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He arrived just as the fight began, and seeking out General Putnam (who was already there) desired to be posted where the service was to be the most arduous. Putnam expressed sorrow at seeing him, in a place so full of peril; “but since you have come, I will obey your orders with pleasure.” Warren replied, that he came as a volunteer – not to command. Putnam requested his to take his stand in the redoubt, where Prescott commanded, On his entering the redoubt, he was greeted with loud huzzas; and Prescott, like Putnam, offered him the command. He again...

U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. We hope to provide an ongoing source of information about issues and problems that are specific to Veterans and resources that are available to Veterans and their families. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood...

The Battles of Lexington and Concord, fought on April 19, 1775, kicked off the American Revolutionary War (1775-83). Tensions had been building for many years between residents of the 13 American colonies and the British authorities, particularly in Massachusetts. On the night of April 18, 1775, hundreds of British troops marched from Boston to nearby Concord in order to seize an arms cache. Paul Revere and other riders sounded the alarm, and colonial militiamen began mobilizing to intercept the Redcoat column. A confrontation on the Lexington town green started off the fighting, and soon the British were hastily retreating under...

George Washington's military genius is undisputed. Yet American independence must be partially attributed to a strategy for which history has given the infamous general little credit: his controversial medical actions. Traditionally, the Battle of Saratoga is credited with tipping the revolutionary scales. Yet the health of the Continental regulars involved in battle was a product of the ambitious initiative Washington began earlier that year at Morristown, close on the heels of the victorious Battle of Princeton. Among the Continental regulars in the American Revolution, 90 percent of deaths were caused by disease, and Variola the small pox virus was the...

George Washington was a 'liar' who the other Founding Fathers couldn't wait to see the back of, claims a new biography on The Father of his Country. Buying teeth from his slaves at a third of the market price, refusing to free them, and causing conflict that eventually led the the start of 'humanity's first world war' are among the many ethical and moral missteps the country's first president made, claims new book 'You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington' by historian Alexis Coe. The book was released this Presidents' Day weekend, coinciding with the broadcast of...

WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. (AP) ” Thousands turned out Wednesday to watch the annual reenactment of George Washington’s daring Christmas Day crossing of the Delaware River in 1776 ” the first time the crossing was completed in three years. The event was scrapped because of bad weather the last two years, but historical interpreter Nancy O’Leary said at Washington Crossing Historical Park that the conditions this year ‘couldn’t be better.’ ‘We had lovely weather, and we probably had record attendance,’ said Jennifer Martin, executive director of the Friends of Washington Crossing Park. She estimated that 4,500 to 5,000 people were watching...

Catherine the Great of Russia (1729-1796) rebuffed King George III's requests and bribes to have Russia side with Britain during the Revolutionary War. Instead, Russia continued trading with the American colonies, providing much needed supplies. Catherine even attempted to negotiate a peace with France and Britain to bring an early end to the war in America's favor. Catherine the Great had earlier deposed her husband, Tsar Peter III, in a coup. She then fought the Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774), against the Muslim Ottoman Turkish Empire. Her General, Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov destroyed the Ottoman navy at the Battle of Chesma, July 5-7,...

Human skeletal remains -- possibly belonging to Revolutionary War soldiers who fought in the Battle of Ridgefield in 1777 -- were discovered under the foundation of an early 18th-century house last week. The Connecticut Office of State Archaeology was notified by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner about the find on Dec. 2. Subsequent excavations by the state archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni, with assistance from the Friends of the Office of State Archaeology, Inc. and University of Connecticut graduate students, have yielded two more skeletons. "One has been completely excavated already and is in the medical examiner's office and we're...

Today marks the 246th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party when American patriots, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor in protest. You’re probably somewhat familiar with this seminal event but you may not be with the story of those behind it. The “Sons Of Liberty” flag shares its origin with the participants, their call of no “taxation without representation,” imbued a national character and revolutionary spirit that echoes to this very day. It inspires us to not exist quietly as mere subjects of our own government, or any...

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country" were the last words of 21-year-old American patriot Nathan Hale, who was hanged by the British without a trial on SEPTEMBER 22, 1776. A Yale graduate, 1773, Nathan Hale almost became a Christian minister, as his brother Enoch did, but instead became a teacher at Union Grammar School. When the Revolutionary War began in 1775, Nathan Hale joined a Connecticut militia and served in the siege of Boston. On July 4, 1775, Hale received a letter from his Yale classmate, Benjamin Tallmadge, who became General Washington's...

Today’s post is in honor of Marine LCpl. Michael T. Badsing who was killed on this date in 1965 by enemy small-arms fire in South Vietnam. The 20-year-old Chicago native served with C Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. 1781: Hoping to divert Gen. George Washington from marching against Lord Cornwallis’ forces now trapped in Virginia, two battalions of British soldiers — including American Loyalist forces under the command of Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold — assault New London, Conn.. The redcoats easily capture Fort Trumbull, but across the Thames River, the heavily outnumbered defenders of Fort Griswold fiercely...

America great? Justice James Wilson "It is the BEST form of government which has EVER been offered to the WORLD" He was one of six founding fathers to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. President Washington appointed him to be a Justice on the Supreme Court. His name was James Wilson. Born in Scotland, James Wilson was one of the first to argue against British dominance. In 1774, James Wilson wrote "Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament," reasoning that since the colonies had no representation in Parliament, the Parliament...

He intentionally fired into the air, but his political rival, the sitting Vice-President Aaron Burr, took deadly aim and fatally shot Alexander Hamilton in a duel JULY 11, 1804. Alexander Hamilton was born in the British West Indies on the Island of Nevis, either in the year 1755 or 1757, and grew up on the Island of St. Croix. Just a few years earlier, in 1751, 19-year-old George Washington had accompanied his older half-brother Lawrence on a trip to the not too distant Island of Barbados. Since Alexander Hamilton's parents were not legally married, he was not permitted to attend...

Full title: Revolutionary War diary sheds light on Deborah Sampson, who disguised herself as a man to join the Continental Army A remarkable Revolutionary War diary written by a Massachusetts corporal sheds light on Deborah Sampson, who disguised herself as a man to join the Continental Army. The diary, which features daily entries from March 28, 1781 to Aug. 16, 1782, was written by Abner Weston, detailing his experiences between campaigns, drilling and training. The entry for Jan. 23 1782 also describes Sampson’s first documented attempt to join George Washington’s Army. Sampson famously went on to fight in the Continental Army...

As Benjamin Franklin departed the Constitutional Convention, he was asked if the framers had created a monarchy or a republic. "A republic," he famously replied, and then added, "if you can keep it." The remarkable generation that founded this nation led an improbable yet successful revolution against the strongest military power of the time. They declared their independence based on self-evident truths, asserting a new basis of political rule in the sovereignty of the people and launching an experiment in self-government. Through a carefully written constitution that limits power and secures rights while allowing for change through its own amendment,...

...To turn to the news of the day, it seems that the Cannibals of Europe are going to eating one another again. A war between Russia and Turkey is like the battle of the kite and snake. Whichever destroys the other leaves a destroyer the less for the world. This pugnacious humor of mankind seems to be the law of his nature, one of the obstacles to too great multiplication provided in the mechanism of the Universe. The cocks of the henyard kill one another up. Boars, bulls, rams do the same. And the horse, in his wild state, kills...

On the same day that the Declaration of Independence became official, a telling event further reveals that our founders understood well the “ancient principles” upon which our republic must be built. On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed a committee -- consisting of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams -- to design an official seal for the United States. Adams proposed an image of Hercules contemplating the persuasions of Virtue and Sloth. Franklin proposed a biblical theme: Moses standing on the Shore, and extending his Hand over the Sea, thereby causing the same to overwhelm Pharaoh who...

he Boston Tea Party famously saw the destruction of the almost 300 chests worth of tea, tossed into the harbor by “Indians” on December 16, 1773. Initial reports described “the total destruction of the Teas aboard the Ships Dartmouth, William, & Eleanor and the Beaver”—the four ships bringing the East India Company’s tea to Boston in 1773. Passed down ever since, the story of the tea’s universal destruction and Bostonians unanimous approval of it has been a founding myth of the American Revolution.[1] But this is not quite accurate. The William never joined the other vessels in Boston Harbor. It...

At about 5 a.m., 700 British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, march into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town’s common green. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment’s hesitation the Americans began to drift off the green. Suddenly, a shot was fired from an undetermined gun, and a cloud of musket smoke soon covered the green. When the brief Battle of Lexington ended, eight Americans lay dead or dying and 10 others were wounded. Only...

The Declaration of Dependence signed by 547 New York City Loyalists in November 1776 was not the only such declaration written and signed by loyal inhabitants of the colony of New York soon after British military forces established their presence in the region. At least three others are known to exist, bearing a total of 3,414 signatures of individuals willing to pledge their support of, and subservience to, the British government.In the December 1776 issue of the London publication The Lady’s Magazine or Entertaining Companion the Fair Sex, Appropriated Solely to Their Use and Amusement under “Home News,” this article...