In Deirdre Sinnott’s new historical novel The Loyalist’s Wife (Fossil Fern, 2026) it’s 1777 in New York’s fertile Mohawk Valley, and tenant farmers Jane and Philip Hopper have very different ideas about the war for independence that has consumed the 13 colonies. [Read more…] about The Loyalist’s Wife: A Historical Novel Set in the Mohawk Valley
Hessians
Sudden and Violent: The Battle of Brooklyn
During the summer of 1776, General George Washington knew that the city of New York had to be held. He also knew that the city could not be held. “Whoever commands the sea must command the town,” General Charles Lee wrote from New York earlier. By the end of June, the British commanded the sea.
From a vast fleet anchored off Staten Island, the largest expeditionary force in British history began landing thousands of regular troops and German mercenaries. Only days later, the Second Continental Congress formally declared independence. “The fate of unborn millions,” Washington wrote to his men, “will now depend on the courage and conduct of this army.” [Read more…] about Sudden and Violent: The Battle of Brooklyn
August 6th Marks 1777 Battle of Oriskany Anniversary
August 6th marks the anniversary of the 1777 Battle of Oriskany. Fought as an American relief column marched to aid the besieged Fort Stanwix, about 800 Tryon County militiamen and 60 allied Oneida warriors under Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer were ambushed by British, Loyalist, and Indigenous forces (including Mohawk and Seneca warriors). [Read more…] about August 6th Marks 1777 Battle of Oriskany Anniversary
Critical Mass and the Road to Revolution, 1763-1776
According to Webster’s American Dictionary, “critical mass” is the time when a turning point is reached in a series of events leading to a major action. Scientifically, the term is used when sufficient size of matter leads to a chain reaction, as in a nuclear reactor.
Thus, “critical mass” can help explain the American Revolution. [Read more…] about Critical Mass and the Road to Revolution, 1763-1776
The Life and Times of John Stark
Live Free or Die: The Life and Times Of John Stark (Page Publishing, 2025) by William Baker Jr. is the story of how one of the American Revolution’s best battlefield commanders triumphed over the self-interest of others to play a major role in securing victory for the new republic.
Most often referred to as the “Hero of the Battle of Bennington,” John Stark also played pivotal roles in the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Battle of Trenton. [Read more…] about The Life and Times of John Stark
The Battle of Long Island with Dan Davis of the American Battlefield Trust
The Battle of Long Island went down in history as a major defeat for the fledgling American army and George Washington. The fighting in late August 1776 focused around the Gowanus Heights in Brooklyn and saw the patriots outflanked on their left, routed by Hessians in the center, and hunted down across the marshy Gowanus Creek.
Washington did manage to evacuate most of his troops but the fight for survival over the coming crucial months left Long Island a bitter memory best left forgotten. [Read more…] about The Battle of Long Island with Dan Davis of the American Battlefield Trust
Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War
In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Friederike Baer, an Associate Professor of History at Penn State Abbington College, joins us to explore the lives and wartime experiences of the 30,000 German soldiers the British Crown hired and dispatched to North America during the American War for Independence. [Read more…] about Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War
Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War
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
Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War
The book Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War (Oxford University Press, 2022) by Friederike Baer takes a look at the thirty thousand German soldiers that Great Britain hired to fight in its war against the American rebels between 1776 and 1783.
Collectively known as Hessians, the soldiers and accompanying civilians, including hundreds of women and children, spent extended periods of time in locations as dispersed and varied as Canada in the North and West Florida in the South. [Read more…] about Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War
‘Hessians’ in the Revolutionary War
The term “Hessians” refers to the approximately 30,000 German troops – about a quarter of British land forces – hired by the British as auxiliaries during the American Revolution. The term typically refers to all Germans who fought on the British side, because 65% came from the German states of Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Hanau. [Read more…] about ‘Hessians’ in the Revolutionary War
A Free Black Man’s Revolutionary World: Jacob Francis, 1754-1836
William L. Kidder’s book The Revolutionary World of a Free Black Man: Jacob Francis, 1754-1836 (Self-Published, 2021) tells the story of Jacob Francis of Amwell township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey who was indentured out by his free Black mother to the age of 21.
Five different men “owned his time” during his indenture and each provided a different experience for him. The last man lived in Salem, Massachusetts and Jacob lived there between 1768 and 1775 during the buildup to fighting in the American Revolution. [Read more…] about A Free Black Man’s Revolutionary World: Jacob Francis, 1754-1836
Crisis: Forgetting Thomas Paine in New Rochelle
The City of New Rochelle, the last home of Thomas Paine, is beginning to undergo something of an economic renaissance. A number of the City’s tremendous historical resources however, remain neglected.
The Thomas Paine Museum on North Avenue — once the centerpiece of an international effort to recognize and promote the importance of Thomas Paine – has been vacant for years and is headed for sale and destruction. [Read more…] about Crisis: Forgetting Thomas Paine in New Rochelle
German Soldiers in the American Revolution (Podcast)
This week on The Historians podcast, Eric Schnitzer, a park ranger/historian at Saratoga National Historical Park, discusses the German soldiers, commonly called Hessians, who fought for the British in the northern campaign of the American Revolution in 1777. Schnitzer was one of the speakers at a conference in June sponsored by the Fort Plain Museum. [Read more…] about German Soldiers in the American Revolution (Podcast)
Fact And Fiction In Brian Kilmeade’s ‘Secret Six’
Brian Kilmeade has done historians on Long Island a great favor. With his latest book, George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution (Sentinel, 2013), co-authored by Don Yaeger and currently one of the top-selling non-fiction books in the country.
He has focused national attention on the role played by the Culper Spy Ring that operated between New York City and Setauket, bringing information about British plans and troop movements across Long Island Sound to Connecticut and on to General Washington. But is book accurate? [Read more…] about Fact And Fiction In Brian Kilmeade’s ‘Secret Six’
New Beer Celebrates ‘Hessians’ At Battle of Bennington
Brown’s Brewing Company in Hoosick Falls and Troy, NY, has brewed a special beer in tribute to the Germans that served at the Battle of Bennington which took place in the Town of Hoosick in 1777 during the American Revolutionary War.
The historic Braunschweigers Mumme Ale is a dark, spicy beer created in the late 1400s in the German province of Braunschweig in what is now Lower Saxony, home of Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum and his elite regiment of mounted infantrymen called Dragoons. [Read more…] about New Beer Celebrates ‘Hessians’ At Battle of Bennington
Battle of Trenton: George Washington’s Surprise Attack
Like many historical events, the American Revolution is often shrouded in romantic myth and stubborn stereotypes. Perhaps no event offers a better example than General George Washington‘s famous crossing of icy Delaware River on Christmas night to lead the Continental Army’s defeat of the Hessians at Trenton, New Jersey, an event which revived the flickering morale American revolutionaries.
In George Washington’s Surprise Attack: A New Look at the Battle That Decided the Fate of America (Skyhorse Publishing, 2014), Phillip Thomas Tucker attempts to parse fiction from fact. He provides an in-depth look (more than 600 pages, with notes) at the events of the Battle of Trenton, presenting new insights and analysis about a battle that holds a mythical place in American national history. [Read more…] about Battle of Trenton: George Washington’s Surprise Attack