The topic of this week’s The History Twins podcast is “Hulda: The Other Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, and storytelling duo Carla and Keyes discuss Hulda of Bohemia, the sharpshooting witch who is said to have saved Sleepy Hollow, New York during the Revolutionary War. [Read more…] about Hulda: The Other Legend of Sleepy Hollow
AmRev
New History Twins Podcast: This Man’s A Spy!
This week is the debut of The History Twins podcast, storytelling duo Carla Lynne Hall and Jim Keyes discuss the creative process behind the stories and music of their historical programs.
This episode explores “This Man’s A Spy!,” Carla and Keyes’ musical retelling of the treasonous plot between American General Benedict Arnold and British Major John Andre during the American Revolutionary War. The two met in Haverstraw, New York to hand over the plans to West Point, and their lives were forever changed. The Arnold and André affair is important, because had their plan succeeded, the British could have won the Revolutionary War. [Read more…] about New History Twins Podcast: This Man’s A Spy!
New Book: Taking Sides in Revolutionary New Jersey
The new book Taking Sides in Revolutionary New Jersey: Caught in the Crossfire (Rutgers University Press, 2022) by Maxine N. Lurie looks back at the American Revolution in New Jersey, and the residents that took stands that varied from “Loyalist” to “Patriot” to neutral and/or “trimmer” (those who changed sides for a variety of reasons). [Read more…] about New Book: Taking Sides in Revolutionary New Jersey
Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution
The story of the founding of the U.S. Navy during the American Revolution has been told many times, yet largely missing from maritime histories of the war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels that truly revealed the new nation’s character ― above all, its ambition and entrepreneurial ethos.
Privateers were privately owned vessels, mostly refitted merchant ships, that were granted permission by the new government to seize British merchantmen and men of war. At a time when the young Continental Navy numbered no more than about sixty vessels all told, privateers rushed to fill the gaps. Nearly 2,000 set sail over the course of the war, with tens of thousands of Americans serving on them and capturing some 1,800 British ships. [Read more…] about Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution
Marinus Willett to NY’s Birthday (Historians Podcast Highlights)
This week on The Historians Podcast, a highlights podcast with excerpts from six episodes. Topics include:
Early American patriot Marinus Willett, a key figure in the Revolutonary War at Fort Stanwix and Fort Plain in the Mohawk Valley who, according to New York City correspondent Jim Kaplan, later became Mayor of New York City. [Read more…] about Marinus Willett to NY’s Birthday (Historians Podcast Highlights)
American Revolution Conference Set for March 18-20
The 9th Annual Conference on the American Revolution has been set for March 18th through 20th, in Williamsburg, Virginia.
This conference features scholars, historians and writers who are well-known to Revolutionary War enthusiasts, public historians and history professors. Speakers have been selected for their depth of knowledge and ability to give an engaging presentation.
All proceeds from book sales will be donated to the Fort Plain Museum and Historical Park by America’s History LLC, the organizers of the conference. [Read more…] about American Revolution Conference Set for March 18-20
Thomas Paine’s Lost Body
In the first episode of the A New York Minute in History podcast’s 2022 season, Devin Lander and Lauren Roberts look to a William G. Pomeroy Foundation historical roadside marker in Westchester County to learn about American patriot Thomas Paine, his influence on the American and French Revolutions – and just how and why his body went missing. Guests include Dr. Nora Slonimsky and Dr. Michael Crowder of the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies at Iona College.
The sign is one of hundreds reviewed by New York Almanack founder and editor John Warren in his role as a Pomeroy Foundation Grant Consultant. You can learn how to apply for your own historic sign here. [Read more…] about Thomas Paine’s Lost Body
Remembering New York City’s Evacuation Day
This week on The Historians Podcast, attorney and historian Jim Kaplan discusses the significance of Evacuation Day and how the day has been commemorated through the years. A print version of this story previously appeared in New York Almanack.
Evacuation Day was November 25th, 1783, the day British troops left New York City after the American Revolution. [Read more…] about Remembering New York City’s Evacuation Day
A Historians Podcast Highlights Show
This week on The Historians Podcast, a Highlights Episode. Jim Kaplan on Rich Rescorla’s heroism in the 2001 World Trade Center attack, Bob Cudmore has stories from his Daily Gazette and Recorder newspaper history columns, Joyce Stah on the history of WMHT’s audio service for the blind, Katie Turner Getty on Britain’s use of prison ships in the American Revolution, Dana Cudmore on exploring caves in Schoharie and Albany counties. [Read more…] about A Historians Podcast Highlights Show
New Film Seeks To Rehabilitate Benedict Arnold
Legacy Distribution will debut Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed, a documentary that claims to capture “the brutal hardships of the revolutionary war and the heroic deeds of a man scorned by history.”
The feature-length film challenges the long-standing narrative of Benedict Arnold as a traitor and places him among the names of American war heroes, with its in-depth interviews with historians and re-enactments featuring Peter O’Meara (Knightfall, Band of Brothers) and narrated by Martin Sheen (The West Wing, The Departed). [Read more…] about New Film Seeks To Rehabilitate Benedict Arnold
Massachusetts Joins America 250 Commission
An appropriations bill (H. 4000) signed by Massachusetts Governor Baker on Friday, July 16th, created the Massachusetts Commission on the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution. [Read more…] about Massachusetts Joins America 250 Commission
Patriots and Spies in Revolutionary New York
Book purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.
The new book Patriots and Spies in Revolutionary New York (Globe Pequot, 2021) by New York Almanack contributor A. J. Schenkman is a compilation of twelve stories regarding important moments in New York State’s history during the American Revolution. [Read more…] about Patriots and Spies in Revolutionary New York
Chains Across The Hudson River (Podcast)
This week on The Historians Podcast, Bevis Longstreth is author of the novel Chains Across the River (Honeycomb, 2021), a historical novel dealing with the great chains that American forces stretched across the Hudson River during the American Revolution to prevent the British fleet from sailing from New York City to Albany. [Read more…] about Chains Across The Hudson River (Podcast)
Indispensables: New Book On Marblehead’s Soldier-Mariners
Book purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.
The new book The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2021) by Patrick O’Donnel looks back at the American Revolution’s soldier-mariners from Marblehead, Massachusetts. [Read more…] about Indispensables: New Book On Marblehead’s Soldier-Mariners
Valcour Island: Keeping The Cause of Liberty Alive
The summer of 1776 was among the most perilous periods of the Revolutionary War, and almost all the action took place in New York. The young nation tottered on the edge of destruction that summer.
With an army of 20,000 men, George Washington could not hold New York City against an enemy force twice as large. The British drove him out of the city and across New Jersey into Pennsylvania. By December, he had 3,000 men left and was admitting to his brother, “I think the game is pretty near up.” [Read more…] about Valcour Island: Keeping The Cause of Liberty Alive
1774: The Long Year of Revolution (Podcast)
When we think of important years in the history of the American Revolution, we might think of years like 1765 and the Stamp Act Crisis, 1773 and the Tea Crisis, 1775 and the start of what would become the War for American Independence, or 1776, the year the United States declared independence.
[Read more…] about 1774: The Long Year of Revolution (Podcast)
Colonial Canandaigua In War And Peace
New York’s Finger Lakes Region was well known to many Revolutionary War veterans as a place of both strife and potential. Strife because of conflict with Indigenous people, and great potential for lush productive farmland.
Soldiers witnessed both ends of the spectrum first-hand. [Read more…] about Colonial Canandaigua In War And Peace
George Washington At Christmas
Christmas conjures up images of festivity, family, and especially sumptuous dinners but it wasn’t that way for George Washington during the Revolutionary War. He served as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from May 1775 to December 1783 or about 104 months.
During that time, he visited his beloved Mount Vernon just once, in 1781 following the victory at Yorktown before returning to his home for good in 1783. [Read more…] about George Washington At Christmas
The 3rd New Jersey Greys In New York
Book purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.
The new book The 3rd New Jersey in New-York: Stories from “The Jersey Greys” of 1776 (Continental Consulting, 2020) by Philip Weaver is the culmination of over 35 years of primary source research. The book includes reworked material previously published in The Brigade Dispatch and the on-line magazine Journal of the American Revolution. [Read more…] about The 3rd New Jersey Greys In New York
New Book Focuses On Growth of Schenectady in 1760-1800
Book purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.
John F. Gearing’s new book Schenectady Genesis, Volume II: The Creation of an American City from an Anglo-Dutch Town, ca. 1760-1800 (Colonial Schenectady Project, Ltd., 2020) looks back into Schenectady’s history: from the post French & Indian War period, into the War for Independence, and later Schenectady’s own fight for independence from Albany. [Read more…] about New Book Focuses On Growth of Schenectady in 1760-1800