Today, our sixth and final installment of the September 28th, 2019 symposium Before They Were Americans highlights William Griffith.

William Griffith is a native of Branchburg, New Jersey and currently resides in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  He received his BA in History from Shepherd University in 2014, and MA in Military History from Norwich University in 2018. His passion for history can be traced back to his first trip with his father to Fort William Henry along the southern shore of Lake George when he was five-years-old.

While completing his undergraduate studies at Shepherd, he spent his time as a volunteer with the Gettysburg Foundation and the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War, and also worked as an intern and substitute librarian at the David Library of the American Revolution. He has previously served as a historical interpreter at Fort Frederick State Park in Big Pool, Maryland, and was employed by the Gettysburg Foundation from 2017-2019. He currently serves as a full-time Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide. When not indulging himself in military history, he can be found closely following his second passion – the New York Yankees.

William’s first book, The Battle of Lake George: England’s First Triumph in the French and Indian War, was released by The History Press on September 5, 2016. His next book, A Handsome Flogging: The Battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, will be released later this year as part of Savas Beatie’s Emerging Revolutionary War series.

He will be presenting his talk “A proud, indolent, ignorant self-sufficient set: The Colonists’ Emergence as a Fighting Force in the French and Indian War” at the September symposium.

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In today’s fifth installment of the September 28, 2019 symposium Before They Were Americans interview series, Katherine “Kate” Egner Gruber takes the spotlight. Gruber is the special exhibition curator for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. She earned her B.A. in historic preservation and classical humanities from the University of Mary Washington, and her M.A. in early American history from the College of William and Mary.

Employed by the Foundation as a curator since 2013, Kate Gruber has contributed to the development of the permanent galleries at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, including the award-winning signature film, Liberty Fever. As special exhibition curator, Gruber develops exhibitions for galleries at Yorktown and Jamestown Settlement, including “Tenacity: Women in Jamestown and Early Virginia,” open now through January 5, 2020 at Jamestown Settlement, and “Forgotten Soldier: African Americans in the Revolution,” open now through March 22, 2020 at Yorktown.  

Kate Gruber will be presenting her talk “A Tailor-Made Revolution: Clothing William Carlin’s Alexandria” at the September symposium.  

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Continuing with our forth installment for the September 28, 2019 symposium Before They Were Americans build-up, today Dr. Peter R. Henriques will be highlighted. Dr. Henriques will be the keynote speaker for the symposium. He received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Virginia in 1971 and is Professor of History, Emeritus, from George Mason University. He taught American and Virginia history with a special emphasis on the Virginia Founding Fathers, especially George Washington.

His books include Realistic Visionary: A Portrait of George Washington, The Death of George Washington: He Died as He Lived, and a brief biography of George Washington written for the National Park Service.  Realistic Visionary was recommended by Professor Joe Ellis as one of the five best books to understand our first President. He is a frequent contributor to American History Magazine and a regular presenter at Colonial Williamsburg, where he has given more than 25 talks. His current book project is entitled, “First and Always: A New Portrait of George Washington.”

He presented the Distinguished Lecture Series at Colonial Williamsburg, 2011-12, and was the 2012 winner of the George Washington Memorial Award given by the George Washington Masonic Memorial Association.

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In our third installment for our build-up to the September 28, 2019 symposium Before They Were Americans, today we are highlighting Phill Greenwalt. Greenwalt is co-founder of Emerging Revolutionary War and also a full-time contributor to Emerging Civil War. He graduated from Wheeling Jesuit University with a B.A. in History and graduated from George Mason University with a M.A. in American History. For the symposium, Phill Greenwalt will be presenting his talk “I wish this cursed place was burned: Boston and the Road to Revolution.”

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Continuing to our build-up to the September 28, 2019 symposium Before They Were Americans, today we are highlighting Stephanie Seal Walters. Walters is a PhD Candidate at George Mason University. Her dissertation, “As I Glory in the Name of Tory”: Loyalism, Community, and Memory in Revolutionary Virginia, 1760-1794, focuses on loyalism within the different cultural and geographical regions of the colony of Virginia. For the symposium, she will be speaking about the impact of smallpox on the American Revolution during her talk “Smallpox to Revolution.”

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In the build-up to the September 28, 2019 symposium Before They Were Americans, today we are highlighting Liz Williams, Director of Gadsby’s Tavern Museum. The tavern consists of two buildings: a (circa) 1785 tavern and the 1792 City Tavern. Named after its tavern keeper from 1796 to 1808, Gadsby’s Tavern was an important center of economic, political, and social life in Alexandria after the American Revolution. Continue reading “Symposium Update” →