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Freeps. My son is a tremendous fan of history and devours books and media on the subject constantly. Today, while rummaging through some sale items at my local library I acquired a copy of "The Hornet's Nest" by former US president Jimmy Carter. The book is a fictionalized account of events in the south during the American Revolution. It is read by Edward Herrmann. I would not have purchased the CD had it been read by Carter. Has anyone read this book, or know anything about it? I'd like to just spin it up and listen to the story with...

Following the withdrawal of the British army from Boston on 17th March 1776, Washington in the expectation that Howe would attack New York which was held for the Congress marched much of his army south to that city. In fact the British had sailed north to Halifax in Nova Scotia. It was not until the summer of 1776 that Howe launched his attack on New York. The British fleet reached the entrance to the Hudson River on 29th June 1776 and Howe landed on Staten Island on 3rd July. The Congress declared independence the next day. Reinforcements began to arrive...

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A 22-gun British warship that sank during the American Revolution and has long been regarded as one of the "Holy Grail" shipwrecks in the Great Lakes has been discovered at the bottom of Lake Ontario, astonishingly well-preserved in the cold, deep water, explorers announced Friday.

Death, disease and injury were the fate of thousands held at sea More Americans died in British prison ships in New York Harbor than in all the battles of the Revolutionary War. There were at least 16 of these floating prisons anchored in Wallabout Bay on the East River for most of the war, and they were sinkholes of filth, vermin, infectious disease and despair. The ships were uniformly wretched, but the most notorious was the Jersey. Following the Battle of Long Island in August, 1776, and the fall of New York City soon after, the British found thousands of...

Battle of Lexington and Concord Minute Man Monument at Lexington Green "By The Rude Bridge That Arched The Flood, Their Flag to April's Breeze Unfurled, Here Once The Embattled Farmers Stood, And Fired The Shot Heard Round The World." A Brief History: On the 15 of April 1775, when General Thomas Gage, British Military Governor of Massachusetts, was ordered to destroy the rebel's military stores at Concord. To accomplish this he assembled the "Flanking units", including Light Infantry and Grenadiers, from his Boston Garrison. In charge he put Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith and Marine Major John Pitcairn. He also composed...

Associated Press New York, Massachusetts launch program to save Revolutionary War trail markers. Bi-state effort hopes to save monuments to 1775-76 route ALBANY -- New York and Massachusetts are launching an effort to conserve dozens of roadside monuments that mark the route taken by patriots who transported the artillery that forced the British from Boston during the Revolutionary War. The granite slabs with bronze plaques serve as markers for the Knox Trail, considered one of the earliest heritage trails created in the United States. The trail mostly follows the original route used by Gen. Henry Knox and his troops in...

Of all the things that make no sense about New Jersey, the state's failure to invest, promote and capitalize on our Revolutionary War history has always led my list. People who ran state tourism said there was no money in it. But 40 years ago, the government leaders of Pennsylvania saw the 1976 Bicentennial coming and funded the Valley Forge Convention and Visitors Bureau. It cost them about a million bucks to promote the historic significance of the area, the natural beauty and the proximity to Philadelphia. In time, hotels and restaurants went up, most with a historic theme. Within...

WASHINGTON CROSSING, N.J. (AP) — This George Washington could not make it across the Delaware River. Ronald Rinaldi III was prepared to play the role of the military leader whose daring Christmas crossing led to a rout of British-led forces and revived the downtrodden Continental forces. Rinaldi, 45, had taken part in every re-enactment of Washington's crossing of the Delaware since 1976, amassed more than 500 books on the American Revolution and earned a degree in U.S. military history. But this year, he and his fellow re-enactors were done in by the river's strong currents. As Rinaldi and hundreds of...

The regimental flag of the Continental Army 2nd Light Dragoons, also known as Sheldon's Horse, was captured by British cavalry led by Banestre Tarleton in the 1779 Battle of Pound Ridge. (December 21, 2007) WILLIAMSBURG - Four rare American battle flags captured by the British during the Revolutionary War will get their first extended public homecoming Saturday in a new exhibit at The Museums of Colonial Williamsburg. Taken as trophies more than 225 years ago, the unusually well-preserved banners remained in the family of notorious British cavalry leader Banestre Tarleton until being sold at auction to a private owner last...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — In a small survey boat, maritime archaeologist J. Lee Cox Jr. was checking the bottom of the Delaware River at the Sunoco Logistics pier in South Philadelphia when he got a hit on the side-scan sonar. A pipe? A log? A hazard to the oil tankers docking nearby? No one was sure until a diver was sent down weeks later and found a strange pointed object buried in the muck about 40 feet down. Earlier this month, Cox identified it as the business end of a cheval-de-frise, an iron-tipped log once embedded in the river, along with...

h A revolt in an undeveloped colony on the fringe of civilization, led by a big landowner and slaveholder with little education or military experience, brought to success by help from France in its feud with the British colonizers. That's how a cynical European might have described the American Revolution. Jay Winik's new account of the period takes a different view in American Revolution presented as source of worldwide political changes ever since "The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World, 1788-1800" (Harper Collins, 659 pages, $29.95). He feels that history may never have seen a group...

ALMOST A MIRACLE: The American Victory in the War of Independence ___ by John Ferling In late 1779, John Adams, then America's "minister plenipotentiary for peace," set out across the Atlantic for France. It was a difficult moment. The Revolution was turning into a long war. It had been more than four years since Lexington and Concord and three since the Declaration of Independence; the American forces and their French allies had just lost an important engagement in Savannah. Adams had much to do, and his journey marked the beginning of yet another lengthy separation from Abigail. Sacrifices, however, were...

The way Jerry Hurwitz sees it, it doesn't take an Einstein to understand the significance of the hal lowed ground on which a pivotal Revolutionary War Battle of Princeton was fought 230 years ago. Part of the battle on Jan. 3, 1777, was waged on 22 acres of gently sloping farmland now owned by the Institute for Advanced Study. The institute -- an independent, private research institution that counted physicist Albert Ein stein among its faculty -- is adja cent to the 85-acre Princeton Battlefield State Park. But that section of the battlefield was never incorporated into the state park,...

In the popular mind, the American Revolution was mostly about liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- and the war that followed the Declaration of Independence wasn't much of a war. We imagine toy soldiers in red coats chasing picturesque rebels. Actually, the War of Independence was horrific, according to John Ferling, a leading historian of early America. It was a grinding conflict that rivaled, and in some ways exceeded, the Civil War in its toll on American fighters when looked at on a per-capita basis. Ferling chronicles the suffering in his new book, "Almost a Miracle: The American Victory...

TRENTON -- When in the course of human events it becomes necessary to honor the grave sites of Declaration of Independence signers, don't count New Jersey in. It can't afford it. Five Declaration signers are buried in the Garden State -- four New Jerseyans and a Pennsylvanian. But an effort to preserve their graves, promote their lives and honor them with graveside plaques has stalled in a state that was home to several key Revolutionary War battles and dubs itself the "Crossroads of the American Revolution." A plan to spend $200,000 to preserve and newly mark the graves has bounced...

Monmouth was a memorable battle in several respects. Although it was fought to a draw, each side could take pride in the outcome. For Gen. Henry Clinton, who had never before commanded in battle, it climaxed a bold and well-directed venture in which he succeeded in getting most of his army and all of his 1500 wagons through some seventy miles of enemy territory. For Washington it was a triumph that an army that only a few months before had been reduced to a few thousand half-naked and ill-disciplined troops could stand up to the pride of the British...

CHARLESTON, S.C. --Hundreds gathered at the end of Charleston Peninsula to watch the unveiling of a statue to honor Revolutionary War hero and former South Carolina governor, Maj. Gen. William Moultrie. Moultrie's most famous battle was fighting off a British attempt to capture what was then called Charles Town Harbor. Moultrie and his group of about 400 men battled from a fort made of sand and palmetto logs on Sullivans Island. Moultrie's unit held firm against an estimated 2,000-strong British group trying to cross from what's now Isle of Palms. "This statue represents freedom and liberty, from now to eternity,...

If the proposed Amenesty Bill passes, our country will change in ways we can't forsee. In thinking about this, I thought it might be inspiring to find out how many Freepers have Patriot ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War. Naming those who gave so much for the establishment of this Republic will make their sacrifices (their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor) more real to us. It will remind us of their determination in the face of all odds and give us encouragement to "keep the Republic."

Very sad story for those interested in New Jersey and Revolutionary War history. Heavy damage to the house and some collection. Follow the link to Bergen County Historical Society's web page for pics.

On April 19, 1775, British and American soldiers exchanged fire in the Massachusetts towns of Lexington and Concord. On the night of April 18, the royal governor of Massachusetts, General Thomas Gage, commanded by King George III to suppress the rebellious Americans, had ordered 700 British soldiers, under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith and Marine Major John Pitcairn, to seize the colonists' military stores in Concord, some 20 miles west of Boston. A system of signals and word-of-mouth communication set up by the colonists was effective in forewarning American volunteer militia men of the approach of the British troops. Henry Wadsworth...

Historians have long referred to New Jersey as the "Crossroads of the American Revolution." During America's struggle for independence, New Jersey was the scene of 238 battles and skirmishes. George Washington's troops were victorious in key battles, including Trenton, Princeton and Monmouth. More than 900 New Jersey soldiers lost their lives in the war. Now New Jersey's role in the Revolution is on the brink of gaining official recognition from the federal government. The U.S. Senate has given final legislative approval to a bill designating a large swath of New Jersey as the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage...

BOSTON --Thousands of black men fought for American independence during the Revolutionary War, yet their contributions to the nation's freedom are for the most part unrecognized and rarely appear in modern history books. Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the Sons of the American Revolution are hoping to change that by undertaking an ambitious project to identify those soldiers, and then find their descendants. "My first goal with this project is to enhance the awareness of the American public of the role of African-Americans in the struggle for freedom in this country," said Gates, director of the W.E.B....

ROCK HILL, S.C. - A research facility is planned for York County that will focus on the role of Southern states in the Revolutionary War. Historian Michael Scoggins said the Southern Revolutionary War Institute will be used to educate people about the South's contributions to the war. It's a field he says has been neglected in the past. "There's been various fields that downplay the role of the South," Scoggins said. "When you look at most history textbooks, we are generally given the short treatment." The institute will be based at the McCelvey Center in York and local officials hope...

PEEKSKILL, N.Y. (AP) — It's been around for a lot of history, but now, unfortunately, it IS history. A 72-foot-tall white oak tree that was used to hang a recruiter for the British army during the Revolutionary War is coming down, declared beyond saving after being hit by lightning last month. The tree, one of the largest in Westchester County, sits outside Peekskill High School. Schools Superintendent Judith Johnson told The Journal News of Westchester for Sunday's editions, "This is a sad moment for all of us," adding that the tree was "a reminder of the past and the importance...

In June 1776, just a month before the Declaration of Independence was ratified, the white men of Barnstable, Mass., voted on whether America should break its bonds with Great Britain. The tally: 30 for independence, 35 against and 65 abstentions. These days, the Colonists who opposed the revolution have been all but forgotten. Yet, in the years leading up to the Revolutionary War, as many as a fifth of those living in America wanted to remain British subjects. Probably at least that many again were apathetic or opportunistically waiting to see which side won. The American Revolution, many historians argue,...

NEW YORKERS are a famously restless, impatient sort of people, focused more on where they're going than where they've been. That's a real pity where the American Revolution is concerned, because the city played a key role in the resistance to King George III that led up to the Declaration of Independence. It's also the place where thousands of men died during the Revolutionary War that followed — not in combat, but in British prisons. From 1775 to 1783, some 200,000 colonials took up arms against the crown. While the statistics are rough, it has been estimated that more than...

Diver Dennis O'Neil of Plattsburgh, N.Y., poses with a piece of a cannon muzzle which he discovered during a dive Friday, June 30, 2006, in Peru, N.Y. Divers have spent the last seven years combing the bottom of Lake Champlain in search of 'battlefield scatter' from the crucial 1776 Battle of Valcour near Peru. O'Neil has made about 100 dives during the project. PERU, N.Y. - Gen. Benedict Arnold led a "wretched, motley" crew of sailors on Lake Champlain against a far superior British fleet near here on Oct. 11, 1776. The rebels lost. But their dogged fight delayed...

Two arrested for damaging Revolutionary War vet's gravesite Posted on Saturday, June 10 @ 00:00:00 CDT CLARENDON, N.Y. It's a problem not uncommon in many rural upstate communities -- vandals who target headstones in historic cemeteries. In one western New York town, two teenagers now face charges for allegedly damaging several gravesites -- including that of a Revolutionary War veteran. The Orleans County Sheriff's Department says 18-year-old Daniel Callaghan and 19-year-old Jonathan Schneider are both charged with felony criminal mischief and desecration for the vandalism in the Cook Cemetery in the town of Clarendon. Nearly all the gravestones at the...

June 15 1775 George Washington assigned to lead the Continental Army On this day in 1775, George Washington, who would one day become the first American president, accepts an assignment to lead the Continental Army. Washington had been managing his family’s plantation and serving in the Virginia House of Burgesses when the second Continental Congress unanimously voted to have him lead the revolutionary army. He had earlier distinguished himself, in the eyes of his contemporaries, as a commander for the British army in the French and Indian War of 1754. Born a British citizen and a former Redcoat, Washington had,...

The British captured this battle flag made of gold silk from a Virginia regiment. According to Sotheby’s, it’s the earliest surviving documented American flag bearing 13 stars. It has a painted emblem of a beaver and the motto “Perseverando.” The image was copied from the engraving on the $6 Continental bill that Benjamin Franklin had chosen. ROY A. BAHLS/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT Amid the crack of musket fire, smoke and confusion on the field, three battle flags fluttered above the exhausted 3rd Virginia Detachment in South Carolina on May 29, 1780. Col. Abraham Buford and his Continental soldiers had set out...

Anonymous bidder snaps up flag belonging to a Connecticut regiment and three others for total of $17 million. An American Revolutionary War flag fetched $12.3 million at an auction in New York on Wednesday, and a group of three other flags went for more than $5 million to the same bidder, Sotheby's said. The total price of $17,392,000 was well over the pre-sale estimate of $4 million to $10 million for the two lots of battle flags captured by the British during the 1775-83 war,...

GREENWICH -- A restored Revolutionary War mural painted in the 1930s may not be returned to an elementary school because officials are concerned it is too violent for children. The mural shows Gen. Israel Putnam, a war hero from Greenwich who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill, half-naked and about to be burned at the stake. He aims a gun at wolves while men around him fight with guns and knives. "Violence is not something you see at Hamilton Avenue School," said principal Damaris Rau. "And then to have it in the forefront, especially in the lobby, a picture...

Mary Ellen LeBien, former president of the Greenwich Library Board of Trustees, speaks in front of “The Life and Times of Israel Putnam of Connecticut” in the library’s reading room. (Bob Luckey Jr./Staff file photo) School officials are balking at a plan to return a historic Revolutionary War mural to Hamilton Avenue Magnet School after a restoration, saying its battle scenes are too violent for young children. The mural, "The Life and Times of General Israel Putnam of Connecticut," depicts Greenwich's Revolutionary War hero stripped half-naked, about to be burned at the stake. He sits astride a wild-looking horse...

On March 15th, 1784 at twelve in the afternoon, after eight long, exhausting years of war, General George Washington unexpectedly entered a room filled with his highest officers gathered together to consider how to address the Continental Army's predicament. A shocked gathering listened to their commanding General address them. A letter had recently been passed around the officer corps of the Revolutionary army calling for them to consider leading their army in a march upon the Congress, to lead a coup and take hold of the recalcitrant government forcing them to subservience to the military. The officers and men had...

Produced by Greystone Films, an 18-minute feature, is being shot and produced at Mount Vernon. Waiting in the wings for the command of 'action,' crew members aim fans at the actors in order to introduce fake snow onto the set to replicate the weather when the troops crossed the Delaware River. In the role of Continental Army soldiers about to cross the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War, actors wait on the set between takes as grips and crew members adjust lighting. The film will be shown to visitors in the new Ford Orientation Center. In the role of George...

A portrait of a dashing young sea captain often called the "Black Admiral" was supposed to be a centerpiece for an exhibition of paintings from the Revolutionary War era about black patriots and loyalists. But the portrait, often seen in books on African-American history, was recently discovered to be a fraud. Peter Williams, an expert on painting restoration, was hired to clean the portrait for an exhibit at the historic Fraunces Tavern Museum titled "Fighting for Freedom: Black Patriots and Black Loyalists." But with a quick dab of special paint remover, he discovered that black paint concealed a portrait of...

In Newport Harbor, the grey area is a mosaic that shows where side scan sonar was towed in a back-and-forth pattern much like mowing the lawn. Marine archaeologists studied the details of the sonar data sets and found patterns that led them to locating the wreckage of four additional Revolutionary War transports. Credit: URI and RIMAP Four ships from the Revolutionary War era, sunk in 1778, have been discovered in Newport Harbor, making Rhode Island home to the largest known "fleet" of shipwrecks from that war. The ships were discovered in 2005 and announced today. Researchers used side-scan sonar,...

A bronze plaque that has hung outside the door of resident Chandler Saint's historic Tallmadge House for more than a year does not belong there according to a reported decision by the Litchfield Historic District Commission. The commission denied Mr. Saint's after-the-fact application at its meeting last week. It was his second application to come before the commission seeking approval for a bronze plaque honoring Col. Benjamin Tallmadge, who served as head of espionage under George Washington during the Revolutionary War. The first after-the-fact application was denied in January 2005 when commission members suggested it be mounted inside or on...

Native American items found, but little evidence of British uncovered at Victory Woods VICTORY MILLS -- Native American artifacts used thousands of years ago were found by archaeologists who examined the Victory Woods battlefield where British soldiers suffered their most decisive defeat in the American Revolution. Advertisement Among the finds was a 6,000-year-old roasting pit used to cook acorns located just a few feet beneath the surface of the forest floor. The dig also turned up darts and spear points that date from 1500 B.C. and 500 A.D. The National Park Service commissioned an archaeological study of Victory Woods, which...

WOONSOCKET -- Pssst. Don’t tell anyone, but historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist David McCullough’s next book may focus on the life and times of American Revolutionary War general and Rhode Island native son Nathanael Greene. That little tidbit of insider information was provided by Norman Desmarais, professor and acquisitions librarian at Providence College, who presented his "Redcoats and Rebels" program at the Museum of Work and Culture Sunday. Desmarais recently met McCullough, who apparently became interested in Greene’s story while researching his most recent best seller, "1776." Greene, second only to George Washington among military leaders in the Revolutionary War,...

GROTON, Conn. (NNS) -- The multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) and guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) were named honorary flagships March 13 for the upcoming search for the remains of the original Bonhomme Richard, which sank in the North Sea in 1779. The search project revolves around one of the most memorable battles of the American Revolution, where John Paul Jones, an American naval hero, uttered his legendary words, “I have not yet begun to fight!” “It’s entirely appropriate that these front-line warships are honorary flagships of the expedition, as they are representative...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The heirs of the British general known for brutal attacks in South Carolina during the Revolutionary War are auctioning flags won in key battles. South Carolina is mounting an effort to bring home flags British Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton took from a bloody battlefield five miles south of the state line in South Carolina. It's a place that some say became an emotional turning point that fixed American hearts against the British enemy. Accounts of what happened on May 29, 1780, vary, but the commonly held view is that American Col. Abraham Buford thought his 350 Virginia...

This spring, a forgotten battle will be remembered. It happened in Fort Lee 225 years ago, in the final years of the Revolutionary War. On one side: some 300 Bergen County militiamen, loyal to the rebel cause. On the other: 200 Americans still loyal to King George. Behind the clash was a desperate shortage of firewood in British-controlled New York City after the harsh winters of 1779 and 1780. What is today Bergen County offered a plentiful supply of wood, and Britain's Loyal Refugee Volunteers wanted it. The skirmishes between the two sides in May 1781 came to be known...

From Naval Historical Center Public Affairs GROTON, Conn. (NNS) -- The Naval Historical Center’s (NHC) search for Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones' ship Bonhomme Richard received further support in early February, when it was recommended for funding through the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration's competitive grant process. The NHC and Ocean Technology Foundation (OTF) plan to launch a search for Bonhomme Richard off the coast of England in July. "You cannot find an underwater archaeological site more important to the U.S. Navy than that of John Paul Jones' Bonhomme Richard," said Dr. Robert...

GROTON, Conn. (NNS) -- The Naval Historical Center’s (NHC) search for Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones' ship Bonhomme Richard received further support in early February, when it was recommended for funding through the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration's competitive grant process. The NHC and Ocean Technology Foundation (OTF) plan to launch a search for Bonhomme Richard off the coast of England in July. "You cannot find an underwater archaeological site more important to the U.S. Navy than that of John Paul Jones' Bonhomme Richard," said Dr. Robert Neyland, head of the NHC's...

Gen. Francis Marion is rightly remembered as one of South Carolina's greatest heroes. Unfortunately, the condition of his grave site belies the historical importance of the pivotal Revolutionary War figure. The Legislature should provide for the necessary structural repairs to grave markers of the general and his wife as well as improvements to the site and its access road. The general's Pineville grave site is reached by a narrow rutted road, more than a mile in length. The small Huguenot cemetery in which his grave is located is surrounded by a low, rambling chain-link fence. (Former Congressman and state Sen....

Behind the sale of an 18th-century gold box in New York today lies one of the saddest love stories of the American Revolution. When the box, embossed with the arms of New York, was presented with the freedom of the city in 1773 to Thomas Gage he was the commander-in-chief of the British Army in North America and was deeply in love with his American-born wife. Gen Thomas Gage, Margaret Gage and the 18th-century gold box Two years later, the general was a broken man, his career was in tatters and he was estranged from Margaret Gage for ever after...

On Jan. 17, 1781, Patriot skirmishers waited quietly in the woods. Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton and the redcoats moved forward toward Brig. Gen. Daniel Morgan's men. Tarleton didn't see the skirmishers ahead, awaiting his advance. By the time the British colonel realized he was in the company of rebels, his men were under fire. Tarleton immediately retaliated. The infamous Battle of Cowpens occurred 225 years ago, and nearly 5,000 people, came to Cowpens National Battlefield on Saturday to celebrate its anniversary. Many stood in line to be transported to the very site where the re-enactment of the British defeat would...

In 1754, a senseless massacre began innocently enough. A young George Washington, leading a force of Virginia volunteers and Indians, stumbled into an engagement with a French detachment in a remote Allegheny glen. To this day, the circumstances are cloudy as to who shot first and how the hostilities broke out. What is not in doubt is that Washington bungled badly: he lost control of his men, and before the mayhem ended, 13 Frenchmen were killed, wounded soldiers were brutally scalped and one man was even decapitated. As is so often the case in history, this one small act, however...

1 August, 1780 New York, New York - The Colonial Fortress overlooking the Hudson River at West Point, New York, was captured by the British Army last week, apparently without having to fire a single shot. Soldiers formerly garrisoned at Fortress West Point, who escaped the fort during the occupation by the Redcoats, report that the forces commanded by Sir Henry Clinton were escorted through the front gate by embattled Colonial Army Major General Benedict Arnold. The day began, according to the brave escapees, with Arnold ordering all the garrison's weapons being locked in storage for an inspection and inventory....