journey. They too began riding, or shot guns and rang church bells to...

In an uh-oh episode of historic proportions, hand grenades from the last major battle of the Revolutionary War recently and repeatedly scrambled bomb squads in Virginia’s capital city. Wait – they had hand grenades in the Revolutionary War? Indeed. Hollow iron balls, filled with black powder, outfitted with a fuse, then lit and thrown. And more than two dozen have been sitting in cardboard boxes at the Department of Historic Resources, undetected for 30 years. Encrusted and corroded, no one realized what the grenades were when they were excavated in the 1980s along with 5,000 other relics from The Betsy,...

A letter on God and the Constitution written by George Washington is up for sale after spending decades in a private collection. The letter to Richard Peters, speaker of the Pennsylvania Constitution, is signed Sept. 7, 1788, and praises God for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Written a week after Washington told Alexander Hamilton that he would likely accept calls to assume the presidency, the letter came at a time when the Constitution was under attack. Some states wanted to hold a second Convention that may have undermined the Constitution. “It would seem from the public Gazettes that the...

A letter on God and the Constitution written by George Washington is up for sale after spending decades in a private collection. The letter to Richard Peters, speaker of the Pennsylvania Constitution, is signed Sept. 7, 1788, and praises God for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Written a week after Washington told Alexander Hamilton that he would likely accept calls to assume the presidency, the letter came at a time when the Constitution was under attack. Some states wanted to hold a second Convention that may have undermined the Constitution. “It would seem from the public Gazettes that the...

General George Washington was so moved by “The American Crisis” that he ordered it read out loud to his troops, rallying them not to disperse at the end of the year when their six-month enlistment was up, and to have courage before the Battle of Trenton. Not having a table in camp, Paine used the head of a drum for his desk. In “The American Crisis,” Thomas Paine wrote: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by...

On June 25, 1775, William Tryon — the governor of the British colony of New York and a fierce loyalist to the crown — returned to New York City after a yearlong trip overseas. As such, he fully expected to be greeted by a public procession on Broadway. Tryon disembarked from his boat and was indeed met with a parade, but there was just one problem: It wasn’t for him. That same day, the new Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, George Washington, had arrived in the city and was met with a hero’s welcome. Adding insult to injury,...

VENICE, Pa. -- To the 13 families living in this Western Pennsylvania village, Gen. George Washington was an arrogant, elite Virginian who dared to claim ownership of the land where they had built log cabins, grown crops and conducted their lives for nearly 15 years. To them, he was “the first true 1-percenter,” local historian Clayton Kilgore said, recalling Occupy protesters’ description of wealthy Americans. Washington represented everything they despised, according to Kilgore. “These were Scotsmen who identified with the Covenanters, those Gaelic warriors who opposed King Charles’ tax policies,” he said. “They held anything associated with government in utter...

Every so often, but especially in August before school starts, I like to see some evidence of my private-school tuition dollars at work. So I recently asked my sons what provoked the first gunshots in the American Revolutionary War. “The Tea Act of 1773,” said the 12-year-old, apparently tossing out the first Colonial grievance that came to mind. “King George's Stamp Act!” screamed his younger brother, apparently mistaking our conversation for a televised game show with prizes. “You're both wrong,” I said. For many years, the American colonists’ disaffection was manifest as a strictly political and social movement, free of...

Our ancestors often believed in fate, and so do I. It was fate one day that brought me to the Fraunces Tavern in New York City. Fate that day that the waiter overheard me talking to my daughter. Fate that that same waiter told me of the museum on the top floor of the Fraunces Tavern. Fate that allowed me fifteen minutes prior to closing to view the museum.In those fifteen minutes I scanned the exhibits and discovered a small posting regarding a declaration signed by 547 Loyalists in late November 1776 which declared their loyalty to the Crown and...

He is as familiar to American maritime students as Admiral Lord Nelson is to ours – not least for having uttered the immortal words, “Surrender? I have not yet begun to fight” as his ship sank off the Yorkshire coast. But while John Paul Jones went down in history as the father of the US Navy, the final secret of the stricken Bonhomme Richard is only now beginning to emerge from its watery grave.

Of late I have been reading Ron Cernow's excellent biography of Alexander Hamilton. I have just finished the period in Hamilton's life of his service as the first Secretary of the Treasury and he leaving to go back to private life. He is visiting his friend George Washington Parke Curtis, President Washington's grandson, when he sees a small copy of the U.S. Constitution. He then says this about the Constitution: "So long as we are a young and virtuous people, this instrument will bind us together in mutual interests, mutual welfare, and mutual happiness. But when we become old and...

On this day in 1775, King George III speaks before both houses of the British Parliament to discuss growing concern about the rebellion in America, which he viewed as a traitorous action against himself and Great Britain. He began his speech by reading a “Proclamation of Rebellion” and urged Parliament to move quickly to end the revolt and bring order to the colonies. The king spoke of his belief that “many of these unhappy people may still retain their loyalty, and may be too wise not to see the fatal consequence of this usurpation, and wish to resist it, yet...

As American scientists prepare to announce the location of the remains of Endeavour, a battle is expected over whether Britain, the United States or Australia gets the wreck of James Cook's famed ship. A team of marine archaeologists from Australia and the US said they believe they may have found the resting place of the ship – used by the British explorer on a voyage of discovery to Australia in 1768 - 25 years after beginning their search. They are expected to announce on Friday 'one or two' sites in Newport Harbour in Rhode Island, where the Endeavour was scuttled...

A French fleet of 24 ships under the command of Rear Admiral Francois Paul, (aka Comte de Grasse) defeats the British fleet of 19 ships commanded by Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves off the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, Virginia. The French damaged 6 British ships and inflicted 336 casualties. They suffered 2 damaged ships and 220 casualties. Admiral Graves returned his fleet to New York and the Comte De Grasse fleet blocked the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. Wile not a big battle in Naval History, the action had a huge strategic importance for the American Revolution. With the British fleet...

On this day in 1775, the Battle of Quebec is fought. American General Richard Montgomery is killed. Benedict Arnold is wounded. Daniel Morgan and more than 400 others are captured. I guess you could say that it didn’t go too well. Readers of this page may recall that Benedict Arnold undertook a daring mission during the fall of 1775. Remember, Arnold was a hero and a Patriot for many years before he turned traitor! He was dying to undertake the mission, however dangerous it might be. With George Washington’s blessing, Arnold led a force of about 1,000 men through the...

One of only two ceremonial parchment copies of the American Declaration of Independence has been found in Sussex. The rare artefact was discovered neatly folded away in the West Sussex Records Office in Chicester, where it had been stored for more than 50 years before it was tracked down by Harvard University academics. After rigorous testing, the parchment has been certified as authentic – just in time for the 242nd anniversary of its signing on 4 July 1776. ‘Terrific news’ “This is such terrific news about the Sussex Declaration,” Louise Goldsmith, leader of West Sussex County Council, said. “We have...

At the end of March, 1776, following the year-long Siege of Boston, General George Washington and the Continental Army drove the British out of Boston, following their stunning victory in the Battle of Dorchester Heights, one of the true masterstrokes of the War of Independence. But the British just went to Halifax to regroup, and to gather reinforcements for a real assault, to follow that summer. In June, the expected redeployment of British troops began, as his forces headed south, bound for New York, to meet with other reinforcements he had called for. General Washington knew what was coming. In...

A chart of basic biographical data for every signer of the Declaration of Independence. I am actually familiar with just 14 of the 56 names, which is kind of depressing and embarrassing. Almost one half were lawyers. Only one was unmarried. Eleven had at least 10 children. Fourteen lived to be at least 80 years old. Eight were foreign born - from England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.

With the sestercentennial of June 1768 passing by, I have few days to devote to the Battle of Bunker Hill. But here’s Charles E. Frye’s map of that battle, completed in 2011 and available through Wikipedia. It’s unusual in positioning American army units on the Charlestown peninsula. Frye is an army-trained cartographer. In this interview, Frye talked about how he came to make that map: My wife suggested I help my oldest son with his 5th grade history project and that we could research to find out where [our ancestor] Isaac [Frye] was on the battlefield. Reading about the battle...

Two months after Ben Franklin helped draft the Declaration of Independence, a surprise visitor walked into his Philadelphia shop. The young man’s curly brown hair cascaded down toward his shoulders, and his English was so broken he switched to French. Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a 30-year-old Pole just off the boat from Europe via the Caribbean, introduced himself and offered to enlist as an officer in the new American nation’s army. Franklin, curious, quizzed Kosciuszko about his education: a military academy in Warsaw, studies in Paris in civil engineering, including fort building. Franklin asked him for letters of recommendation. Kosciuszko had none....