Burning Colonel Crawford

On July 26, 2018May 29, 2024 By Eric SternerIn Continental Leadership, Emerging Revolutionary War, Militia (Patriot) Leadership, Monuments, Personalities, Uncategorized22 Comments

Last year I came across Dr. John Knight’s account of the torture and execution of Colonel William Crawford by members of the Delaware Indian tribe in 1782. It was a vicious execution, but not unheard of in the wars on the American frontier, where violence and brutality from both sides were common.

Wiliam Crawford at 40 (Wikimedia Commons) — Crawford at about 40, twenty years before his execution (Wikimedia Commons)

Born in 1722, Crawford was a long-time business partner of George Washington, particularly in the acquisition of land in the Ohio River valley. A veteran of frontier conflicts, during the Revolution he had served as the Lieutenant Colonel of the 5^th Virginia Regiment, commanded the 7^th Virginia in the east, and then returned to the Pittsburgh area to raise the 13^th Virginia. Sidelined during the war’s last years, he commanded local Pennsylvania militia and was largely retired by 1782. For years, settlers in the Ohio Valley had agitated for punitive raid against the Ohio Tribes along the Sandusky River in today’s northwestern Ohio. Their goal was to retaliate for Indian raids across the Ohio and spoil future raids. By the spring of 1782, they could not be restrained. After the militia massacred defenseless Christian Indians at Gnadenhutten in March, Brigadier General William Irvine, the Continental Commander at Pittsburgh, arranged for Colonel Crawford to lead the inevitable militia expedition, likely in hopes that Crawford could prevent a repeat. (Crawford had taken no part in the Gnadenhutten Massacre).

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Visiting a Tragedy: Gnadenhutten, OH

On July 19, 2018July 26, 2018 By Eric SternerIn Battlefields & Historic Places, Civilian, Emerging Revolutionary War, Preservation, Uncategorized1 Comment

Few places in the American Revolution evoke sorrow like Gnadenhutten, Ohio. There, in March 1782, militia from Western Pennsylvania bludgeoned, scalped, and burned to death some ninety-six bound Indians who had adopted the Christian faith preached by missionaries from the church of the United Brethren. Thirty-four of the victims were children. Benjamin Franklin called the killings “abominable murders.”[1]

The Chapel at Gnadenhutten with the 1872 memorial. The Cooper’s Hut is to the right. (ES Photo)

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“It is my father!”: Francis Halkett’s Mission to the Monongahela Battlefield

On July 9, 2018July 9, 2018 By William GriffithIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Two-hundred and sixty-three years ago, July 9, 1755, Britain suffered one of the country’s most humiliating military defeats along the banks of the Monongahela River in western Pennsylvania. Only miles away from its objective – Fort Duquesne – Maj. Gen. Edward Braddock’s army of some 1,400 men was attacked and cut to pieces by a detachment of Canadians and their Indian allies. In several hours of vicious fighting, Braddock’s force sustained over 900 casualties and was sent fleeing from the Ohio River Valley. Among the dead was the commanding officer of the 44^th Regiment of Foot, Col. Peter Halkett.

Sir Peter Halkett — Col. Peter Halkett, 44th Regiment of Foot. *New York Public Library*

Three years following Braddock’s Defeat, another British Army trudged its way west with its crosshairs set yet again on Fort Duquesne. Accompanying General John Forbes’ expeditionary force was an officer of the 42^nd Regiment of Foot, Maj. Francis Halkett – Sir Peter’s son. He had attached himself to Forbes’ command with the desire to return to the battlefield of 1755 and locate the remains of his father and younger brother, James, who served as a subaltern and was also killed in action that day. Because of the army’s hasty retreat, the British dead and dying that could not be carried from the field were left behind. It would be a near impossible task to identify the remains if any could be found, but Halkett was determined to try. Continue reading ““It is my father!”: Francis Halkett’s Mission to the Monongahela Battlefield” →

Is the Mercer Legacy Secure?

On June 8, 2018January 14, 2022 By Mark MaloyIn Uncategorized4 Comments

In one of the songs of the Broadway hit Hamilton, the character of Aaron Burr says: “Did ya hear the news about good old General Mercer? You know Clermont Street? They renamed it after him. The Mercer legacy is secure.”

The line is referring to Mercer Street in lower Manhattan. Ironically, while they mention in the musical that the renaming of this street secures Mercer’s legacy, many Americans probably have never heard of General Mercer, nor do they know what his true legacy was.

hugh_mercer_jr-_study_for_the_death_of_general_mercer_at_the_battle_of_princeton_january_3_1777_1791.jpg — A drawing study John Trumbull did of Hugh Mercer for his painting of the Battle of Princeton. He likely used Mercer’s son as a stand in. (Wikimedia Commons)

Hugh Mercer was regarded as one of the greatest American heroes of the Revolutionary War, at least by his contemporaries. Interestingly, though, Mercer was born in Great Britain, (Scotland to be exact) and studied at the University of Aberdeen to be a medical doctor. After graduating, he joined the Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army as an assistant surgeon and witnessed the bloody destruction of that army on the fields of Culloden in 1746. The young 20 year old became a fugitive in his own land.

11-16-Incident-in-the-Rebellion-of-1745-AAA — The Battle of Culloden decimated the Jacobite forces in April of 1746. The suicidal battle followed an aborted night attack that could have possibly resulted in a Jacobite victory. (Wikimedia Commons)

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Visiting Carlyle House

On May 14, 2018May 14, 2018 By Eric SternerIn Civilian, Emerging Revolutionary War, French and Indian War, Monuments, Personalities, Preservation, Uncategorized3 Comments

Carlyle House from the Front (Author Photo)

William Griffith’s examination of the Carlyle House Congress last month (The Carlyle House Congress and Britain’s Military Objectives for 1755) reminded me that I had been remiss in not visiting the site. So, the family and I set off for Alexandria, VA and a visit to John Carlyle’s home.

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Review: European Armies of the French Revolution, 1789–1802 (Campaigns and Commanders Series) Edited by Frederick C. Schneid

On May 14, 2018May 8, 2018 By erwguestIn Battlefields & Historic Places, Book Review, Campaigns, Common Soldier, UncategorizedLeave a comment

ERW Book Reviews (1)

Emerging Revolutionary War welcomes back guest historian Bill Backus

The American Revolution ultimately set in motion a chain of events that transformed not only society in the Americas but also back in the Old World. Six years after the United States gained independence, revolution broke out across France. While Americans focused on building a new nation, across the Atlantic the French Revolution sparked a series of wars subsequently known as the French Revolutionary Wars. Eventually after many years of combat and political chaos, a young army officer named Napoleon Bonaparte emerged as the new Emperor of France. Led by the Emperor the French army and nation embarked on a series of new wars that spread from Spain to Russia. From the beginning of the French Revolution to the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, Europe was at war for nearly 26 years, or nearly the entire lives of people born during the American Revolutionary period.

51T9s0CvA5L._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_ — European Armies of the French Revolution, 1789–1802 (Campaigns and Commanders Series) by Frederick C. Schneid

While Napoleon’s French Empire is widely known on both sides of the Atlantic, the wars that allowed Napoleon’s ascent to power are less prominent. Concerned that revolution could spread to the rest of continental Europe, Revolutionary France found itself engaged fighting the European status co intent on restoring the Bourbon monarchy in France. Over the course of years war and peace ebbed and flowed in Europe, with war sometimes sparked by the French in hopes of unifying a splintered public. In “European Armies of the French Revolution, 1789-1802”, historian Frederick Schneid has organized a study exploring the role of some of the prominent European armies in this period. Collaborating with noted scholars in their respective fields, the essays explore the armies of the nation-states of France, Prussia, Austria, Russia, Great Britain, Spain, and the Ottoman Empire, along side the various German principalities and the armies of the Italian states. Continue reading “Review: European Armies of the French Revolution, 1789–1802 (Campaigns and Commanders Series) Edited by Frederick C. Schneid” →

George Mason’s Gunston Hall

On May 10, 2018May 9, 2018 By Eric SternerIn Battlefields & Historic Places, Continental Leadership, Emerging Revolutionary War, Personalities, Revolutionary War, Uncategorized2 Comments

Gunston Hall River Entrance (Author Photo)

Gunston Hall’s River Entrance (Author Photo)

George Washington’s estate on the Potomac River is one of the most-visited places in the greater Washington, DC area, as befits the home of the Father of his Country. Just twelve miles south (by road), however, sits an equally impressive 18^th century plantation home. Gunston Hall was the estate of George Mason IV (1725-1792). Best known as one of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention who in the end opposed the Constitution’s ratification, Mason doesn’t always get his due in the stories of America’s founding fathers. But, he was a critical and thoughtful voice in forming the early United States government and enshrining its first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights. Fortunately, his home is open to the public and easily accessible from the metropolitan Washington area.

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THE AUTHORS AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION IN CONCORD

On April 30, 2018April 27, 2018 By Rob OrrisonIn Battlefields & Historic Places, Civilian, Memory, Personalities, Slavery, Uncategorized1 Comment

In honor of April being National Poetry Month, we share the connection of the literary icons of Concord (MA) and its American Revolution heritage. Concord historian Jayne Gordon wrote about these connections in an appendix in our recent release “A Single Blow.” Below is part of that text.

None of the eighteenth-century Concord authors lived through the American Revolution, yet reminders of that eighteenth-century war abounded in Concord in their lifetimes. Their neighbors were the grandchildren of the minutemen; veterans of the war were still among the townsfolk. Buildings, gravestones, old roads, and other landmarks evoked that part of the past, and they were surrounded by the stories of the fateful day of April 19, 1775. They each drew on their interpretations of the Revolution’s symbolic meaning, and incorporated those ideas into both their private and public writings.

J721_OldManseConcordMA — The “Old Manse” next to the North Bridge in Concord

In the case of RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-1882), there was a direct historical link to a grandfather who had played a significant role in the beginnings of the Revolution. Sixty years after colonial militiamen confronted the British troops at the North Bridge within sight of the Old Manse, the grandson of patriot minister Reverend William Emerson would come to his ancestral home to stay, writing in his journal, “Hail to the quiet fields of my fathers! . . . Henceforth I design not to utter any speech, poem, or book that is not entirely & peculiarly my work.” Continue reading “THE AUTHORS AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION IN CONCORD” →

Chief Cornstalk’s American Revolution (part two)

On April 25, 2018December 22, 2018 By Eric SternerIn Battlefields & Historic Places, Emerging Revolutionary War, Personalities, Uncategorized2 Comments

Fort Randolph (Wikimedia Commons).jpg

Modern Replica of Fort Randolph in Point Pleasant, WV (Wikimedia Commons)

At Fort Randolph, erected on the old Point Pleasant battlefield, Captain Matthew Arbuckle decided to take matters with the Shawnee into his own hands. He was already suspicious of the Shawnee in general, and Cornstalk in particular. In 1776, he reported that Cornstalk had traveled to Detroit and was “Treating with the English.”[i] Of course, this was William Wilson’s attempt to preserve the neutrality of tribes nearer Detroit by inviting them to a pace conference. Cornstalk had gone on the mission to lend weight to Wilson’s voice with those tribes. Arbuckle did not know that. Continue reading “Chief Cornstalk’s American Revolution (part two)” →

Chief Cornstalk’s American Revolution (part one)

On April 18, 2018April 2, 2020 By Eric SternerIn Emerging Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War, Uncategorized1 Comment

Chief Cornstalk (Wikimedia Commons).jpg

Chief Cornstalk after an 1870 rendering (Wikimedia Commons)

The American Revolution on the frontier was brutal. Neutrality was difficult position to maintain, but some Native American tribes attempted it. In the Ohio River Valley, it was particularly challenging. But, for a time the Shawnee and Delaware tribes in modern-day Ohio sought to navigate their way between British power in Detroit and the Americans in Pittsburgh. Chief Hokoleskwa, known as Cornstalk among the whites, was a leader of the pro-peace factions of the Shawnee. Unfortunately, it got him killed. Continue reading “Chief Cornstalk’s American Revolution (part one)” →

Emerging Revolutionary War Era

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