Author Archives: Mark Wilcox
The Traitor Returns
Westover Plantation, the beautiful Georgian-style colonial home once owned by Virginia’s Byrd family, sits atop a high bank, overlooking the James River. Located in Charles City County, Westover is a mere 25 miles from the Virginia state capital of Richmond. … Continue reading
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Simon Kenton: Frontiersman, Soldier, Spy
By late April of 1777, nerves were on edge for the fifteen or so families taking refuge in the stockade at Boonesborough, including a few enslaved people and a handful of rifleman. Since early March, settlers there had been forced … Continue reading
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ERW Weekender: Remember Paoli!
On the night of September 20, 1777, while encamped in Chester County, PA just outside Philadelphia, a division of American soldiers was defeated in a swift surprise attack by a slightly smaller British force. American propagandists, in an effort to … Continue reading
Posted in Battlefields & Historic Places, Battles, Emerging Revolutionary War, Northern Theater, Revolutionary War
Tagged 1777, 1779, Anthony Wayne, Battle of Paoli, British, Charles Gray, George Washington, Paoli Battlefield Historical Park, Philadelphia Campaign, War of 1812, William Howe
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Another American in Paris
So, vacation time rolls around again and this year my family and I had an opportunity to travel to Paris, France for a few days. Riding into the city from Charles de Gaulle Airport, our taxi driver, by chance, took … Continue reading
Posted in Continental Congress, Continental Leadership, Memory, Personalities, Politics, Revolutionary War
Tagged American Revolution, American Revolutionary War, Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin West, British, Emerging Revolutionary War, France, Franco-American, French, Hotel D'York, John Adams, John Jay, Paris, Richard Oswald, Treaty of Paris
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Origins of a Revolutionary Orator
Nestled in Hanover County, VA, near where modern residential communities meet farm fields that have been worked for centuries, is the site of a colonial-era plantation home called Studley. It was here on this site that Patrick Henry, the “Voice … Continue reading
Posted in Battlefields & Historic Places, Memory, Personalities, Revolutionary War
Tagged American Revolution, American Revolutionary War, Confederate Cavalry, Emerging Revolutionary War, George Custer, Hanover County, Haw's Shop, Patrick Henry, Politics, Rural Plains, Sarah Shelton, Studley, Virginia
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Inheriting the Preservation Efforts of the Past
Not long ago, I had the pleasure of accompanying our group of student interns from Richmond National Battlefield Park on a short field trip to the George Washington Birthplace National Monument (GWBNM), in Westmoreland County on Virginia’s famed Northern Neck. … Continue reading
Review: Unshackling America How the War of 1812 Truly Ended the American Revolution by Willard Sterne Randall
The post-colonial era conflict between the United States and Great Britain, known in America as the War of 1812, has often been described as America’s second war for independence. In UNSHACKLING AMERICA: HOW THE WAR OF 1812 TRULY ENDED THE … Continue reading
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ERW Weekender: The American Revolutionary War Museum at Yorktown
Over the years, it has been my pleasure to stop in at the old Yorktown Victory Center. The primary focus of the museum, as one might expect, was on the October 1781 siege, which not only brought about the surrender … Continue reading
The Romance of William Clark
In Fincastle, nestled in the mountains of Virginia’s Botetourt County and once considered the “jumping off” spot for people traveling to the frontier, they tell a story about William Clark. Prior to his journey west with Capt. Meriwether Lewis and … Continue reading
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