The link to register for the Third annual Emerging Revolutionary War Symposium on September 24, 2022 is now live! To register for this year’s symposium visit: https://shop.alexandriava.gov/EventPurchase.aspx
The Lyceum in historic Alexandria, VA
Emerging Revolutionary War is excited to continue our partnership with Gadsby’s Tavern Museum and The Lyceum of Alexandria, VA to bring to you a day-long Symposium focusing on the American Revolution. The theme for 2022 is “The World Turned Upside: The American Revolution’s Impact on a Global Scale.” The American Revolution created waves across the world with its lasting impacts felt even today. This symposium will study the effects of this revolution that transformed governments and the governed across the globe.
King Louis XVI
Our speakers and topics include:
Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky: “Peace and Inviolable Faith with All Nations”: John Adams, Independence, and the Quest for Neutrality.
Dr. Norman Desmarais: “Reevaluating Our French Allies”
Kate Gruber: “A Retrospective Revolution: England’s Long 17th Century and the Coming of Revolution in Virginia”
Scott Stroh: “George Mason and the Global Impact of the Virginia Declaration of Rights”
Eric Sterner: “Britain, Russia, and the American War”
We will be highlighting each speaker and their topics in the coming weeks. Registration fee is only $60 per person and $50 for Office of Historic Alexandria members and students. If you feel more comfortable attending virtually, the fee is $30. Again, to register visit: https://shop.alexandriava.gov/EventPurchase.aspx
This Sunday, February 6, at 7 p.m., join ERW historians and guests as we discuss General Richard Montgomery and Colonel Benedict Arnold’s epic campaigns through the north to capture Quebec and claim Canada as the 14th colony.
One of the most difficult tasks when researching the French and Indian War is uncovering primary sources that can answer the age-old question in military history: Why did men fight? What were their motives for answering the call and sustaining the struggle? What were their observations and opinions regarding the events that surrounded them?
The letter included here in this post, written by Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Whiting of the 2nd Connecticut Provincial Regiment to his wife on August 1, 1755, during the Crown Point Expedition in New York is a rarity. Not only is it filled with raw emotion, but it also highlights a soldier’s fears and concerns relating to news of the war elsewhere, as well as his hopes for the coming days and weeks. The most fascinating aspect, however, is how the letter closes with the precise reasons for why Whiting was fighting—Duty to himself, his country, and his God. The commonly cited theme of duty, honor, and country is a constant in why men fight and sustain. Even in the French and Indian War, a conflict that did not involve a fight for independence, to preserve the Union, or to free the world from oppression, Whiting’s motives were still consistent.
Here is his letter:
My dearest wife,
I am here much Longer than I expected When I left you[.] Tis unhappy on many Accounts that we have delayed so long, but know not that it could be prevented. [W]e have orders now to March and . . . tis probable I shall not have opportunity to write you again till I get to the Carrying Place [the future site of Fort Edward along the Hudson River] I doubt your tender concern for me my dear will fill you with too many uneasy apprehensions & fears for my Safety Which I fear will be much increased upon hearing of the unhappy disaster of General [Edward] Braddock [at the battle of the Monongahela] but Let Not that trouble you my dear[.] God is my Safeguard and defense & I Trust has better things in store for his people than to give them all a prey Into the hands of their enemys—we are never more discouraged on Account of that defeat but Rather Animated with the greater Resolution to go on, we may have more enemys to encounter so that we may want more Strength, or our conquests will be more Glorious or our defeat less Shameful but the Latter I hope & believe Will Not be the Case. Pray make your Self as easy as possible I know your Dayly prayers are for my preservation Let it be an article of them that it not be obtained by any unworthy means, but in the prosecution of the Duty I owe at this time to my Self, my Country & my God.
Whiting, a New Haven merchant and veteran of King George’s War, led the 2nd Connecticut Regiment with distinction at the battle of Lake George on September 8, 1755, the culmination of the British campaign to capture Fort Saint-Frédéric (Crown Point) along Lake Champlain. Another post highlighting that action can be found here.
On Sunday, January 23, Emerging Revolutionary War will journey, virtually, into the heart of the Mohawk Valley of New York in a discussion with Brian Mack of the Fort Plain Museum and Historical Park.
Established in 1961 the museum and park now encompasses over 75 acres and includes the site of Fort Plain/Fort Rensselaer, the foundation of a Revolutionary era bridge, the Fort Rensselaer Redoubt and works constructed by British forces, along with sites of colonial farmsteads, industry, and settlement. The museum also covers a wide era of the history of the area.
Mack lives out his passion for his family & for history in everything he does. A family vacation always includes a stop to a historic site or two. He is involved with the Fort Plain Museum & Historical Park as a member of their Board of Trustees, a Board member with The Stone Arabia Preservation & Battlefield, and a Board Member with The Mohawk Country Association. Most recently, he joined the Board with the Dr. Joseph Warren Foundation.
We look forward to a great discussion about the American Revolution in the Mohawk Valley of New York with Brian this Sunday, at 7 p.m. on Emerging Revolutionary War’s Facebook page.
A new year and a new way to follow Emerging Revolutionary War! For 2022, we’re proud to unveil the Emerging Revolutionary War Podcast! We have taken the audio from our “Rev War Revelry” discussions (available on Facebook and YouTube) and have used them to create a new podcast. Now you can listen wherever you are, through Spotify and Apple Podcasts, to these engaging and interesting discussions with Emerging Revolutionary War historians and guests. We have all the programs from 2020 available in podcast form now and will be adding all of 2021 over the next few weeks. Now you can listen to discussions with Emerging Revolutionary War historians any time on your mobile device and on the go!
On January 17, 1781, General Daniel Morgan and his mixed force of Continental soldiers and militia defeated the British under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton. This victory for the patriots in northwestern South Carolina had major implications on the southern theater and the main British force under General Lord Charles Cornwallis. The battle, named after the use of the fields in which it was fought, Cowpens, also included one of the only instances in American history of a successful double envelopment.
On Sunday, at 7 p.m. EDT, Emerging Revolutionary War will be joined by American Battlefield Trust’s Kristopher White, Deputy Director of Education and Daniel Davis, Education Manager, in a discussion about the history and preservation of the Battle of Cowpens.
Round out your January weekend by joining us on our Facebook page for this live historian happy hour.
Merry Christmas from all of us at Emerging Revolutionary War! One of our favorite Christmas movies to watch is the movie “The Crossing”. In this movie, Jeff Daniels portrays George Washington on the eve of the battle of Trenton. The movie depicts the situation in December of 1776 and dramatizes the crossing of the Delaware River and the Battle of Trenton.
Join Emerging Revolutionary War historians Mark Maloy, Dan Welch, and Kevin Pawlak as we host a watch party of the movie. You can tune in live on Sunday, December 26, 2021 (the 245th anniversary of the crossing and the battle) on our Facebook page at 7 p.m. ET.
As we watch the movie, we will comment on and explore what the movie gets right, wrong, our favorite scenes and lines, and take questions about the movie and actual events themselves. It should prove to be an entertaining and fun experience, so grab that glass of Madeira (“God be praised, it has been a year since I have tasted such Madeira.”) and join us in watching “The Crossing”.
On December 23, 1783, George Washington, the victorious commander of the Continental Army, resigned his commission and gave up his power. The only historic precedent to this action was in the days of ancient Rome when the Roman hero Cincinnatus who turned his sword into a plowshare and became a farmer. Washington was quickly hailed as the American Cincinnatus and esteemed as the greatest man of his age by his contemporaries. John Marshall, the future Supreme Court Justice, wrote from Richmond, Virginia that “at length the military career of the greatest man on earth is closed.”
The ceremony for his resignation occurred at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, where the Continental Congress was then meeting. Following his resignation at noon on the 23rd, Washington, now a private citizen, was eager to get to his home, Mount Vernon, less than 50 miles away.
Throughout the war, Washington had longed to return to his beloved Mount Vernon. He had left in the spring of 1775 and was away for more than six years. He returned, briefly, in 1781 on his way to and from the Siege of Yorktown. Other than those brief stays, by the end of 1783, Washington had spent more than eight years away from his beloved home Mount Vernon. His first desire as a private citizen was to get there as fast as he could. He hoped to live out his days on his plantation, under his “own vine and fig tree.”
He rode out of Annapolis accompanied by a few of his aides in the afternoon of the 23rd and made it halfway to Virginia before it became too dark, and he and his party stopped at a tavern for the night. The next morning, he continued his journey towards the Potomac. He crossed a ferry below Alexandria and made it to the house before dark, as snow began to fall on the ground. At Mount Vernon was his wife, Martha, who had traveled to be with Washington and his army at every winter encampment of the Revolutionary War.
Washington simply wrote a few days later on December 28, 1783 that “I arrived at my seat the day before Christmas, having previously divested myself of my official character—I am now a private Citizen on the banks of the Potomack . . .”
A fanciful lithograph of George Washington returning to Mount Vernon on Christmas Eve, 1783. (Library of Congress)
Having spent the Christmas of 1776 preparing an attack on Hessians at Trenton, and the past eight Christmases at various winter encampments (including Valley Forge), the Christmas of 1783 would have been among the happiest in his life. He wrote that “The scene is at last closed — I feel myself eased of a load of public care — I hope to spend the remainder of my days in cultivating the Affections of good Men, and in the practice of the domestic Virtues.” However, Washington would be called by his countrymen again to serve in building of a new nation. Although, he preferred the quiet walks of private life, he never would forgot his duty to his country.
To learn more about the eventful month of December 1783, including his farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern, his resignation and his homecoming, check out General Washington’s Christmas Farewell by Stanley Weintraub.
Merry Christmas from all of us at Emerging Revolutionary War!
244 years ago this week is when the Continental army, under the command of George Washington, marched into what would become their winter encampment as the year turned from 1777-1778. Recently, Phillip S. Greenwalt, one of the Emerging Revolutionary War historians was a “talking head” on a documentary about the Valley Forge encampment and what the soldiers and civilians faced during the ensuing six-month cantonment.
The documentary which features historians and park rangers is airing on Fox News Nation, the streaming service that is part of the Fox News network. Below is a screen shot of Phillip, who is also the author of Winter that Won the War, the Winter Encampment at Valley Forge, 1777-1778, which is part of the Emerging Revolutionary War Series published by Savas Beatie LLC.
So, if you need a break from the holiday specials that are airing, tune in for your history fix and learn more about the history at Valley Forge. If you want to dive even deeper into this period of the American Revolution, check out the link above labeled “2022 Bus Tour” and secure your tickets to join ERW at our second annual bus tour next November, which will include Valley Forge.
On the edge of the historic town of Litiz, Pennsylvania in Lancaster County stands an impressive, unique, and solemn, historic site. Two stone monuments and a plaque comprise the complex, marking the final burial of Continental soldiers from the hospital that stood nearby.
The historic marker says that wounded from the battles of Brandywine (September 11, 1777) and Germantown (October 4, 1777) were received here. Yet that does not match what I uncovered in researching this. The dates of the Lititz hospital seem to coincide more with the Valley Forge (winter 1777-78) timeframe.
In late summer, 1777, British General William Howe and his army left New Jersey and invaded Pennsylvania with the object of capturing Philadelphia. General George Washington’s army tried to stop the British at Brandywine but met defeat. The British occupied Philadelphia, and Washington struck back at Germantown, but again came up short. There were many smaller battles across southeastern Pennsylvania like Paoli, Fort Mifflin, and Whitemarsh.
Emerging Revolutionary War Era 