“Rev War Revelry” Author Spotlight  Decision at Brandywine: The Battle on Birmingham Hill with Robert Dunkerly

This Sunday on the Emerging Revolutionary War’s Facebook page, Robert Dunkerly will join the “Rev War Revelry” to discuss his newest publication, Decision at Brandywine: The Battle of Birmingham Hill.

The Battle of Brandywine, fought on September 11, 1777, saw the defeat of the American forces in southeastern Pennsylvania. The victory by the British opened the road to Philadelphia, which fell to Sir William Howe’s forces on September 26, fifteen days after the battle.

Dunkerly, a park ranger with Richmond National Battlefield Park and a contributing historian for Emerging Revolutionary War will discuss the pivotal action that happened around Birmingham Hill on that Thursday in 1777. The engagement at Brandywine was the largest and longest battle in the entire American Revolution and the third bloodiest. This new publication examines the action near Birmingham Hill and Meeting House where the action that day turned against George Washington’s forces.

Thus, this Sunday, at 7 p.m. EDT, tune into ERW’s Facebook page for the next historian happy hour as the popular “Rev War Revelry” series continues with this author spotlight.

ERW Weekender: Remember Paoli!

On the night of September 20, 1777, while encamped in Chester County, PA just outside Philadelphia, a division of American soldiers was defeated in a swift surprise attack by a slightly smaller British force. American propagandists, in an effort to galvanize Patriot support, would make the most of this encounter to show the British Army as overly brutal and bloodthirsty. On the foggy morning of December 9, 2019, members of the ERW paid a call on this battle site; Paoli Battlefield Historical Park.

American Camp
Paoli Battlefield Historical Park

Continue reading “ERW Weekender: Remember Paoli!”

The Battle of the Kegs (January 5th, 1778)

Francis Hopkinson
Francis Hopkinson, Signer of the Declaration and Satirical Lyricist

The Philadelphia Campaign did not end well for the Continental Army after three separate defeats at Brandywine, Paoli, and Germantown followed by the British occupation of the new nation’s capital.   Among other things, however, it would produce an amusing little ditty commemorating an attack on the British on January 5, 1778 for American audiences eager to poke fun at the British.

When informed that the British had occupied his adopted hometown, Benjamin Franklin reportedly waved off his concern and replied, “No, Philadelphia has captured Howe.”[i]  Franklin was more militarily astute than many politicians observing the war.  When his army captured Continue reading “The Battle of the Kegs (January 5th, 1778)”

Book Review: Bob Drury & Tom Clavin, Valley Forge, Kindle ed., (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2018).

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Bob Drury and Tom Clavin have spent years writing books, both individually and as a team.  Between the two of them, they have explored topics ranging from baseball and golf to the old west and America’s 20th century wars.  With Valley Forge (Simon & Schuster, 2018), Clavin and Drury have turned to the American Revolution.  The result is another successful collaboration. (I’m biased as I have enjoyed several of their earlier books.)

Valley Forge tackles the Philadelphia Campaign, the winter encampment at Valley Forge (and elsewhere in truth), and the Continental Army’s emergence as a quality army capable of fighting the British on their own terms, which it demonstrated at Monmouth.  The focus is on Washington and the main army with him.  The reader sees both of them grow as Washington defeats political attempts to undermine his leadership and struggles to hold the army together in the face of harsh conditions and insufficient support from the rebelling states, Continental Congress, and local farmers.  Meanwhile, the Army develops into a core of hard-bitten professionals suitably trained in European methods specifically adjusted for their circumstances. After undergoing Steuben’s training program, it had the military skills needed to match its fighting spirit. By and large, it marked a turning point in the war.  Thus, at the end, the authors argue, “For those who survived, not least their inspired and inspiring commander in chief, the hardships they overcame had not so much transformed their innate character as revealed it.”[i] Continue reading “Book Review: Bob Drury & Tom Clavin, Valley Forge, Kindle ed., (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2018).”

The Battle of Crooked Billet

Join our friends at the Lehigh (PA) Valley American Revolution Round Table on Wednesday, November 15, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. at the Oechls Center for Global Education at Lafayette College in Eastern, Pennsylvania. The topic is the battle mentioned above.

Noted historian, reenactor, and U.S. Attorney General Denis Cooke will be the speaker. See flyer below for further details.

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