A Change on the Horizon…

On October 7, 2015 By Phill GreenwaltIn Emerging Civil War, Revolutionary War2 Comments

You can almost feel the cold weather from just looking at the painting. With the snow on the ground, and white specks of wintry mix falling in the distance, one almost wants to say “brrr.”

With rags wrapped around feet, heads bowed into the storm, and no two soldiers dressed a like the painting depicts winter 1777 for the American Continental Army. The title “The March to Valley Forge” also concocts images of the harshness of that winter during the American Revolution.

And in the middle of the picture, sits George Washington, astride his horse, staring at the marching soldiers in silent tribute. One of the soldiers is depicted doffing his cap at Washington. Respect, admiration, and solidarity of the joint struggle of the war, is present, by just examining the painting a little closer.

That is why this painting below, done by William Trego, a century and a few years after this march would have happened, is my favorite painting about the American Revolution.

The March to Valley Forge by William Trego, 1883

Continue reading “A Change on the Horizon…” →

Remembering John and Abigail (part two)

On September 30, 2015 By Phill GreenwaltIn Revolutionary War2 Comments

Part two of two

“Remember the ladies,” Abigail Adams wrote in a letter to her husband during his service in the Continental Congress. And those words are how we now most often remember her: “Remember the ladies.”

And John did. He pined for her. His long public career—in the Continental Congress, as a minister in Europe, as vice president, as president—kept them apart for long stretches. They spent ten of their fifty-four years of marriage separated by war, by sea, by duty.

So they wrote—some 1200 letters in all. “My dearest friend,” he addressed her, and he meant it.

The lively correspondence between John and Abigail illuminates not only a great American love story but also a great political partnership. Among the company of great Founders, Abigail was the one forced to stay at home—by social convention and family duty—but she refused to be forgotten. Continue reading “Remembering John and Abigail (part two)” →

Do You Know George Wythe?

On September 23, 2015 By Phill GreenwaltIn Emerging Civil War, Personalities, Revolutionary War1 Comment

Down the street from the Governor’s Palace in Colonial Williamsburg sits a two-story brick structure. Living historians, in first-person, debate the road to the American Revolution.

But, who was George Wythe? Continue reading “Do You Know George Wythe?” →

Remembering John and Abigail (part one)

On September 16, 2015 By Phill GreenwaltIn Revolutionary War3 Comments

Part one of two

When Abigail Adams died in late October, 1818, her husband, John, brokenhearted, said, “I wish I could lie down beside her and die, too.”

Today, the two are entombed side by side, along with their son John Quincy and his wife, Louisa Catherine, in a well-lit, whitewashed crypt beneath the United First Parish Church in Quincy, Mass. I’ve come here to pay my respects to the former presidents and first ladies, but mostly I’m here to say thanks to John, and to remember him because he worried he’d be forgotten. Continue reading “Remembering John and Abigail (part one)” →

Henry Shrapnel – “The Modern Archimedes”

On September 9, 2015 By Phill GreenwaltIn Armies, Personalities, Revolutionary War1 Comment

His last name jumps off the page, much like the term shrapnel usually does when leaving an artillery piece.

“Shrapnel” as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary is “a projectile that consists of a case provided with a powder charge and a large number of usually lead balls that is exploded in flight” or more simply “bomb, mine, or shell fragments.”

Either definition brings to mind images of death, destruction, maiming, and killing for any military historian.

Yet, why is it attributed to Henry Shrapnel? Continue reading “Henry Shrapnel – “The Modern Archimedes”” →

Robert “King” Carter and the Father of our Country – Connecting the Dots of History

On September 2, 2015 By Rob OrrisonIn Revolutionary WarLeave a comment

A lot of understanding history is understanding connections. Making relevant connections

Robert "King" Carter — Robert “King” Carter

and interpreting those connections to people. Recently I played a part in curating a new exhibit at the Manassas Museum. This exhibit “A Virginia Aristocracy: The Carters of Virginia” focuses on the Carter family in Virginia and their vast influence. Beginning with Robert “King” Carter, the Carters amassed great wealth and land in Virginia. The Carters were one of the leading families in colonial Virginia and their influence was felt all the way up to the Civil War.

As I was leading an exhibit talk last weekend, I started to make some of those connections that I love to share with the public. One that I knew about, but didn’t really contextualize until talking to a small group was how the Carters influenced the course of American history. In a way beyond their ancestry to future U.S. Presidents, but in a connection that “King” Carter never intended.

Continue reading “Robert “King” Carter and the Father of our Country – Connecting the Dots of History” →

“Potentially Momentous”

On August 26, 2015 By Phill GreenwaltIn Battlefields & Historic Places, Emerging Civil War, National Park Service, Revolutionary WarLeave a comment

Last week, Michael Harris wrote about the Battle of Brandywine and in his conclusion mentioned his excellent history on this important battle in the American Revolution.

While reading his work, I came across the account of Captain Patrick Ferguson.

Harris describes it as one of the most “potentially momentous” non-incidents of the entire American Revolution.

I agree with him.

After reading the following, would you? Continue reading ““Potentially Momentous”” →

ERW Weekender: The Brandywine Battlefield: A History & Visiting the Field

On August 19, 2015 By Phill GreenwaltIn Arms & Armaments, Battlefields & Historic Places, Revolutionary WarLeave a comment

Emerging Revolutionary War and Revolutionary War Wednesday is pleased to welcome guest historian and author Michael C. Harris this week.

The Battle of Brandywine was fought on September 11, 1777. Visiting the battlefield to commemorate what took place there began just three years later. On his way to Virginia in 1780, the Marquis de Lafayette made a point of stopping for day at the battlefield where he was wounded and giving a tour to the officers that were travelling with him. An older Lafayette returned in 1825 during his celebrated 15-month tour of America.

However, it would not be until after the American Civil War during the golden age of preservation that any kind of markers or monuments began to appear around the ten-square-mile landscape. During the 1877 centennial, artillery pieces were placed to mark the fighting near Sandy Hollow. Eighteen years later, a monument was dedicated along Birmingham Road supposedly marking the spot where Lafayette was wounded. Had Lafayette been alive, he would have been able to put out the error in location.

Continue reading “ERW Weekender: The Brandywine Battlefield: A History & Visiting the Field” →

Jefferson: Self-governance and “the field of knowledge”

On August 12, 2015 By Phill GreenwaltIn Revolutionary War1 Comment

The final part in a four-part series

“The field of knowledge,” said Thomas Jefferson, “is the common prosperity of all mankind.”

Jefferson’s words are inscribed in big bold letters in the entryway of Monticello’s visitor center. They’re written in architectural perpetuity in Jefferson’s “academical village,” the University of Virginia. They’re enshrined in the very concept of democracy.

“Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government,” Jefferson said. Knowledge enables self-determination. Continue reading “Jefferson: Self-governance and “the field of knowledge”” →

Mercer’s Grenadier Militia

On August 5, 2015 By Phill GreenwaltIn Armies, Battlefields & Historic Places, Battles, Civilian, Common Soldier, Memory, Monuments, Revolutionary War2 Comments

This is part two in the series by guest historian Drew Gruber. For part one, click here.

On the morning of October 3, 1781, British Colonels Tarleton and Thomas Dundas led another expedition north towards Gloucester Courthouse and away from the protection of their fortifications at Gloucester Point. Their command that day included some of the most renowned fighting men then in service. Cavalry and mounted infantry from Tarleton’s own British Legion, combined with a detachment of Colonel Simcoe’s Queen’s Rangers, elements of the 17^th Dragoons, men from the 23^rd Regiment (Royal Welch Fusiliers), German Jaegers and part of the 80^th Regiment of Foot provided an impressive host for their American and French adversaries. Captain Johann Ewald, commander of the Jaegers commented after the war that he was sent out with “one hundred horse of Simcoe’s and the remainder of the jagers and rangers, which amounted to only sixty man in order to take a position between Seawell’s planatation and Seawall’s Ordinary. I was to form a chain there to protect a foraging of Indian corn.”[1]

Continue reading “Mercer’s Grenadier Militia” →