Category: Revolutionary War

George Washington wrote these words during the American Revolutionary War. As a young man he had served with the British militia and saw that the British lacked understanding of Colonial warfare. Most of all they were unwilling to listen to good advice.  But this knowledge would serve him very well decades later.General Washington was a master of strategy. He knew his Colonial army was no match for a large and trained British army. So, he chose his battles carefully, and was willing to receive good advice.Washington required hard work and demanded discipline from his soldiers, and made sure he led by example. He stayed with his men at Valley Forge during the entire winter, the harshest one on record. 2,500 American soldiers died that year. During the seven years of war, he visited his home a total of only 10 days.

He later wrote about Valley Forge,

“To see the soldiers without clothes, without blankets, without shoes…without a hut to cover them…and submitting without a murmur… can scarcely be paralleled.”Washington was willing to lead his army from the front, and was famous for his courage in battle. The American soldiers knew Washington would not ask them to do something he himself would not do. They would go anywhere with him and do anything for him. So they bled for him and helped bring forth a brand new country..

It was no surprise that George Washington was unanimously elected as the first President of the new nation, the United States of America, and four years later was re elected.

One of Washington’s men who had accepted no pay wrote:

At the end of the war, Washington was a hero. Congress had given him powers that were equivalent to those of a dictator, and he could have taken full control of the new nation. Instead, Washington resigned, opening the way for us to enjoy the liberties we have today.

Washington’s character and leadership made him a true military and political hero and America’s role model.  

 

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It was 1775 when American Colonel William Moultrie took possession of a fort made of palmetto logs in South Carolina, and he needed a flag. His troops’ clothing was blue. They had silver crescents on their caps, and the words “Liberty or Death.” So a blue flag was sewn, with a crescent in the upper corner. In Moultrie’s words:

“This was the first American flag displayed in the South.”

The next year, 1776, the Americans were defending Fort Sullivan in a battle with the British.  The blue flag was flying, but during the fight it fell down onto the beach, outside the fort.  Sergeant William Jasper leaped over the parapet, ran the length of the fort and recovered the flag.  He managed to get back into the fort and get the flag fastened and flying again.

The Americans fought off the British, and saved the fort. Fort Sullivan was later renamed Moultrie, in honor of Colonel Moultrie’s stand against the British.

The flag became an icon of the Revolution in the South. It was called the Moultrie, or the Liberty Flag. The new state of South Carolina incorporated its design into its state flag.

Later in April 1780, the British returned to Charleston Harbor, past Fort Moultrie, and captured the city. General Moultrie was captured with other American officers. While prisoner, a Loyalist tried to convince him to enlist in the British Army. Moultrie responded:

“When I entered into this contest, I did it with the most mature deliberation, and with a determined resolution to risque my life and fortune in the cause. The hardships I have gone through I look back upon with the greatest pleasure and honor to myself: I shall continue to go on as I have begun, that my example may encourage the youths of America to stand forth in defence of their rights and liberties.”

General Moultrie remained true to the Patriot cause. He is a true ,Revolutionary War hero and leader in South Carolina history.

Well done, General Moultrie.

 

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If Hollywood ever wants to create another box office hit war movie complete with mystery, romance, and swashbuckling action, it would have to be centered around Revolutionary War hero Peter Francisco. A five-year-old boy who was abandoned at a harbor in Virginia grew up to be one of our courageous soldiers in the War for Independence. 

Peter Francisco, born Pedro Francisco, was known as the “Virginia Giant”, the “Giant of the Revolution” and sometimes as the “Virginia Hercules”, was a Portuguese-born American patriot and soldier of the American Revolution. Peter is said to have stood six and a half feet tall, and weighed in at 260 pounds.

At age 16 Peter enlisted as a private. It did not take long before his fighting skills and bravery became well known. He was always in the middle of every battle he fought, and was wounded repeatedly, but kept on fighting in more battles.  

When General “Mad Anthony” Wayne stormed Stony Point, Peter was the second man over the British walls. But by that time he was already famous for his exploits. After several years in the northern battles, he joined a militia company in the South. At the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in March he killed eleven British soldiers before getting bayoneted in the leg.

While recovering, he encountered nine British soldiers. Unarmed, Peter seized a sword from one of the men. He then killed that man and wounded and drove off the other eight. Their commander sent a hundred men to chase him, but they failed to even find him.

He later wrote of escape, “This was the last favor I ever did for the British.”

General George Washington is reputed to have said of Peter:

“Without him we would have lost two crucial battles, perhaps the War, and with it our freedom. He was truly a One-Man Army.”

 

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The battle was on Christmas Day of 1776. The place was Trenton, on the Delaware River of New Jersey. It was the scene of “Washington crossing the Delaware.”America had declared its independence not quite six months before, but the year’s battles had been one disaster after another. Philadelphia was in panic. The Continental Congress had to flee the city, but before it left this instruction was given to General Washington:“…until Congress shall otherwise order, General Washington shall be possessed of full power to order and direct all things.”The Americans had been driven out of New York, and the harsh winter took its toll on Washington’s troops. Many of them were about to have their enlistment expire, and the General needed to act fast. He decided to attack at Trenton. The password for this operation was “Victory or Death.”It was a cold, dark night. Heavy snow and sleet came down as Washington and his men crossed a river running with flowing ice. His soldiers were poorly clothed, some without gear for their feet. Landing on the other side, they marched on to Trenton, some leaving traces of blood on the snow. Two froze to death.But the rebels surprised the Hessians, who attempted to form up in the town. American artillery and attack from front and read swiftly brought the battle to an end. Four Americans were wounded in the attack. The Hessians lost 20 killed and about 100 wounded.  One thousand Hessians were captured.Lieutenant James Monroe was wounded in the battle. The army’s surgeon saved his life, repairing a damaged artery in his shoulder. James Monroe went on to be America’s fifth president.  Founding Father and future president James Madison, and future Supreme Court Justice James Marshall were also present at the battle.This is not the end of the story, though. Washington’s decision to attack at Trenton not only gave the army and our new nation a need boost of morale, but provided a valuable resource after the war.The Hessian prisoners at Newtown signed a parole of honor, and Washington allowing them to keep their personal baggage without examination. They were all treated well, and were scattered throughout the western counties of Pennsylvania and parts of Virginia. Many decided to stay in America when the war was over, settling in the German communities of the Keystone State. Among them were critically needed metal workers, Germans of high skill. Their contributions were vital to the new nation’s industry, one that eventually became second to none.

 

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Betsy Ross made flags for 50 years, and we are all familiar with the famous circular 13-star design. Fewer know about Francis Hopkinson, signer of the Declaration of Independence and designer of our Stars and Stripes. Letters between Hopkinson and the Continental Congress tell the story, and these letters can be found in the National Archives.   In 1780 Hopkinson was the Treasurer of the Continental Loan Office. He also consulted with a committee to design the Great Seal of the United States. We have a letter he wrote to the committee, with a proposed design for the seal. In that letter, he also wrote about having designed the American flag in 1777. Since he was a public servant, his design was free, what he called “Labours of Fancy.” He did suggest, however, that receiving a “Quarter cask of the public wine” would be a nice show of appreciation. (This was thought a reasonable request, but by the time it made its way through the red tape of the government, it was never approved and Hopkinson never got his cask of wine.)The Continental Congress had in fact adopted our flag in July of 1777, a design described and provided by the Marine Committee. Hopkinson had served as the chairman of a board under that committee.While no flags have survived from that period, and we don’t have the original drawing, we do have a sketch likely done by Hopkinson that shows the linear pattern of the stars. It is that pattern that we proudly fly today as the Hopkinson Flag.

 

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Americans love their Stars and Stripes, and fly it proudly.  But many do not know that it was not the one flying when the 13 Colonies declared Independence on July 4th, 1776.

The first flag that the early United States used as its “national flag” is known by several names, like Continental Colors and Grand Old Union. It’s usually called  the Grand Union, and it was being used by Americans in 1775 when the conflict with Britain began. As you can see it has the 13 stripes we know so well, but instead of stars on a white field, the British Union flag is displayed.When American colonists first began their struggle for greater liberty, full independence was not yet in the cards. Loyalty to the king was still proclaimed, even while fighting against the oppressive laws passed by British Parliament.  Because of this we also see the Union, or the “King’s Colors,” in the upper left corner. In those days what we now call the Union Jack really represented the King and his authority, and was not really a “national flag” as we think of one today. In fact, the Union flag had been a symbol of defiance to British governmental policies in North America at a time when King George III was not viewed as an antagonist to American freedom.

A diary entry of a British officer in Massachusetts, written May 1st, 1775, may help clarify:“The Rebels have erected the Standard at Cambridge; they call themselves the King’s Troops and us the Parliaments.” The “Standard” he mentions was the Union flag.   The stripes have their own origin. Colonial merchant ships had been using a red and white striped flag long before the War of Independence, and a striped flag was used by members of the Sons of Liberty Society who resisted unfair taxation and played a major role in battling the Stamp Act of 1765.  Originally consisting of nine stripes for the nine American colonies, this flag grew to 13 during the Revolutionary War. The Grand Union was the first naval ensign used aboard American ships of war.  The stripes were a natural part of the design because of their familiarity to American sailors.

 

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Famed US naval officer John Paul Jones was born in Scotland in 1742. At age 13 he began his career at sea, as a ship’s boy on the Friendship sailing between Britain and Virginia and the West Indies. By 21 he was the captain of his own ship.

Jones joined the Continental Navy during the American Revolution he was in Philadelphia shortly after the Revolution began. His friend, Joseph Hewes, a delegate to the Continental Congress, commissioned him as first lieutenant on the vessel Alfred.  He later commanded the sloop Providence.

Jones proved himself a capable officer and commander. Congress sent him to France as captain of the Ranger with orders to attack enemy commerce in British waters. In 1778 he captured the sloop of war Drake in a fierce struggle, and his capture of prizes and prisoners was creating a furor in the British press.

The French now took note of Jones and sent him off in August 1779 in command of a fleet of five naval vessels and two privateers. Jones’s ship was the Bonhomme Richard, around nine hundred tons and slow, but the most heavily armed vessel he had commanded.

On September 23, Jones fought one of the great battles of the Revolution off the Yorkshire coast. The enemy was the Serapis, one of the British escorts of a large convoy. In the battle, mostly fought in moonlight, the Bonhomme Richard grappled with the Serapis. With the two vessels lashed together, the British captain asked Jones if he wished to surrender. Jones shouted his famous reply, “I have not yet begun to fight.”

Surely Jones had not, and by dawn he had accepted the enemy’s surrender. This victory was the highlight of John Paul Jones’s career and  life.

Jones was always a rough and ready type, not willing to give up, and was in his element when the chips were down. When a roaring charge was needed, Jones was the fellow to get.  When life is hanging in the balance, fear and indecision are your enemies, and Jones was nothing if not decisive and unafraid.  He once wrote these words in a letter: “I wish to have no Connection with any Ship that does not Sail fast for I intend to go into harm’s way.”

After the war, he served in the Russian navy in the Black Sea in a war with the Turks. He died in Paris,in 1792, still an American citizen, and one of the great heroes of the U.S. Navy.

Today we still honor John Paul Jones by flying his unique American flag, called the Serapis after the ship he captured.

 

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North African pirates were menacing folks at least as far back as the Crusades. We have tales of them sailing as far north as Iceland, not only capturing merchant ships but plundering ports and taking captives for the slave trade.It was the habit of European nations to pay tribute to the scoundrels, rather than fight them. Eventually, the pirates organized into North African Barbary States, controlling the eastern half of North Africa along the Mediterranean Sea.  Their leaders got rich by extortion. But things were about the change. Before independence, American Colonial vessels were British, and protected by British payments to the pirates. After declaring independence, they were no longer covered by that deal, and the new nation had to pay their own tribute, which they did during the 1700s, over Thomas Jefferson’s objections.Then Thomas Jefferson was elected president, and he declared there was to be no more tribute, and sent the American Navy and Marines to deal with matters.It took some work, including landing Marines to assault a fortress in Tripoli, but eventually a treaty was worked out to protect American shipping. (Tripoli was the first American victory on foreign soil, with the Stars and Stripes flying over the fortress. The “Marine’s Hymn” still celebrates this with the line, “…from the shores of Tripoli.”)America had to send the Navy in again after the War of 1812, but things were settled in very short order: an American flag meant the vessel was safe.

 

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America’s early Minutemen were men who were ready for military duties “at a minute’s warning.”

When these men rallied, they became a militia, citizens with limited military training who could grab their arms immediately and fight in an emergency to defend their local area.

The first Minutemen were in Massachusetts, and they saw their first action at the battles of Lexington and Concord. They certainly surprised the British, whose leader reported,

“Whoever looks upon them as an irregular mob will be much mistaken.”

It was one of those Minutemen who “fired the shot heard round the world,” on April 19, 1775, commencing America’s open rebellion.  

Minutemen militia groups were formed in other colonies, including the Culpeper Minutemen of Virginia. The importance of the American militia was later enshrined in the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution. The Minutemen are also forever remembered in such poems as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Paul Revere’s Ride” and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Concord Hymn.”

Every year we celebrate the anniversary of that “shot heard round the world,” on April 19th, the day we know as Patriots Day.

 

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The first shots of the American Revolution were fired in Lexington and Concord on April 19,  1775. Today we call this day Patriots Day. But did the American soldiers have a flag with them that day? Great question!

British soldiers had marched from Boston to arrest Colonial leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock. But men like Paul Revere and Samuel Dawes were alerted and rode out to give warning.  About 70 Minutemen gathered to confront 240 British Redcoats. The face-off began on the 19th, both sides wary, with no one sure what would happen.  Suddenly a shot was fired, It was “The shot heard ‘round the world.”  You may remember the line from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s famous poem: By the rude bridge that arched the floodTheir flag to April’s breeze unfurledHere once the embattled farmers stoodAnd fired the shot heard round the world. But no one gave a description of that  “flag to April’s breeze unfurled.” But we do honor the Bedford flag as the one carried by Nathaniel Page at “the rude bridge.”  Page was a Bedford Minuteman, one of those brave militia that marched out to face the British Redcoats.

The Bedford flag is the oldest-known complete flag existing in the United States. We don’t know who made it, but it predates the American Revolution itself, going back to the early 1700’s. On the flag are Latin words which mean, Conquer or Die, and its unusual proportions are still preserved in dyed reproductions.

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Our forefathers had strong opinions about unjust taxation. In 1765, when Americans were still British subjects, Parliament passed the Stamp Act. It was an attempt to raise revenue by directly taxing paper. Every piece of printed paper was to be taxed, from newspapers, cards, and pamphlets, to almanacs, legal papers and playing cards.  Even dice were taxed.

It did not go over well with the Americans. Tax on colonial trade had been more about regulating commerce, not raising money. But the Stamp Act was a direct attempt to raise money in the colonies, without the approval of the colonial legislatures.  This was not going to happen.

There was a lot of fuming and fussing going on about it, and Sam Adams in Boston certainly did his share. The Stamp Act Master, Andrew Oliver, was born into a life of privilege, and thought little of the “people.” But things changed one day when his effigy was hung, beheaded and burned in Boston. Oliver retreated to the safety of the island of Fort William.

Things began to escalate, so the British Governor ordered the militia to beat the drums and sound the alarm. Problem was, the drummers were out there protesting with the mob. So the Governor also decided to skip town.

As it turned out, the Stamp Master had to promise not to enforce the tax, and resign his post. As Sam Adams later said, “The people shouted; and their shout was heard to the distant end of this Continent.”

Adams and his close associates continued their efforts, expanding their organization into the Sons of Liberty. Parliament was forced to repeal the Act within a year. If it had not, the American Revolution of 1776 probably would have started ten years earlier in 1766.

 

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Molly Pitcher is described as a patriot who carried pitchers of water to soldiers and helped with cannon duty during the Battle of Monmouth in the American Revolution.

“Molly Pitcher” may be a combination folk hero inspired by the actions of many women who served in this role on the battlefield, and became know by this nickname.  During the American Revolutionary War it was common  for wives to be near their husbands in battle and help as needed.

Although historians conclude that Molly Pitcher cannot be definitely identified, most sources say she was Mary Ludwig Hays, born in Trenton New Jersey in 1754.  At the Battle of Monmouth, she earned this nickname as she carried pitchers of water to soldiers.

As the story goes, it was a brutally hot day in June, 1778. She made countless trips to a nearby spring to fill pitchers of cold water for soldiers to drink and to pour over their cannons to cool them down. When her husband William (John) Hays, the artilleryman, was wounded, she dropped her her water jugs and took up loading the artillery in his place. She kept the cannon loaded throughout the rest of the battle until the colonists had won the victory.

According to the National Archives, there was a witness to Molly Pitcher’s actions. Joseph Plumb Martin, a soldier in the Continental Army, was there. His memoirs, discovered in the 1950’s, documented her heroic acts: Plumb relates :

“A woman whose husband belonged to the artillery and who was then attached to a piece in the engagement, attended with her husband at the piece the whole time. While in the act of reaching a cartridge and having one of her feet as far before the other as she could stemp, a cannon shot from the enemy passed directly between her legs without doing any other damage than carrying away all the lower part of her petticoat. Looking at it with apparent unconcern, she observed that it was lucky it did not pass a little higher, for in that case it might have carried away something else, and continued her occupation.”

With her actions on that day, Molly Pitcher became one of the most popular and enduring symbols of the women who contributed to the American Revolution.

George Washington is said to have seen her heroics and issued her a commendation. Mary was allegedly called “Sergeant Molly” for the rest of her life. But where history ends and folklore begins is up for debate. There is no record of such  commendation from Washington. Martin’s account is the only real evidence available about her at Monmouth.

Mary Hays (“Molly Pitcher”)  was honored by the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1822 for her wartime services. She was awarded $40 and an annual commission for rest of her life. A monument in Carlisle commemorates her heroic acts in battle.

                                            

Whether Molly Pitcher is  one woman or a mixture of many, her legend tells the story of women’s heroism during the American Revolution.

 

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