Category: Personalities

Press Release: US Founding Father may have contributed to forgotten ship wreck – study

On By erwpostIn Civilian, Emerging Revolutionary War, Memory, Navy, Personalities, Preservation, Revolutionary WarLeave a comment

Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, could have contributed to a forgotten shipwreck narrative, according to new research.

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Benjamin Franklin

Based on studies of Franklin’s early life as a printer, Dr Hazel Wilkinson claims there are clues which provide information about Benjamin Franklin’s activities during his first visit to London as an 18-year-old printer.

Dr. Wilkinson – from the University of Birmingham, in the UK – suggests a previously unobserved connection between the young Franklin and Richard Castelman, an English theatre manager with an intriguing past. Continue reading “Press Release: US Founding Father may have contributed to forgotten ship wreck – study” →

George Washington, Daniel Morgan, and Winchester, Virginia on Memorial Day

On By Eric SternerIn Battlefields & Historic Places, Continental Leadership, French and Indian War, Monuments, Personalities, Uncategorized6 Comments

I’ve been intermittently visiting Winchester, VA for years, usually with an eye toward understanding its place in the Civil War.  Tradition has it that no town changed hands more frequently. But, the town also has a prominent, if sometimes overlooked, role in America’s colonial and Revolutionary War history.  In particular, it enjoyed a close relationship with George Washington and Daniel Morgan, helping shape both men.

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George Washington as a Teenage Surveyor, Winchester, VA

Winchester, or Frederick Town, as it was then known, was the largest village in the lower Shenandoah Valley when Lord Thomas Fairfax decided to relocate from England to his land grant in northern Virginia and became a way-station of sorts for people traveling along the Great Wagon road that ran from Pennsylvania to North Carolina in the 18thcentury.  So, when the Fairfax family hired a teenaged George Washington to help survey its grants in the Shenandoah, Winchester was a logical place for the surveying team to make its temporary home base.  (In truth, surveying teams were constantly moving to maximize their efficient use of time: the saddle might be considered home.)  While the teenager was less than impressed with most accommodations on the frontier, he was pleased with Fredericktown.  He recorded in his diary: Continue reading “George Washington, Daniel Morgan, and Winchester, Virginia on Memorial Day” →

Committees of Safety and the Revolutionary War: King’s District, New York

On By erwguestIn Civilian, Continental Leadership, Memory, Militia (Patriot) Leadership, Northern Theater, Personalities, Politics, Revolutionary War3 Comments

Emerging Revolutionary War welcomes guest historian Kieran O’Keefe. 

While the most famous scenes of the American Revolutionary War involve major battles or deliberations in Congress, the driving force behind the Revolution within small towns were committees of safety. As the war progressed and British authority dissipated, these committees became the effective government in most localities until the formal establishment of state governments. They had responsibilities such as regulating the economy, suppressing loyalists, procuring military supplies, raising revolutionary forces, and overseeing civil and criminal justice. Despite their ubiquity, it is rare to find the records of a committee completely intact. One such exception is the King’s District Committee of Albany County, New York, whose minutes survive in the Library of Congress.

The First Continental Congress created the committee system when it adopted the Continental Association in 1774. The Association called for the non-importation, non-consumption, and non-exportation of goods between the colonies and Great Britain, Ireland, and the British West Indies. This boycott was to put economic pressure on Britain to repeal the punitive Coercive Acts, which punished Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party by closing the port of Boston and bringing the colony under tighter royal control with the aid of British redcoats. The Continental Association also stated that “a committee be chosen in every county, city, and town, by those who are qualified to vote for representatives in the legislature, whose business it shall be attentively to observe the conduct of all persons touching this association.” These committees were to ensure that all Americans adhered to the boycott stipulated in the Association. Committees began forming throughout the colonies in late 1774 and soon took on a greater role than originally designed, frequently seizing the reins of local government. The committees were unusually democratic. They generally consisted of about five men who were popularly elected, and many members were from the middling ranks of society with no prior political experience.

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The King’s District Committee record book (author collection) 

Continue reading “Committees of Safety and the Revolutionary War: King’s District, New York” →

Book Review: Revolutionary: George Washington at War by Robert L. O’Connell

On By Eric SternerIn Book Review, Continental Leadership, Memory, Personalities, Revolutionary War, Uncategorized1 Comment

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Robert L. O’Connell, Revolutionary: Washington at War, e-book, (New York: Random House, 2019), $32 in hardback.

O'Connell's Washington

Robert L. O’Connell is best known for asking “big” questions.  Armed with a PhD in history and a lengthy career in the intelligence community, his books Of Arms & Men: A History of War, Weapons, and Aggression (1989) and Ride of the Second Horseman: The Birth and Death of War (1995) tackled the origins, nature, and future of warfare. In the last decade, however, he has turned his sights on more specific targets: Hannibal at Cannae, William Tecumseh Sherman, and, most recently, George Washington.  Released earlier this year, O’Connell’s Revolutionary: George Washington at War is just the latest work to tackle the martial aspects of George Washington’s life and career.

Continue reading “Book Review: Revolutionary: George Washington at War by Robert L. O’Connell” →

Announcing the First Emerging Revolutionary War Symposium!

On By Rob OrrisonIn Armies, Arms & Armaments, Battles, British Leadership, Campaigns, Civilian, Common Soldier, Continental Congress, French and Indian War, Memory, Militia (Loyalist) Leadership, Militia (Patriot) Leadership, Minute Men, Northern Theater, Personalities, Politics, Preservation, Revolutionary War, Uncategorized, WomenLeave a comment

Mark your calendars for September 28, 2019!  Emerging Revolutionary War is excited toPrint announce that we are partnering with Gadsby’s Tavern Museum and The Lyceum of Alexandria, VA to bring to you a day long Symposium focusing on the American Revolution.

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Gadsby’s Tavern Museum

Alexandria is George Washington’s hometown and we feel is a great place for us to start this new endeavor. Historic “Old Town” Alexandria is home to dozens of museums and historic sites as well as great pubs, restaurants and shops. Gadsby’s Tavern Museum is the premier 18th century tavern museum in the country and is host to the famous annual George Washington Birthnight Ball.  The Lyceum: Alexandria’s History Museum will be our host location. Today The Lyceum serves as the City’s history museum and is a center of learning through lectures, demonstrations and exhibits.

This year’s theme is “Before They Were Americans”  and will highlight several topics

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The Lyceum

about the years leading up to the American Revolution. Our speakers include: Phillip Greenwalt, Katherine Gruber, William Griffith, Stephanie Seal Walters and Dr. Peter Henriques as the keynote. Registration will open on July 1, 2019 through AlexandriaVA.gov/Shop or by calling 703-746-4242. Stay tuned as we highlight each of our speakers and their topics.

 

 

Signers in St. Michael’s Churchyard

On By Chris MackowskiIn Common Soldier, Constitutional Convention, Personalities3 Comments

St. MichaelsWhile Charleston, South Carolina, absolutely overflows with history dating all the way back to colonial times, I had the chance to explore a particularly historic churchyard recently. St. Michael’s Episcopal Church sits on the corner of Meeting Street and Broad Street, and tucked into its small graveyard are not one but two signers of the U.S. Constitution: Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and John Rutledge.

“Their years of public service, 1762-1825, saw both State and Nation well on the road to greatness,” says a plaque on the wall outside the churchyard.  Continue reading “Signers in St. Michael’s Churchyard” →

John Wayne, Colonel James Smith, and the Black Boys Rebellion

On By Eric SternerIn Civilian, French and Indian War, Memory, Personalities, Revolutionary War, Uncategorized2 Comments

AlleghenyUprisingposterAllegheny Uprising, starring John Wayne and Claire Trevor, is an overlooked Revolutionary War movie.  I first watched the 1939 film as a kid on a local UHF station, but never quite realized how closely it tracked with the memoir of a colonial and Revolutionary War soldier, Colonel James Smith.  So, I decided to take a look.

For a significant portion of the last century, no actor signified “the American Century,” more than John Wayne. But, in the 1930s, he was a former-stuntman-turned-B-grade-actor churning out movies as a contract player for RKO Pictures.  Born in Iowa as Marion Morrison, Wayne’s family made its way to California during World War I and he eventually attended the University of Southern California as a pre-law student.  When an injury sidelined his football career, he did odd jobs in Hollywood for a friend-of-a-friend, eventually taking on bit parts and extra work before getting his first starring break in The Big Trail, a 1930 epic that flopped horrendously.  Morrison needed a more impressive name for the movie—Marion Morrison apparently not being heroic enough for the character he would portray. So, Morrison, still in his 20s, suggested Anthony Wayne after the Revolutionary War general himself.  The studio passed on “Anthony,” but settled on John Wayne.  Newly named, Morrison went back to work, settling for the lead in a bunch of forgettable westerns.

Continue reading “John Wayne, Colonel James Smith, and the Black Boys Rebellion” →

ERW Weekender: In the Footsteps of James Madison

On By erwguestIn Battlefields & Historic Places, Continental Congress, Continental Leadership, Emerging Revolutionary War, Monuments, Personalities, Preservation, Revolutionary War1 Comment

Emerging Revolutionary War welcomes guest historian Kate Bitely 

In the Foot Steps of James Madison.

A view of the front yard of Montpelier
A view from the front yard of Montpelier (author collection)

Spring is finally here in Virginia and if you are looking for a place to explore that offers a great outdoor experience, get in the car and head to Montpelier, in Orange Virginia. James Madison’s plantation home offers visitors a glimpse of what life was like in colonial America.   Be sure to start your trip with the feature film in the welcome center that provides highlights of Montpelier’s lengthy history dating back to the mid 1700’s.  The preserved property has something to offer everyone including hikes, gardens, and a breath-taking view of the blue ridge mountains. The grounds are filled with opportunities to learn about our nation’s early history and the impact it still has on our country today. Continue reading “ERW Weekender: In the Footsteps of James Madison” →

“You are a fine fellow”: The April 24, 1777 Attack on Boonesborough

On By erwguestIn Battles, Campaigns, Common Soldier, Emerging Revolutionary War, Memory, Personalities, Revolutionary War5 Comments

Emerging Revolutionary War welcomes historian Daniel T. Davis. 

1777.

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An elder Daniel Boone (courtesy of the LoC)

The conflict ignited at Lexington and Concord finally reached beyond the Allegheny Mountains as the British stepped up their raids on American settlements in Kentucky. With so many troops dedicated to the colonies, Henry Hamilton, the Lieutenant Governor at Detroit, relied on Native tribes allied with the Crown to carry on the war effort. In March, Shawnees began to harass Harrodsburg, Logan’s Station and Boonesborough. Founded as part of the Col. Richard Henderson’s proprietary colony of Transylvania along the banks of the Kentucky River, Boonesborough derived its name from one of the most famous long hunters of the day and resident, Daniel Boone. Continue reading ““You are a fine fellow”: The April 24, 1777 Attack on Boonesborough” →

ERW Weekender: The George Washington House

On By Phill GreenwaltIn Civilian, Emerging Revolutionary War, Personalities1 Comment

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In September 1751, a 19-year old, tall, strapping, young Virginian accompanied an ailing older half-brother on a journey to Barbados, in the West Indies. Unbeknownst to this teenager, the journey to the Caribbean Island would be his last venture out of the colonies and/or country that inhabited the east coast of North America.

This young man’s name? George Washington.

The island he visited? Barbados.

Continue reading “ERW Weekender: The George Washington House” →