Part Two
With an excess of officers in the Continental Army and little prospect of getting a field command, James Monroe resigned his commission in 1779. He became a Lieutenant-Colonel of Virginia forces, but was unable to recruit enough men to form a new regiment. In 1780 he went to North Carolina as a military observer for Governor Thomas Jefferson, with whom he had begun the study of law. Continue reading “James Monroe at War”
Part One
Emerging Revolutionary War is honored to welcome guest historian Scott H. Harris, Director of the James Monroe Museum.
It is one of the great exploits of the American Revolution. On the night of December 25, 1776, General George Washington led the Continental Army across the icy Delaware River to attack a Hessian garrison at Trenton, New Jersey. Young Lieutenant James Monroe held the flag behind Washington as they were rowed across the freezing river (standing up).
Except, that’s not what happened.
On December 16, 1773, in Boston, Massachusetts harbor, American colonists belonging to the Sons of Liberty stole aboard trade vessels anchored in the water. In protest to recently passed British legislation, the Native American dressed Sons of Liberty dumped 342 chests of tea into the water.
The Boston Tea Party became a prominent and well-known defiant act by the Americans on the road to the American Revolution.
Unbeknownst to the Adams, Warrens, and Hancock’s of the American Revolution, this particular form of protest–attacking the purse strings of the governing power–would resonate 75 years later, 3,284 miles, and one continent away. Continue reading “Inspired By the Americans”
March is Women’s History Month, a time to reflect on the many contributions women have contributed in our country. At George Washington Birthplace National Monument, our social media policy for the month has been to highlight important women to the history of the National Park Service and/or to George Washington’s life.
By writing the history text and developing what images to use for these posts, I thought I would take this example and expand it to include two other women that played integral parts in the American Revolutionary movement.
Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis Warren. Continue reading ““Remember the Ladies””
History can resemble the peeling of an onion. There are multiple layers, each one resting on top of each other and, when peeled back, can provoke an emotion—anger, happiness, empathy, or a score of others. Like an onion, that can often provoke tears.
ECW’s Phillip Greenwalt offers an example. “On a recent trip to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania—a place steeped in American Civil War history—I stumbled upon some early 20th century history in a place I would have never expected,” he says. “A short distance down the Emmitsburg Pike from the spot where Major General George Pickett’s Confederate division charged across on its way to Cemetery Ridge, I stood reading about Camp Colt, a military installation used for tank training prior to deployment of tank corps soldiers in World War I.”
And, of course, President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s post-presidential farm sits just a mile or so to the southwest of that same spot.
Just as there are multiple layers of history at Gettysburg, Emerging Civil War is about to embark on another onion-peeling adventure. After much thought and discussion, we are excited to announce the launch of “Revolutionary War Wednesdays.”
Emerging Revolutionary War Era 