On Sunday, May 17th sy 7 p.m. EST, join Emerging Revolutionary War on our Facebook page for the next “Rev War Revelry” happy hour round-robin historian discussion.
This week’s theme is “Turning Points” a broad term that will most certainly conjure up an interesting conversation.
Word around the ol’ pub about potential topics that will be discussed include Valley Forge, Ten Crucial Days, Guilford Court House. Maybe a mention even of one of the more obvious, Saratoga?
But, you know how gossip goes! So, tune in on Sunday and bring your favorite drink, give the ERW historians a toast and a “Huzzah.”
We look forward to your comments, counterpoints, and conversation.
This Sunday, May 10th, at 7 p.m. EST, Emerging Revolutionary War returns with the “Rev War Roundtable with ERW” for another installment of “Rev War Revelry.”
This week ERW welcomes guest historian Gabe Neville, historian and founder of the blog, 8th Virginia Regiment, and ERW historians Mark Maloy, Mark Wilcox, Billy Griffith, and Travis Shaw for a chat about militia (both Patriot and Loyalist) and Continental units. Click here to see Gabe’s blog.
Join the panel of historians as they debate, discuss, and share their favorite units, the differences between militia and Continental units, regiments or companies that deserve more recognition, or all of the above. Questions and comments are welcomed and encouraged.
Just head on over to Emerging Revolutionary War’s Facebook page Sunday evening, for our weekly happy hour historical discussion. We’ll be there sharing our insight, but not our favorite brews! See you Sunday!
Emerging Revolutionary War would like to thank Drew Gruber, for bringing this connection to our attention.
During the May 5th, 1862 Battle of Williamsburg as Confederate soldiers ran down into what would be called the bloody ravine they ran headlong into men from New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts. In an effort to push the Union soldiers out of the ravine and sweep them from the field brigade after brigade was sent into the fight. Among those was four Virginia regiments under AP Hill. After leaving the relative safely of the City they deployed in some form of a line and pitched down into the ravine too.
Portion of the map of the Battle of Williamsburg, showing the land the American Battlefield Trust is currently working to purchase (map courtesy of LOC)
In the ravine hand-to-hand combat, fallen trees, driving rain, and the thick smoke made communication almost impossible and command fell on company commanders to keep the battle moving in their favor. Among the men in Hill’s brigade fighting down in the bloody ravine was Tipton Davis Jennings of the 11th Virginia Infantry. His account of the fighting here at Williamsburg will be of particular interest to your readers of the ERW blog.
Writing in 1897 his “Incidents in the Battle of Williamsburg” appeared in the Confederate Veteran Magazine. In fact Kate and I covered this in an earlier ERW post titled, Revolutionary Memory. (click here to read that post).
“Just then,” he wrote, “we happened upon what was apparently an ancient line of grass-grown earthworks. We learned afterward that portions of Washington’s line of entrenchment were yet discernible thereabouts. And so it is possible that we ragged ‘Rebs’ were actually defending the same works were [sic] once stood the ragged continental ‘Rebs’ fighting, the hessian of Europe, as we were now, some eighty years later. So doth history repeat itself.”
At first glance is this a cool anecdote and yet rather odd. However, when you consult french maps from the Williamsburg region created during the Yorktown Campaign you’ll find references to Mulhenburg’s “lights” camped in this very area. Moreover, almost hidden in plain sight on one of Sneden’s 1862 maps is and “Old Fort of 1781.” Civil War soldiers seemed wholly cognizant of the Revolutionary landscape around them and like Jennings used it to spur on their cause(s).
Yesterday, on the 158th anniversary of the May 5th, 1862 battle the American Battlefield Trust launched a campaign to save the 29 acres over which Jennings charged. Perhaps it is this very same ground where the original cast of “ragged continental ‘Rebs'” also campaigned. Click here to read about that initiative and for further information on how to donate.
Join Emerging Revolutionary War this Sunday, at 7p.m. EST on our Facebook page as we head, virtually, down to South Carolina to discuss the importance of that colony/state in the American Revolution.
Most are familiar with the larger engagements, such as Cowpens and Kings Mountain or maybe the massacre at the Waxhaws. How about the Siege of Charleston, or the battles of Ninety-Six, or the countless other engagements that made the Palmetto State (which got its nickname from this era) one of the most hotly contested areas of the entire conflict.
Joining the “Rev War Revelry” will be ERW historians Vanessa Smiley, former Chief of Interpretation and Education at the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution National Park Group, which includes Cowpens, Kings Mountain, and Ninety-Six and Bert Dunkerly, former park ranger at Kings Mountain and author of a few histories on South Carolina in the Revolutionary War topics.
We look forward to seeing you for our sojourn into the Southern Theater this Sunday. Oh, and remember to grab your favorite brew for the trip!
This Sunday, April 26, at 7 p.m. EST, Emerging Revolutionary War invites you to click on and listen to the next installment of our “Rev War Revelry.” This week’s happy hour will focus on the most over-looked battle or engagement from the American Revolution. Each of the historians slated to participate will bring their pick for that category.
Feel free to chime in with yours in the comments here or on the Zoom call on Sunday. The feed will be live on ERW’s Facebook page. So, grab your favorite beverage and join us for a free-flowing conversation to toast off the weekend with.
Delaware Regiment at the Battle of Long Island (Wikipedia)
Emerging Revolutionary War invites you to attend our “Rev War Revelry” tonight at 7 p.m. EST as we discuss the beginning of the American Revolution on April 19, 1775, 245 years ago today.
Yet, not only will Emerging Revolutionary War historians be on the call but we have a special guest historian joining us as well.
Stacey Fraser
Stacey Fraser is the Collections and Outreach Coordinator for the Lexington Historical Society. She has overseen new exhibits in the town and has assisted with the annual Patriots Day events. She will be on to share her expertise in this momentous day in American history and about what is happening, both virtually, and in the future with the Lexington Historical Society.
ERW looks forward to welcoming Stacey and all of you to our inaugural Zoom history call tonight!
On April 19, 1775, Massachusetts militia and minutemen responded to the call of British Regulars, “redcoats” marching from Boston to the town of Concord. What ensued was the “shot heard around the world” at the North Bridge in that town. What that shot signified was the changing course from words to war, that would define the relationship between 13 British North American colonies and Great Britain.
Now, 245 years later, Emerging Revolutionary War will turn that war back into words with its inaugural Rev War Revelry Zoom series. On Sunday, 7 p.m. EST, tune in to listen and watch historians from Emerging Revolutionary War discuss in an informal setting this momentous day in American history. Other topics are welcomed that pertain to the American Revolutionary War era as well.
As the title of the Zoom series relates, this will be similar to a tavern talk, much like the talks and information sharing rendezvous that went on in the 18th century, in places like Boston, where the road to revolution gained momentum as ales and spirits flowed. Thus, grab your favorite beverage, rest assured that ERW historians will be doing the same and join us, virtually, in our tavern Sunday evening.
Emerging Revolutionary War (ERW) would like to highlight from time to time some of the lectures, presentations, talks, and events that our historians are apart of.
This month, ERW historians are giving the following presentations:
Bert Dunkerly
March 27th: “The Brown’s Island Explosion Victims” at the Virginia Forum, Richmond, Virginia
Kate Gruber
March 13th: “Tenacity: Women in Jamestown and Early Virginia” Shenandoah Lyceum Lecture Series, Harrisonburg, Virginia. For more information click here.
Last week, Emerging Revolutionary War‘s Phillip S. Greenwalt wrote a review of the above mentioned book. To find that review click here. Recently, through email, Emerging Revolutionary War had a chance to interview the author. The questions and his responses are below.
From our friends at the American Revolution Round Table of Richmond
Tour Leader – Dr. Patrick H. (Pat) Hannum, Professor, Joint Forces Staff College, National Defense University, Lt Col USMC (Ret)
Great Bridge Battlefield (courtesy of Great Bridge Battlefield & Waterways History Foundation)
This tour will visit three critically important Revolutionary War sites, in the modern Cities of Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, in order to help inform the important events and explain how the Whig Government ousted the Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, and British military forces from the State of Virginia. These events largely unfolded in the fall of 1775 and culminated with the destruction of the City of Norfolk in early 1776. Strategically important, these events led to near uncontested Whig control of the State of Virginia for three and one-half years. The British defeat at Yorktown in October 1781 traces its roots to the critical decisions and decisive actions of the Whig Governments of Virginia and North Carolina in the fall of 1775. We will visit: Continue reading “Southside Revolutionary Virginia 1775 Tour – October 12, 2019”→
Emerging Revolutionary War Era 