79. April 19
By Categories: British Soldiery

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Well, it’s almost here—the 250th anniversary of the date that armed combat erupted in a significant way between British troops occupying Boston and the provincial militia, which triggered the longest war in American history prior to Vietnam. At that time, both sides probably shared the same expectant assumption that hostilities were unavoidable in the absence of any change in the mother country’s colonial policy or the attitude of Whig-minded insurrectionists among the body politic—and now, at last, the powder keg had exploded at Lexington and Concord. The wait was over.

In his diary, Frederick MacKenzie, the son of a Dublin merchant who arrived in Boston in 1774 as a lieutenant in the British army (and would be promoted to captain in the fall of 1775), recorded his firsthand observations about the events and dismal outcome of the ill-fated and bloody expedition by his redcoated countrymen, as ordered by General Thomas Gage, into the Massachusetts countryside on April 19, 1775 to secure military supplies gathered by the insurgents. Here are some excerpts from the lieutenant’s entries in the immediate aftermath of the opening clash:

April 19—During the whole of the march from Lexington [as the British withdrew to Boston after they had exchanged shots with the militia at Lexington and Concord], the rebels kept an incessant irregular fire from all points at the column, which was the more galling as our flanking parties, which at first were placed at sufficient distances to cover the march of it, were at last, from the different obstructions they occasionally met with, obliged to keep almost close to it. Our men had very few opportunities of getting good shots at the rebels, as they hardly ever fired but under cover of a stone wall, from behind a tree, or out of a house; and the moment they had fired, they lay down out of sight until they had loaded again or the column had passed…. Many houses were plundered by the soldiers, notwithstanding the efforts of the officers to prevent it. I have no doubt this inflamed the rebels, and made many of them follow us farther than they would otherwise have done.

April 20—It is conceived by many that the expedition to Concord for the destruction of the military stores, which it is said were deposited there in considerable quantities, might have been conducted with greater secrecy, and been effected without the loss which ensued and the consequences which must now inevitably follow….

There was a general muster of all the neighboring militia only the day before (whether by accident, or in consequence of the general’s intention is not certain, but most probably the latter) so that every man was in a state of preparation and equipment. This should have been known, because if their meeting was not on purpose to oppose the troops, there was hardly time for them to disperse and return to their several homes. I believe the fact is that General Gage was not only much deceived with respect to the quantity of military stores said to be collected at Concord but had no conception the rebels would have opposed the king’s troops in the manner they did. But the temper of the people, the preparations they had been making all the winter to oppose the troops should they move out of Boston with hostile intentions, and above all their declared resolution to do so made it evident to most persons that opposition would be made on any attempt to destroy stores and ammunition which they had avowedly collected for the defense of the province….

The troops [are] ordered to lay dressed in their barracks this night.

April 21—The town is now surrounded by armed rebels, who have intercepted all communication with the country.

This was the beginning of the American siege of Boston that would last almost a year and end only when His Majesty’s forces evacuated the city on March 17, 1776—never to return.

On another April 19—exactly eight years later—the pamphleteer Thomas Paine, author of America’s first bestselling publication Common Sense, released the last of his Crisis series, wherein he ruminated about the outcome of the American rebellion. He termed it “a revolution, which to the end of time, must be an honor to the age that accomplished it, and which has contributed more to enlighten the world, and diffuse a spirit of freedom and liberality among mankind, than any human event (if this may be called one) that ever preceded it.”

Sources:

“Frederick MacKenzie: Diary, April 18-21, 1775,” in The American Revolution: Writings from the War of Independence, ed. John Rhodehamel (The Library of America, 2001), 5-18.

Thomas Paine, “The Last Crisis, Number XVIII,” April 19, 1783, in Thomas Paine, Collected Writings, ed. Eric Foner (The Library of America, 1955), 348-354.

78. So Unexpected A Book
By Categories: Ten Crucial Days

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Hi All –

Allow me to introduce Jeffrey Evan Brooks and his new book, So Unexpected A Moment: A Novel of the Revolutionary War, which yours truly had the pleasure of assisting with in terms of reviewing and commenting on the manuscript. To be sure, I found its narrative to be at variance with my interpretive understanding on certain points, but, hey, it IS a novel and I enjoyed the read very much—so much so that I asked Jeff if he would agree to be interviewed for one of my blog posts. He has graciously consented to do so.

Jeff, tell us about your background and how and why you came to write this book.
I am a lifelong student and teacher of history. As a boy, I devoured every history book I could lay my hands on. My parents took me on wonderful road trips, visiting historical sites all across the country. Now that I’m an adult, I buy far too many history books to ever read. And my chosen vocation (I wouldn’t call it a “job”) is to teach American history to 8th graders. History is my life.
As to why I came to write this particular book, I have always found the story of the “Ten Crucial Days” irresistible. It’s simply so full of drama and great characters, with the fate of the nation hanging in the balance. It’s a historical event crying out to be turned into a good historical-fiction novel.

Give us a quick summary of the book’s contents.
The novel is a retelling of the Ten Crucial Days—the Delaware River crossing, the first Battle of Trenton, the critical decisions made by both sides immediately afterwards, the much-neglected Battle of Assunpink Creek (or second Trenton), and finally the Battle of Princeton. Everyone has seen the famous Leutze painting of the Delaware crossing, of course, but as I like to tell my students, the true story is infinitely richer and more dramatic than its depiction in art. There is no need to dramatize it, but what really happened is a more vivid and astonishing story than anything imagined by the best fictional novelist.
But it’s not just a dramatic military tale. The Revolutionary period was a time of new questions about human freedom. If America was going to be an independent nation, what kind of nation was it going to be? So as the protagonists struggle through their various adventures, they find themselves debating with themselves and with one another exactly what the war is really about.

How did the experience of writing this book compare with your previous book, which is an alternate history novel of the Civil War?
The first third of my first novel, Shattered Nation, was genuine historical fiction. It was only with the “point of divergence” that it became alternate history. This book, on the other hand, is straight-up historical fiction. So I did not have the freedom to imagine events unfolding in my own way. I thought this would make the novel easier to write, but I found it was actually much more difficult. I had to do much more intensive research.
And as far as primary source material, the Revolutionary War is not as rich a time period as the Civil War era.

What was most challenging for you in crafting this novel?
As with any historical fiction, there is the problem of accuracy. The needs of the novelist are different from the needs of the nonfiction writer. Sometimes, telling the story with perfect historical accuracy might actually leave the reader more confused than they otherwise would have been. I wanted to tell the true story of the Ten Crucial Days, but not to get so bogged down in details as to leave the reader frustrated and confused. So certain things have gone unmentioned or been simplified, but only in cases so minor as not to make any real difference.
Almost everything depicted is, as nearly as possible as we can determine, what really happened, or at least what could have happened. The adventures of John Mott are largely conjectural, as I needed a vantage point for the reader to see certain events, such as Edward’s Hand’s brilliant delaying action on January 2, 1777. The only point in the novel where I really allowed my imagination to run wild was the story of how Robert Morris obtained the money needed by Washington on December 30, 1776 to pay a bonus to those soldiers who agreed to remain with the army when their enlistments expired, but that story is so steeped in legend that I felt it a worthwhile indulgence.
I decided earlier on that, while the story obviously revolves around Washington, I was not going to use him as a perspective character. I’m not so arrogant as to think I could get inside that man’s head. So it was a challenge to write a novel in which the reader never sees the events through the eyes of the most important person.

What sources of information proved most helpful to you in your research?
The most fun I had doing research for the book was using the free and easily accessible Founders Online, the National Archives’ online database of the writings of Washington and others. Reading the letters and official orders issued by Washington during this period, some of which are included verbatim in the novel, is simply thrilling.
Of the numerous books written about the crossing of the Delaware and the battles at Trenton and Princeton, by far the best is Washington’s Crossing by David Hackett Fischer. It’s a stupendous feat of historical writing and fully deserved its Pulitzer Prize. Another very useful source was The Winter Soldiers by the late, great Richard M. Ketchum. I read a number of biographies, including those of Nathanael Greene, Benjamin Rush, Henry Knox, Charles Cornwallis, and others.
And, of course, your wonderful books were a great help to me, especially your book on John Haslet. [Note to the reader: Let the record reflect that no bribery was involved here—at least none that can be proven.]

Did writing this book change your perception of the events or people about whom you wrote and, if so, how?
I felt I already knew a lot about these events when I started to write the novel. But as I wrote, I found myself more and more in awe of these amazing men and what they went through during those ten days. Needless to say, our nation was not created by soft people. It makes me wonder if today’s Americans would have what it takes to match the feats of the founding generation.
At the same time, I found myself admiring the British characters, who were not the cardboard cutout villains Americans sometimes imagine (as, for example, in Mel Gibson’s movie “The Patriot”). General Cornwallis and Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood were great and honorable men, fighting for what they thought was right. And they had a sense of decorum and dignity that has almost entirely vanished in our time and which we would do well to try to restore.

What would you most like readers to take away from reading the book?
This book is an expression of my gratitude and appreciation for the people who created this country. We take our freedoms for granted, so much so that I have 8th graders express astonishment that there are people in the world who don’t have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to vote, the right to a fair trial, and all the rest. We too easily forget that those who came before us struggled and suffered, and many gave their lives, to win those freedoms for us. David McCullough once commented that not bothering to learn about the founding generation is a form of ingratitude and that ingratitude is a shabby personal quality. I entirely agree.

Do you have another writing project in mind?
I am thinking of writing a novel about Operation Dragoon, the little-known invasion of southern France during World War II.

Thanks, Jeff. Good luck with the new book and your next undertaking.

And if readers want to check out your Amazon page, they can do so here.

BTW, in case anyone is wondering, the official release date for my new book, Winning the Ten Crucial Days, is April 15, although signed copies are currently available in the gift shop at Washington Crossing Historic Park.

 

Odds & Ends
By Categories: Uncategorized

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Hello All,

I wanted to use this blog post to facilitate access to information about a potpourri of sources and events that may be of interest to some of you  .  .  .

— Dennis P. Ryan’s 1975 booklet, New Jersey During the American Revolution, A Chronology – 1763 to 1783 (now out of print) can be downloaded from the NJ State Library page at this link.

— A series of twenty-eight New Jersey’s Revolutionary Experience pamphlets (also out-of-print), which were published by the New Jersey Historical Commission to commemorate the Bicentennial of the Revolution, can be viewed at this link.

— In keeping with the observance of Black History Month, February 11, 2025 was designated 1st Rhode Island Regiment/Black Regiment Day pursuant to resolutions adopted by the Rhode Island Senate and House of Representatives to commemorate the contribution of Black soldiers during the Revolutionary War.

— For Central Jersey history aficionados or fans of Founding Father John Hart of Hopewell (c.1713-1779), an article by Patrick H. Ryan, Tracing the Central Jersey Roots of John Hart, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, appeared in the free email newsletter from TAPinto Princeton on February 14.

— Washington Crossing State Park (NJ) is undergoing a dramatic transformation that will include the opening of a new visitor center next year, as described here.

— An Evening with Rick Atkinson, to be held at Washington Crossing Historic Park (PA), on June 10 from 7 to 9 pm, will feature a discussion by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of his new book, The Fate of the Day—the second volume in his Revolution trilogy—and the signing of books purchased in connection with this event.

— Finally, I’m scheduled to talk about two of my books and sign copies per below:

  • The Battle of Harlem Heights, 1776, at a Lecture & Book Signing sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum, 432 W. Walnut St., Allentown, PA, on March 29 at 1 pm; and
  • my new book, Winning the Ten Crucial Days, at Living History Day: Celebrating America’s Independence sponsored by Washington Crossing Historic Park, on July 4, in the Visitor Center auditorium—with an initial presentation at 2 pm and an encore at 4 pm. (Please note: the entire Independence Day event is from 12:30 to 4 pm.) This begs the question whether giving two talks in one day about the Ten Crucial Days will reduce me to a tense, crucial daze.

There you have it. Hope you enjoy (or endure, as the case may be) the final days of winter.

77. Small Battles Loomed Large in the Revolution
By Categories: American Revolution

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In the Series Editors’ Introduction to each book in Westholme Publishing’s Small Battles Series, coeditors Mark Edward Lender and the late James Kirby Martin contend that the too-often ignored, smaller military actions impacted the course of the war for independence as much as, if not more than, the celebrated engagements that retain their indelible grip on our collective historical consciousness—Trenton, Saratoga, and Yorktown, being foremost among the latter. These more obscure encounters were typically fought at what Lender and Martin term the “grassroots level,” usually without the direct involvement of regular troops on either side, and without the presence of famed commanders such as George Washington, Nathanael Greene, William Howe, Charles Cornwallis, etc., but rather with Patriot militia opposing Loyalist units, and sometimes involving Native warriors who more-often-than-not sided with the British.[1]

Although smaller battles accounted for the predominant share of fighting, they have generally received little attention in popular narratives about the Revolutionary struggle, perhaps due to the fact that the “big names” were not present. Private Joseph Plumb Martin, in his classic memoir that represents one of the best-known primary accounts of army life then, lamented the lack of public regard for these events owing, in his opinion, to the absence of famous men. As a result, the combatants who faced off on these occasions linger in obscurity to this day. “Such circumstances and such troops,” he wrote, “generally get but little notice taken of them, do what they will. Great men get great praise, little men nothing. But it always was so and always will be.”[2]

In his majestic chronicle of the Revolution, Page Smith argues that because many of the minor engagements—to cite two examples, the Paoli massacre in September 1777 and the Battle of Waxhaws (also known as Buford’s Massacre) in May 1780—ended in disaster for the forces of rebellion, there ensued less incentive to recount them in great detail than would have been the case if the American side prevailed. But as he reminds us, the smaller actions were often as agonizingly contested as the larger ones, and those who fell in them were just as dead as the soldiers who perished in more famous battles.[3] According to Smith, there were thousands of smaller clashes—many of them between bands of Loyalists and Patriots—that involved no more than fifty men, and the records of those encounters, if preserved at all, lie buried in some local archive, comprise half-legendary tales passed on from one generation to another, or are briefly mentioned in a seldom-read newspaper. Nonetheless, these affairs embodied the grim circumstances of war endured by the great majority of Americans, for relatively few participated in the famous battles that occupy the center stage of historiography. As Smith puts it, most in the Revolutionary generation “labored in the wings and experienced in very acute form the hunger, the fear, the continual and corrosive anxiety, the bitter divisions between friends and neighbors, the scattered incidents of violence, the demoralizing effect of rumor that were part of the daily lives of Americans, patriot or Tory, during the years of the war.”[4]

The frightful aspect of America’s first civil war that was characterized by the ferocity of combat between opposing factions among the civilian population—a feature that has been attendant to other such contests here and abroad—is embodied in the bloody record of these little-known episodes, to the extent it is available to us. Friends, neighbors, family members, and relatives all became caught up in the brutality that often manifested itself in the smaller actions. This savagery may be at variance with the idyllic image of our path to independence embraced by traditional accounts and conveyed by popular memory across the generations, for as Holger Hoock points out, the perpetuation of a too-sentimental narrative of the conflict obscures the truth that it caused proportionately more suffering than any other in American history, except the Civil War.[5}

Margaret MacMillan notes that civil wars often assume the character and cruelty of a crusade because they are about the nature of society itself.[6] Thomas Brown, a Loyalist who led troops in the Southern theater from 1777 to 1781, echoed these sentiments from personal experience: “A civil war being one of the greatest evils incident to human society, the history of every contest presents us with instances of wanton cruelty and barbarity. Men whose passions are inflamed by mutual injuries, exasperated with personal animosity against each other, and eager to gratify revenge, often violate the laws of war and principles of humanity.”[7] Indeed, the violence perpetrated on both sides in the Revolution is the stuff of historical reality—the kind Henry Knox presumably had in mind when he wrote his wife in the aftermath of the first Battle of Trenton: “War, my Lucy, is not a humane trade, and the man who follows (it) as such will meet with his proper demerits in another world.”[8]

Notes:

[1] Series Editors’ Introduction, in David Price, The Battle of Harlem Heights, 1776 (Westholme Publishing: Yardley, PA, 2022), ix-x.

[2] Joseph Plumb Martin, Memoir of a Revolutionary Soldier: The Narrative of Joseph Plumb Martin (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2006), 54.

[3] Page Smith, A New Age Now Begins: A People’s History of the American Revolution (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1976), 2:1124-1125.

[4] Ibid., 2:1125.

[5] Holger Hoock, Scars of Independence: America’s Violent Birth (New York: Crown, 2017), 11-17.

[6] Margaret Macmillan, War: How Conflict Shaped Us (New York: Random House, 2020), 42.

[7] Thomas Brown to David Ramsey, December 25, 1786, in The American Revolution: Writings from the War of Independence, 1775-1783, ed. John Rhodehamel (New York: The Library of America, 2001), 681-682.

[8] Henry Knox to Lucy Knox, January 2, 1777, in William S. Stryker, The Battles of Trenton and Princeton (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1898), 436.

And speaking of small things (as in books), Rescuing has been rescued:

For anyone who has, or knows anyone who has, tried without success to acquire a copy of my first book, Rescuing the Revolution, during its recent exile to the publishing wilderness (having been out of print for the last couple of years), please be advised that it has returned from Elba (for any Napoleonic-minded readers out there). My thanks to the Friends of Washington Crossing Park—the nonprofit that runs the gift shop at Washington Crossing Historic Park (WCHP) and oversees the historical/educational programming there—for publishing a new edition as a successor to the Knox Press release from 2016. This marks the Friends’ first-ever foray into this sort of activity, and credit is due to Roger Williams, Jennifer Martin, Larry Kidder, Guy Sava, and Michelle Flanagan for their contributions to this effort. I anticipate (hopefully) that signed copies of the new edition will soon be available at WCHP for purchase in person or online. It can also be ordered from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

76. A Founding-Focused Foundation
By Categories: Uncategorized

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Say that three times fast!

No, but seriously, I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the work of the Swan Historical Foundation, Inc. (SHF), so let me suggest that this is as good a time as any—what with the impending semiquincentennial (250th anniversary) of American independence in 2026—to recognize its efforts at promoting awareness and understanding of our Revolutionary heritage.

This nonprofit is dedicated to encouraging and inspiring continuing knowledge and appreciation of the Revolution for the benefit of present and future generations. It’s named for an early member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dr. Samuel Swan, of Somerville, NJ, who sponsored legislation that provided a pension for the widows and orphans of the first American soldiers and led to the creation of the federal Veterans Administration. His great, great grandson, H. Kels Swan—a lifelong resident of South Bound Brook, NJ, a Rutgers University alumnus, and an author who served as historian and curator at Washington Crossing State Park, Titusville, NJ (Hopewell Township)—founded SHF in 1989 and became its president.
​
​A proud partner and sponsor of RevolutionNJ, SHF is working closely with the State of New Jersey to build a new visitor center that is rising on the banks of the Delaware River at Washington Crossing State Park. Most of the artifacts in the SHF collection of 1,200 original items from the Revolutionary era (1750-1810), which are currently displayed in the old visitor center, have been on loan to the park for a number of years. The old center is slated for demolition, but a new iteration of the imposing SHF exhibit will greet visitors to the state-of-the-art facility that opens next year. (Additional items in the collection are currently on loan to other institutions or in storage.)

Besides the care, interpretation, and expansion of its breathtaking collection​, what else has SHF been up to?

Well, in 2002, it commissioned artwork by a noted local artist, Loyd Garrison, which conveys what is believed to be an accurate image of Washington’s legendary Christmas night 1776 crossing by ferry boat. More recently, SHF participated in  a 13-minute video, Crossing To Victory: Washington Recaptures New Jersey, which was made possible by a joint effort of the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission, NJ Historical Commission, Mercer County Board of County Commissioners, NJM Insurance Group, and several generous individuals. The film examines some of the lesser-known events and sites at Washington Crossing State Park so critical to the success of that momentous event and the subsequent march to Trenton and victory over the Hessian garrison there.

But there’s a lot more to the story. The vital educational role embraced by SHF is illustrated by the wide range of activities in which it has engaged over the past generation:

  • Supporting organizations with a common interest in the Revolution;
  • ​Participating in historical fairs, meetings, and conferences;
  • Giving talks and lectures to community, historical, and patriotic groups;
  • Providing financial support for historical programs in partnership with Washington Crossing State Park;
  • Loaning artifacts from its collection to other museums;
  • Offering periodic exhibits at various locations in PA and NJ;
  • Providing access for third parties to photograph artifacts in its collection for books, articles, and various publications;
  • Funding an annual short-term residential research fellowship with the David Center for the American Revolution at the library and museum of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia for scholars in all fields to work in the artifact collections of SHF, the American Philosophical Society, and other repositories in the greater Philadelphia area;
  • Organizing living history talks and demonstrations;
  • Distributing a newsletter that features articles about the Revolution and profiles of items in the SHF collection;
  • Sponsoring the Washington Crossing American Revolution Round Table; and
  • Conducting tabletop demonstrations of Revolutionary War battles.

Rev War aficionados need to appreciate the work SHF is doing to establish a firm (ahem) foundation for the celebration of our founding. Obviously, it has many partners in this enterprise, but SHF is one of those truly unsung heroes in the upcoming national project that is dedicated to commemorating our historical legacy and reminding us once again that America is more than just a place, but an idea as well.

As John Adams famously observed, “The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people.” May it always be so.

Attention Rev War Buffs:

Mark your calendar!

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, a new six-part, 12-hour documentary series from acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns—focusing on the country’s founding and the War for Independence—will launch on Sunday, November 16 and run for six consecutive nights through Friday, November 21. It will air from 8 to 10 p.m. ET on PBS.

I Ken hardly wait.

Another JAR Article
By Categories: American Soldiery

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For those interested, here’s a link to my latest article in the Journal of the American Revolution — on the Continental Army’s first commissary general: Joseph Trumbull and the Challenge of Feeding an Army.

Anyone who shares my obsessive preoccupation with the “Ten Crucial Days” campaign—from December 25, 1776 through January 3, 1777—will appreciate the relevance of this piece to that enterprise, as Trumbull (older brother of the famous artist John) was responsible for ensuring that the Continental Army had adequate food supplies during this critical period—so that he quite literally sustained Washington’s troops at a pivotal moment in the war. Each soldier who participated in the legendary Delaware River crossing on Christmas night 1776 was given a three-day supply of cooked rations—per the commander in chief’s orders—which tells me that Trumbull was doing his job! Recall that this was at a time when the army was critically short of various other supplies, such as winter clothing, shoes, and blankets.

PUNishment alert: Hopefully, readers won’t find the narrative in the article hard to swallow. Digestible? Something to chew on? Food for thought? Content you can really sink your teeth into?

Stay warm and a happy 2025 to all.

P.S. Was at the annual Princeton battle reenactment on Sunday, where about two thousand people and a couple of horses were present—record attendance (of people, not horses)! Here’s an article about what’s happening at Princeton Battlefield State Park.

James Kirby Martin (1943-2024)
By Categories: Uncategorized

James Kirby Martin, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Houston, passed away on New Year’s Eve. I had limited exposure to the man—he coedited my book about the Battle of Harlem Heights with Mark Lender for the Westholme Small Battles Series and was kind enough to review my forthcoming work, Winning the Ten Crucial Days—but he impressed me as someone whose gentlemanly manner well complemented his admired scholarly standing as a student of early American history. The author of fourteen books, Jim was a professor at Rutgers for many years before relocating to Texas, as well as having taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and The Citadel. For those who are interested, you can find more information about him on his website.

I wanted to remember him here by offering the following excerpt from the preface to his 2019 volume, Insurrection: The American Revolution and Its Meaning (originally published as In the Course of Human Events: An Interpretive Exploration of the American Revolution in 1979), which is, for my money, perhaps as good an introduction to its subject as one is likely to find—a lucid, concise narrative that is comprehensive in scope and insightful in its interpretation:

The late novelist L. P. Hartley once compared the act of learning about past times to visiting foreign nations with customs, values, and ideals different from our own. Hartley’s observation is well taken. Probing deeply into earlier eras requires a commitment to keeping peoples and events in their actual historical context rather than engaging in present-minded critiques of their values and ideals, as if our own beliefs and actions are universally above reproach. In this volume I have worked to stay in context. My purpose has been to describe and explain rather than pass along critical judgments about Revolutionary era persons who did not subscribe to the same set of social and economic values that we hold dear today. If one is looking for present-minded historical judgments, they are readily available these days. Certainly, both leaders and followers in the Revolutionary generation had their blind spots. However, we need to remember that no generation has ever reached perfection in its accomplishments and that some persons during the Revolutionary era put forth a noteworthy effort in seeking to establish a better world for posterity.

Thank you, Jim. RIP.

 

Book Signing
By Categories: Uncategorized

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For anyone who’s interested and expects to be in the area, I’ll be signing copies of my books at Washington Crossing Historic Park (PA) on December 25 (from 12 to 3 pm) during the 72nd annual reenactment of the Continental Army’s Christmas night 1776 crossing of the Delaware River.

The first crossing reenactment on December 8 did not occur because of low water levels due to the summer drought, although more than 3,000 people were present to enjoy the other activities. Based on the amount of recent rainfall, it would appear that the replica Durham boats WILL (probably) be able to do their thing on the 25th. More information is available here.

FYI, I will be giving guided tours at WCHP on the 21st and 28th, after which I expect to be absent from the park until at least March. Things slow down during the winter months, and so fewer staff are scheduled to work there.

Best wishes to all for a healthy and happy 2025!

 

 

75. Memories
By Categories: General

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The Revolution has been a source of inspiration to many and contention to others. Let me suggest that anyone wanting to explore how its legacy has been interpreted by posterity would do well to read Michael D. Hattem’s new book, The Memory of ’76: The Revolution in American History (Yale University Press, 2024).

I’d like too share the following excerpt from Hattem’s epilogue (“The Revolution in the New Millennium”):

For nearly two hundred and fifty years, the popular memory of the Revolution has served as the nation’s origin myth. It has provided heroes and stories that have helped generations of Americans create emotional connections to the nation’s founding and often equally emotional definitions of what it means to be an American. The popular memory of the Revolution has been an important vehicle through which Americans have defined and voiced their understanding.of the present and their hopes for the future. Like those of many other older societies, the American origin myth has been consistently contested, as generation after generation has reimagined the Revolution in ways that are most meaningful and useful at the time. As a result, conflicts in American politics and culture over partisanship, regionalism, race, gender, class, ethnicity, and religion have unavoidably shaped and been shaped by the ways in which Americans have remembered and fought over their Revolution. Ultimately, the long history of the popular memory of the Revolution reveals that remembering the nation’s founding has often done far more to divide Americans than it has to unite them. It also reminds us that revising the past is an important and long-standing American political tradition, while this epilogue offers a clear indication that the memory of the Revolution remains a vitally contested part of American life well into the twenty-first century.

As someone once said, history is an argument that never ends. And I think that an essential part of being an American is arguing about what it means to be an American, or—in other words—what the Revolution means today.

This will probably be my last blog post until next year, as I’m working on another article for the Journal of the American Revolution (number 11, but who’s counting?) and expect that to supersede any other literary activity for the time being.

Have a great holiday season, everyone!

74. Veterans Day
By Categories: American Soldiery

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Thinking about today brings to mind the memoir of Joseph Plumb Martin, probably the best known personal account of any left to posterity by an American soldier who served in the War of Independence. In The Battle of Harlem Heights, 1776, I wrote about one scene in particular that is depicted in his narrative, and I’d like too share that excerpt below:

Private Martin illustrated the reality of the common soldier’s
relative anonymity in his recollection of an incident that followed
the Harlem Heights engagement: “A circumstance occurred on
the evening after this action, which although trifling in its nature,
excited in me feelings which I shall never forget. When we came
off the field we brought away a man who had been shot dead
upon the spot; and after we had refreshed ourselves we pro-
ceeded to bury him.” The grave was dug on the grounds of the
Morris house that served as Washington’s headquarters, where
Martin’s party endeavored, “just in the dusk of evening, to com-
mit the poor man, then far from friends and relatives, to the
bosom of his mother earth.”
As soon as they laid him in the ground, “in as decent a posture
as existing circumstances would permit, there came from the
house, towards the grave, two young ladies who appeared to be
sisters;—as they approached the grave, the soldiers immediately
made way for them.” When the women reached “the head of the
grave, they stopped, and with their arms around each other’s
neck, stooped forward and looked into it.” They “asked if we were
going to put the earth upon his naked face,” and when “answered
in the affirmative, one of them took a fine white gauze handker-
chief from her neck” and asked that it be used to cover his face,
as “tears, at the same time, [were] flowing down their cheeks.”
Once the grave was filled, they returned to the house.
Although no one there knew the man being buried, “yet he
had mourners,” Martin writes, heaping praise on this tender-
hearted duo: “Worthy young ladies! You, and such as you, are de-
serving the regard of the greatest of men. What sisters, what wives,
what mothers and what neighbors would you make!—Such a sight
as those ladies afforded at that time, and on that occasion, was
worthy, and doubtless received the attention of angels.” That
affecting moment’s indelible impression on Martin found its way
into his memoir, which was published more than a half-century
later and became one of the best-known primary accounts of
army life in the Revolution.

To any reader who has worn our country’s uniform, thank you for your service.