Oct 2016 - Feb 2018

February 2018

Thanks to Patrick Wamsley for forwarding to me the following:

Margaret Corbin, Revolutionary Soldier

- Bruce G. Kauffmann, 01/18/2018

While many women served in supporting roles during the American Revolution — mostly as nurses and cooks, but occasionally as messengers and even spies — one woman, Margaret Corbin, served as a soldier. When her husband John enlisted in the First Company of Pennsylvania Artillery, she traveled with him, even into battle. And so she was with him in November 1776 when John’s company was part of a garrison stationed at Fort Washington in northern Manhattan . . . . During that retreat, the British attacked Fort Washington, and John was killed . . . . Margaret took over firing until she was disabled by wounds to her arm, chest, and lower jaw . . . . She was the first women in American history to receive a military pension . . . . In 1926, the Daughters of the American Revolution successfully petitioned to have Margaret Corbin buried with full military honors at the cemetery of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point . . . . At her West Point gravesite behind West Point’s Old Cadet Chapel is the Margaret Corbin Monument, erected by DAR. Today, Margaret Corbin is one of only two Revolutionary War soldiers buried there.

Remains believed to be of a Revolutionary War hero buried at West Point don't belong to a woman known as "Captain Molly" after all, but to an unknown man. The U.S. Military Academy said the discovery stems from a study of skeletal remains conducted after Margaret Corbin's grave was accidentally disturbed by excavators building a wall in the West Point Cemetery last year. Tests revealed the remains were those of a man who lived in the 1700s . . . . A re-dedication ceremony of a Corbin monument at the cemetery is scheduled for May of 2018 . . . . The remains of the unknown man were reinterred at West Point’s cemetery.

See http://www.tribstar.com/features/schools/bruce-s-history-lessons-margaret-corbin-revolutionary-war-soldier/article_da8cb549-c3a9-5726-994c-8f8b1cef30e4.html



December 2017

Here is a review I recently did of a historical novel with the Revolutionary War and slavery in Rhode Island as the backdrop. The book (more importantly) received a favorable review in the Wall Street Journal. For two other recent historical novels with the same backdrop I reviewed, not as positively, go to www.smallstatebighistory.com

Book Review of a historical novel "The Crossing Point"by James Glickman

(Rare Bird Books, 2017) (448 pages) ($17.95 (currently $12.16 on amazon.com) paperback)

Glickman makes two terrific decisions in choosing his two main characters. First, he chooses Samuel Ward, a young gentleman on the make from Westerly determined to mark his service in the First Rhode Island Regiment with military glory and honor. Through the youthful major, we follow the First Rhode Island Regiment as it joins George Washington’s newly-formed Continental Army outside Boston, makes its treacherous trek through the woods of Maine and to the gates of Quebec, and puts up an incredibly stout defense of Forts Mercer and Mifflin on the banks of the Delaware River outside Philadelphia. Sammy’s courtship with Phebe Greene, the daughter of a future state governor, also rings true. Interspersed in the book are major historical figures, such as Ward’s friend, Major Nathanael Greene of East Greenwich, and many minor figures from Rhode Island’s revolutionary era who are worth remembering.

His second decision was even better, focusing on Guy Watson, an enslaved man to the Hazzard family in South Kingstown. In real life, Guy Watson, a South Kingstown resident, served honorably in the First Rhode Island Regiment, when its ranks were first opened to Rhode Island slaves and other persons of color, in exchange for granting slaves their freedom. Even as late as the 1830s, as one of the last surviving veterans of the war and one if the famed “Black Regiment,” he was feted at July 4th parades in Providence. In this book, Watson decides to enlist in the First Rhode Island Regiment, hoping that one day soon after the war he could purchase his wife June and their first child, still enslaved by the Hazzards. Glickman brings to life the experiences and feelings of enslaved persons by having them meet without any whites around. His book is an excellent way to learn about Rhode Island’s role in the Revolutionary War in general, and the role of the extraordinary slaves who gained their freedom in return for risking their lives by serving in the First Rhode Island Regiment for the duration of the war. The book nears its end with Samuel Ward and Guy Watson fighting side-by-side at the Battle of Rhode Island at the north end of Aquidneck Island in August 1778. It concludes with a tension-filled court martial with the fate of Guy Watson and the son of his master at stake.

At the time of the start of the Revolutionary War, Rhode Island had the highest percentage of slaves of any colony in New England (about 6 percent), due in large part to Newport merchants dominating the African slave trade among all North American merchants. Glickman mentions slave auctions occurring in Newport during the war. However, my research indicates that the last slave auction in Newport occurred in the mid-1760s. In addition, there is no known record of either Newport or any other Rhode Island port sending out any slave ships to Africa during the Revolutionary War. (After the war, Bristol’s de Wolf family dominated the trade). Still, slave auctions did occur in Newport in colonial times, so novelists should therefore have some license on the matter.

Glickman does a good job handling scenes in which whites and blacks interact with each other. While the white masters, such as the Hazzards, are clearly the bosses in the relationship and could invoke terror to enforce their will, most times whites and blacks converse with each other on a relatively level playing field. Indeed, at times, the white masters have to negotiate with their enslaved persons to try to get their way. I believe this is an accurate portrayal for Rhode Island slavery. In Virginia and South Carolina, plantations sometimes had large numbers of slaves supervised by paid white overseers who, fearing insurrections, could often be cruel. In Rhode Island few farms had as many as five or even ten enslaved persons, so no overseers were hired and instead white masters dealt directly with their slaves, and often worked side-by-side with them.

As a close student of Rhode Island in the Revolutionary War, I did notice several minor factual errors. The author would have done well to have read my authoritative books on the Battle of Rhode Island and the capture of General Richard Prescott at Portsmouth (The Rhode Island Campaign and Kidnapping the Enemy). He might have understood the difference between Kingston and South Kingstown, and that the village of Kingston had its name changed from Little Rest in 1825, if he had read my History of Kingston (to be fair, many Rhode Islanders get confused on that score). And if he had read Robert Geake’s recent book on the First Rhode Island Regiment, the author likely would have added to the book soldiers in the regiment who were members of the Narragansett tribe or of mixed African-American and Narragansett heritage. But these are only minor quibbles. This is good history well written.

To purchase the book or visit Glickman’s website, go to:

https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Point-James-Glickman/dp/1945572426

https://www.amazon.com/James-Glickman/e/B0759R953S/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1512743146&sr=1-2-ent

October 2017

George Washington’s Boyhood Home at Kenmore, Fredericksburg, Virginia

This event occurred on October 7, but it is still worth mentioning. Thanks to Patrick Wamsley for bringing it to my attention. On noon Saturday at Ferry Farm, the George Washington Foundation celebrated the reconstruction of George Washington's boyhood home with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Those responsible for its discovery, including Ferry Farm archaeology director Dave Muraca, as well as artisans and craftsman who built the replica from the ground up, will be on hand to talk about their work. The house is part of a $40 million fundraising campaign that will include transforming the grounds into a living history museum so that visitors might experience life as it once was. Guests for the first time will get to wander the rooms that look much as they did when Washington was a boy and the house stood like a sentry on the Rappahannock’s shores. For more, go to: http://www.kenmore.org/events.html

August 2017

Remembrance of Thomas J. Fleming

Thomas J. Fleming died at his home in New York City on July 23, 2017 at the age of 90. He was the author of over fifty books, but many of us who read about the Revolutionary War still favor his 1960, Now We Are Enemies: The Story of Bunker Hill, Liberty! The American Revolution, the book that became the basis of the award-winning six-part PBS special by the same name, and Washington's Secret War: The Hidden History of Valley Forge (2005). He began a career as a writer in 1960 with his first book, Now We Are Enemies, and for the next 57 years, he pursued his passion for writing both history and historical fiction. He wrote 23 novels, including the bestselling The Officers' Wives (1982) and 25 books on American history, including the widely acclaimed account of the Burr Hamilton conflict, Duel (1999). He also wrote books for young readers and collaborated with Margaret Truman on her book about her father, President Harry S. Truman. He was a frequent guest on C-Span, PBS, A&E, and the History Channel. A complete catalogue of his work appears at: thomasflemingwriter.com (click on the History tab for his history books). Among the many groups he headed and/or participated in was the American Revolution Roundtable—New York. Richard Rosenthal of the North Jersey American Revolution Round Table called him the best conversationalist he ever met. He will be missed as a pillar of the Revolutionary War community and by those who knew him personally.

July 2017

Thanks to Patrick Wamsley for forwarding to me the following:

Colonial Williamsburg in Dire Straits

Professor Jonathan Turley, 07/05/2017:

Colonial Williamsburg is one of my favorite spots in Virginia. You can walk around the preserved city and get a sense of colonial life. However, the non-for-profit has revealed that it has lost $277 million in the last five years and laid off 71 workers. Despite outsourcing work and cutting back, Colonial Williamsburg is struggling at a time when the city of Williamsburg is threatening to levy a new 7 percent admissions tax and increase both hotel and meal taxes. The tax increases seem rather odd when the venerable institution is already struggling to keep the candles burning. This is the main draw for the area . . . .

The nonprofit Colonial Williamsburg Foundation says declining attendance is causing the attraction to lose 148-thousand dollars each day. As a result, many employees and staff workers are being laid off and buildings are closing. The group also plans to use outsource companies to run its golfing, landscaping, retail stores, and other operations. Another major change is the closing of the Kimball Theatre, which has not produced income since 1999. Mitchell Reiss, President of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation said, "We need to refocus all of our efforts on the core educational mission, the historic area, teachers, and the museums . . . . We need help . . . . To support our efforts to bring long-term financial stability and sustainability to Colonial Williamsburg, I am respectfully requesting that the City of Williamsburg waive, for a period of three years, the collection of real estate and personal property taxes as well as service fees and business license fees from Colonial Williamsburg . . . . I am making similar requests of James City County and York County.”

Colonial Williamsburg estimates it will pay $1,496,330 in real estate taxes to the City, plus an additional $363,072 in personal property taxes and $108,046 in services charges. The total taxes paid to the City will exceed $2.1 million . . . . “Right now city staff is assessing the impact of this property tax relief on our budget,” said Councilman Benming Zhang, who said the Foundation’s request was “unprecedented” . . . and represents 3.5 percent of the city’s projected Financial Year 2018 budget . . . . The Foundation estimates it will pay $114,218 in real estate taxes to York County in 2017, and $75,235 to James City County.


January 2017

American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, Virginia

The American Revolution Museum at Yorktown is open for visits and almost complete. Here are some thoughts from some recent visitors I met, each of whom has high praise for the museum.

Our own David Saylor says the following about his recent visit to the museum: “The new Yorktown museum is first rate. There are marvelous displays with ample room even with substantial crowds (we were just a few dozen people getting a preview). There were a number of things I learned despite all my reading and listening to lectures. Children from about ages 8 to 18 would find much to pique their interest. I will certainly take my 5 grandchildren (12, 11, 10, 8 and maybe the 4 year-old who is pretty smart.). Nothing hokey or dumbed down, just large life-like dioramas and well-lit paintings and display cases with easily understood captions and explanations. Best historical museum I have seen, and I have seen quite a lot here and abroad. It is not unduly focused on Yorktown or the Southern Campaigns, but it certainly gives them their due which most Rev War museums fail to do.”

Dave’s friend, and we hope future ARRT member, Alan Porter, echoed David’s sentiments, and added: “The musket/rifle and cannon demonstrations were excellent. The reenactors who conducted them were very good with the crowd and able to accommodate a broad range of knowledge, and keep things interesting, informative, and entertaining. Also, at the time of our visit the construction on the outdoor exhibits had not been fully completed.”

Another friend of Dave’s, and we hope future ARRT member, (the infamous) Vincent Rocque, responded: “The museum is the best. It brings history alive. It has lots of interactive and hands-on stuff to lure in kids and plant the right kinds of seeds in them. What old guys like me truly enjoy is the number of mini-theaters and places to stop, watch and rest -- ala Mount Vernon -- so that museum touring is more enjoyable and less of a Bataan-Death-March type of ordeal. It is very intelligently laid out. The graphics, especially the maps, are the best I've seen in a museum. Superb.”

December 2016

Brothers at Arms, American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It (Knopf, 2016), by Larrie D. Ferreiro.
Review by Christian M. McBurney

American students of the Revolutionary War may not like to hear it, but author Larrie D. Ferreiro, in his excellent new book, persuasively argues that the United States could never have won its war against Great Britain without France, and France could never have fought the war without Spain as an ally. Thus, he concludes, the United States was born as a centerpiece of an international coalition, which together worked to defeat a common adversary.

Ferreiro also persuasively argues that not only was the Declaration of Independence intended to motivate patriots at home, it was, in fact, an engraved invitation asking France and Spain to join America in its fight. Congress had to send a clear message to France and Spain that the conflict was not merely a civil war but a serious attempt at independence. As John Adams succinctly summarized it, “Foreign powers could not be expected to acknowledge us, till we had acknowledged ourselves . . . as an independent nation.”

France and Spain, naturally, had their own reasons to aid the Americans. In the aftermath of the embarrassing defeats at the hands of Great Britain during the Seven Years’ War (1754-1763), in which France lost Canada to Britain, France and Spain both were on the lookout for revenge. They saw an opportunity to weaken Great Britain by separating it from its growing thirteen colonies in North America. A reunited British empire, on the other hand, would pose a threat to France’s valuable sugar colonies in the Caribbean.

At the start of the war, America had no foundries, no powder mills, little money, and only a few gunsmiths. It desperately needed aid from France and Spain, which they were willing to give covertly at first in the form of military supplies worth some $2 billion in today’s currency. Ferreiro tells how this aid made its way to North America, including through the colorful exploits of Pierre Caron de Beaumarchais and the Spaniard Diego de Gardoqui.

Beaumarchais’s ships arrived in April 1777, loaded with 20,000 muskets, as well as much-needed cannon and gunpowder. It arrived just in time to supply 15,000 American soldiers in northern New York, who ended up capturing a British army under General John Burgoyne at Saratoga. Lieutenant Caleb Stark of New Hampshire, son of General John Stark, wrote, “Unless these [Beaumarchais] arms had been thus timely furnished to the Americans, Burgoyne would have made an easy march to Albany.”

The author identifies the key French figure in this drama as Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes. He was persuaded that while the American victory at Saratoga showed that the Americans were indeed serious, in order to win independence they needed a French-American alliance. With the assistance of Benjamin Franklin and other American diplomats in Paris, one was secured in February 1778.

Ferreiro discusses the many French officers who poured into America, seeking a chance to fight their age-old nemesis the British and at glory, but also to promote the American Revolution. He admires in particular the French engineers who were so desperately needed in the Continental army, led by Louis Lebègue Duportail. Of course, he spends much time on the young and enthusiastic Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, who became almost a son to George Washington. Ferreiro also has an excellent description of the training at Valley Forge conducted by Friedrich Wilhelm, Baron von Steuben, even though that officer was not French (though the Prussian gave orders in French, which were translated into English).

Ferreiro provides the backdrop from the French and Spanish perspective of the stunning victory at Yorktown, in which a combined French and American army captured Lord Cornwallis’s army of 8,000 soldiers and sailors. Leading up to the victory on land was the crucial French naval victory at the Battle of the Chesapeake. The author notes that the combined army had equal numbers of French and American troops, but that twice as many French soldiers died. Most of the siege cannon were French and French officers directed the battle. This adds color to the decision by the British general who surrendered his sword at Yorktown to try to hand it to General Rochambeau rather than the titular commander of the combined army General Washington (I still think it was an intentional slight by the British, who continued to call him “Mr. Washington”).

While Yorktown in effect ended the war in North America, the worldwide conflict between France and Spain on the one side, and Great Britain on the other, raged on in places such as the islands in the Caribbean, Gibraltar, and India. From 1776 to 1783, probably more than 200,000 French and Spanish soldiers and sailors fought in the war that established American independence.

Ferreiro could have done a book just on the role of the French, but he wisely includes the Spanish as well. The two countries worked closely as allies, including in the failed attempt to invade England, with an armada of 150 ships, larger than the one that Queen Elizabeth I faced in 1588. Ferreiro makes the argument that Bernardo de Gálvez’s attacks on British Florida and capture of Pensacola in May 1781 with a joint Spanish-French force allowed France to commit its full force to the Yorktown campaign. (My own view of the capture of Florida by Spain is that after the war, it made it much easier for the United States to take Florida, as Spain’s empire was weakening. Taking it from an increasingly powerful Great Britain would have been much more difficult).

By its nature, this book is a summary of the American Revolution, but with a particular focus on the roles of France and Spain. There are plenty of valuable nuggets for readers as well. For one, Ferreiro converts money spent during the war into current dollar values, making the amounts much more understandable to the reader. For example, he says that Spain loaned the fledgling United States about $1 billion in today’s currency (all of which was repaid). As an expert in eighteenth century shipbuilding, he provides the most comprehensible explanation of the benefits of the Royal Navy’s copper-bottomed hulls that I have read. He writes of French and Spanish spies entering Great Britain to take stock of the Royal Navy’s shipbuilding program and entering the thirteen colonies to take stock of the state of the opposition to King George III. The careful author also noticed that prior to his interest in an alliance with the United States, in his letters to merchants carrying supplies to America, Vergennes would refer to the Americans as “your friends,” but once he agreed that an alliance was appropriate for France, he began referring to the Americans as “our friends.”

Ferreiro is a fine and efficient writer, easy to read, yet conveying important information at the same time. His book makes an excellent counterpart to Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy’s superb The Men Who Lost America, British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of Empire (Yale University Press, 2013). Indeed, the titles to the two books have some similarities.

I highly recommend Ferreiro’s new book and hope that he continues to write on the Revolutionary War.

November 2016

The American Revolution and Game Theory

Here is a link to a Washington Post article discussing the application of the “game theory” by two professors wondering why Great Britain and America did not simply compromise by permitting some American representatives to become members of Parliament, so they could vote on taxes. Thanks to Patrick Wamsley for bringing it to my attention:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/10/20/what-we-can-learn-from-one-of-the-biggest-mysteries-and-misunderstandings-of-the-american-revolution/

October 2016

Harry M. Ward, An Appreciation

Bill Welsch of the Richmond ARRT informed us of the sad news that Harry M. Ward, a longtime member of the Richmond ARRT, passed away yesterday, of cancer. A former professor of history at the University of Richmond, Harry was an outstanding historian of the Revolutionary War. He was a man after my own heart, as he picked topics that were not well trodden, if at all. His books are known for their thoroughness, accuracy and balance. Here are some of the books he published, many of which are still available online, both new and used, or are at libraries, such as the Society of the Cincinnati or Daughters of the American Revolution libraries, and are still worth reading:

Between the Lines: Banditti of the American Revolution (Studies in Military History and International Affairs, 2002)

George Washington’s Enforcers: Policing the Continental Army (2009)

General William Maxwell and the New Jersey Continentals (Contributions in Military Studies, 1997)

The American Revolution: Nationhood Achieved 1763-1788 (St. Martin’s Series in U.S. History, 1995)

Major General Adam Stephen and the Cause of American Liberty (1989)

Charles Scott and the Spirit of ’76 (1988)

For Virginia and for Independence: Twenty-Eight Revolutionary War Soldiers from the Old Dominion (2011)

When Fate Summons: A Biography of General Richard Butler, 1743-1791 (2013)

Going Down Hill: Legacies of the American Revolutionary War (2009)

A prolific writer, Harry wrote many other books, including one published in 2016 on the history of Richmond. He will be missed, but his legacy will continue on.