American Revolution

Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War

November 6, 2023 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Between 1776 and 1783, Britain hired more than 30,000 German soldiers to fight in its war against the rebels in North America. Collectively known as Hessians, they actually came from six German territories within the Holy Roman Empire.

Over the course of the war, members of the German corps, including women and children, spent extended periods of time in locations as dispersed and varied as Canada in the North to West Florida and Cuba in the South. They shared in every significant British military triumph and defeat. Thousands died of disease, were killed in battle, were captured by the enemy, or deserted. [Read more…] about Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War

Thomas Jefferson, The American Republic & The Dutch Republic

October 23, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

The American Revolution had a significant impact on the Dutch Republic. The end of the eighteenth century was marked by a spirited exchange of ideas on liberty, political rights and state-building between the two Republics. But it was not merely ideas which traveled freely.

People from both sides of the Atlantic sailed across the ocean for professional, political, and personal reasons, and testified to the great revolutionary events that were unfolding at the time. This led to numerous exchanges between American and Dutch politicians. In this essay Lauren Lauret focuses on Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp and Thomas Jefferson. [Read more…] about Thomas Jefferson, The American Republic & The Dutch Republic

King Hancock: Drinking with John Hancock during the American Revolution

October 20, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Americans are surprisingly more familiar with John Hancock‘s famous signature than with the man himself. In a spirited account of Hancock’s life, Brooke Barbier’s King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father (Harvard University Press, 2023) depicts a patriot of fascinating contradictions ― a child of enormous privilege who would nevertheless become a voice of the common folk; a pillar of society uncomfortable with radicalism who yet was crucial to independence.

About two-fifths of the American population held neutral or ambivalent views about the Revolution, and Hancock spoke for them and to them, bringing them along. [Read more…] about King Hancock: Drinking with John Hancock during the American Revolution

Grant to Support Preservation Work at Senate House State Historic Site

October 15, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) and the Palisades Interstate Park Commission (PIPC) announced a $750,000 federal grant award to support rehabilitation work at Senate House State Historic Site in Kingston, Ulster County, NY. [Read more…] about Grant to Support Preservation Work at Senate House State Historic Site

The Peebles Family of Brookwood Manor

October 13, 2023 by Guest Contributor 2 Comments

Thomas Peebles (1729-1774) and his wife Elisabeth Bradt (1739-1806) began building a home in about 1763 (during the French sand Indian War) in the Van Schiack Patent at what is now known as Routes 4 and 32 at the intersection of Brookwood Road in Halfmoon, Saratoga County, NY (although it was then Halve Maen, on the northern frontier of Albany County). [Read more…] about The Peebles Family of Brookwood Manor

General Horatio Gates in New York City: A Political Legacy

October 8, 2023 by James S. Kaplan 3 Comments

For many years New York City has not been known for its patriotic ceremonies recognizing important Revolutionary War heroes or sites.

Recently this has begun to change, beginning with the rediscovery of the grave of General Horatio Gates, who many consider the second most important American general of the American Revolution. Until about ten years ago his grave located in Trinity Churchyard in Manhattan was completely unmarked.

Gates was the commanding general at the Battle of Saratoga in October of 1777, which most historians agree was the most important battle of the American Revolution and the turning point of the Revolutionary War. He played another important role in early American politics in the city of New York after the war. [Read more…] about General Horatio Gates in New York City: A Political Legacy

Speculation Nation: Land Mania in the Revolutionary American Republic

October 6, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

During the first quarter-century after its founding, the United States was swept by a wave of land speculation so unprecedented in intensity and scale that contemporaries and historians alike have dubbed it a “mania.”

In Speculation Nation: Land Mania in the Revolutionary American Republic (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023) Michael A. Blaakman uncovers the revolutionary origins of this real-estate bonanza ― a story of ambition, corruption, capitalism, and statecraft that stretched across millions of acres from Maine to the Mississippi and Georgia to the Great Lakes. [Read more…] about Speculation Nation: Land Mania in the Revolutionary American Republic

Letter from George Washington Referencing Battles of Saratoga Being Sold for $275,000

October 5, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Raab Collection, autograph dealers, have announced that it has discovered, acquired, and is offering for sale for the first time a letter written by George Washington in October, 1777, just days after the Battles of Saratoga ended. [Read more…] about Letter from George Washington Referencing Battles of Saratoga Being Sold for $275,000

Baron von Steuben’s Oneida County Estate

October 4, 2023 by Editorial Staff 4 Comments

In December 1777, early in the American Revolution, Baron von Steuben joined the fight against the British with the assistance of then ambassador to France Benjamin Franklin.

Appalled by the state of the Revolutionary army, Steuben began teaching soldiers military drills, tactics, and discipline based on Prussian techniques. [Read more…] about Baron von Steuben’s Oneida County Estate

‘I Hope You Are of Our Party’: Fidelity and Benedict Arnold’s Betrayal

October 3, 2023 by Jack Kelly 3 Comments

Shakespeare, of course, wrote acclaimed plays about history. But sometimes history takes the pen from the playwright’s hand and fashions a scenario of such startling tension and originality that the story seems destined for the stage. One of these dramas took place in September 1780. It involved the plot by Benedict Arnold to betray the patriot cause and to help the British prevail in the Revolutionary War. [Read more…] about ‘I Hope You Are of Our Party’: Fidelity and Benedict Arnold’s Betrayal