Category «Life & Times»

Black Soldiers in the American Revolution; Chronological Listing

Colonial leaders always had misgivings about black enlistments in militias during pre-Revolutionary War years and later among those who fought for American Independence. Though there was a large population of available African Americans to fill the ranks of colonial enlistments, the number one fear both north and south was the apprehension that slaves trained in …

Rachel Silverthorn: Paul Revere of the American Frontier

History treats the feats by men as fact; whereas woman’s accomplishments are legends. Women’s actions come with an accompanying tag line ‘fact or fiction,’ or are described by highlighting the myth. More often than not, a women’s achievements are either downplayed, or left out of history entirely. There is a simple reason for this; men …

Plum Tree Massacre and the “Bloodiest Day”

June 10, 1778, has been referred to as the ‘bloodiest day,’ in the history of Lycoming County; a span of settlements along the west branch of the Susquehanna River of northcentral Pennsylvania. The Plum Tree Massacre was one of three separate attacks in one day on settlers by a war party of Iroquois and Loyalists. …

African Americans in the American Revolution: Prince Whipple Fact and Fiction

Much has been written about Prince Whipple over the years (c. 1750 – 1796); mainly related to folk lore and romantic vignettes that gained prominence when Prince was incorrectly associated with two paintings depicting General George Washington crossing the Delaware River. Bare bones facts indicate that as a free child in Africa, Prince was caught …

African Americans in the American Revolution: James Forten – Privateer, Businessman, Inventor, and Leading Abolitionist

African American James Forten (Sept. 2, 1766 – March 4, 1841) was born free, the grandson of a slave who had ‘freed himself.’  He and his older sister Abigail were the only two children of Thomas and Margaret Forten; second generation of freed parents. They lived in Philadelphia on Third Street near Walnut Street in …