One of the most consequential battles of the Revolutionary War occurred on Oct. 7, 1781. It was part of Britain’s southern campaign. Lord Cornwallis had been sent to this theater because it was believed that the southern colonies were rife with Loyalists (Tories) just waiting to help the British. Read more…
On Sept. 26, 1777, the British occupied Philadelphia after defeating Washington’s army at Branywine and Paoli. Washington was itching for some payback and decided to roll the dice with the Battle of Trenton as his template. When he learned that Gen. William Howe had divided his army between Philadelphia Read more…
After being stymied in the north, the British changed strategy and sent an army to the south, believing that the area was full of loyalists just waiting to rise up and join the British. The British did crush a rebel army at Camden, but that actually was a turning Read more…
Gen. John Burgoyne had a brilliant plan to march from Canada into New York and cut the New England colonies off from the rest. Divide and conquer – a tried and true tactic. And it would be so easy because his British army with its ferocious Indian allies could Read more…
One week after his game-changing victory at Trenton, Washington decided to tempt fate by recrossing the Delaware. It was a very risky move that could have (and should have) lost the Revolution. British General Cornwallis, seeking revenge, swooped down on the Rebel army. His superior army arrived in the Read more…
John Paul Jones was famously losing the battle with the HMS Serapis when he uttered his famous response to a surrender demand: “I have not yet begun to fight!” At the time, this seemed an act of false bravado and the statement would have been forgotten if Jones had Read more…
After the Battle of Saratoga, the British changed strategy and attempted to tap into the supposedly large loyalist population of the southern colonies. At the start the strategy seemed to work. In May, 1780, the city of Charleston, S.C. fell and in August the Battle of Camden resulted in Read more…
One of the most consequential battles of the Revolutionary War occurred on August 16, 1777. The Battle of Bennington was part of the Saratoga Campaign. British Gen. John Burgoyne was marching south from Canada to try to cut off New York from New England. The advance did not go Read more…
The first chapter book I read was about Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys. My 6th grade teacher encouraged us to read that was a competition that I was good at. It was the start of a lifelong love of history books. I have read hundreds of history Read more…
Today I get to write about one of my favorite battles of the Revolutionary War. A battle that has been largely forgotten, even though it was an almost perfect performance by an American army. In 216 B.C., Hannibal destroyed a Roman army in the Battle of Cannae. He managed to Read more…