Once, where now large buildings crowd downtown Manhattan, a substantial and beautiful pond spread out in a pristine valley between the forested countryside. Collect Pond, or Fresh Water Pond, was a body of fresh water near the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City, that covered approximately 48 acres (194,000 m²) and ran as …
By Harry Schenawolf, author of the Shades of Liberty Series about African American soldiers in the American Revolution. Whenever there existed the possibility that artillery pieces could fall into the hands of the enemy, the weapons were rendered useless, even if only temporarily. The method most common was called spiking. Spiking involved jamming some metal …
Colonel Moses Hazen demanded respect and total commitment from his men and he got it. He also expected them to fight like demons and so too, they never let him down. His regiment, a Foreign Legion of Canadians, Americans, Rangers, and hodgepodge of foreign fighters, for seven long years, suffered among the highest casualties of …
From the open broadside of hostilities in 1775 between the ‘rebel’ patriots in America and British forces, the newly appointed American Congress became obsessed to gain Quebec, the fourteenth colony, within their fold either by diplomatic means or by force. Americans convinced themselves that the Canadians held the same passions close to heart that spurred …
Colonel Mordecai Gist actively recruited some of the finest young men from good Maryland families to form a regiment which, like the famed Highlanders of the Black Watch, were to forge its own legend in a war of rebellion that gave birth to a new nation. In the very first contest of the American Revolution …
Mention cowboys and John Wayne slinging his saddle over his arm during a clip from the classic 1939 John Ford movie Stagecoach might come to mind. Cowboys are synonymous with rough and tumble ranchers, cowhands, and gunslingers of the old west, strutting up to the bar, slapping the dust off their chaps, and ordering a bottle …
Two terms come up when describing roving bands of colonial plunderers who preyed on the residents of Westchester County, New York during the American Revolution: British marauders were called cowboys and patriotic pillagers were referred to as skinners. Though countless historical publications support this or claim that skinners were composed of both British and American …
At the start of the American Revolution, the county of Westchester was the richest and most populous of the rural counties of New York. By war’s end, most of the county, especially a twenty-mile-wide region labeled the neutral ground, would be totally devastated. Farms were abandoned and entire communities became ghost towns. Roads were vacant …
Colonel William Douglas (January 27, 1742- May 28, 1777) from North Branford, Connecticut was a successful merchant mariner and later farmer – honest, fair, hardworking, and successful in business. He was also a tragic figure, having invested and lost everything he had for the cause of liberty – his fortune, his family’s future, his health, …
During the Revolutionary War, and most likely before and after, officers and gentlemen were prime targets for thieves and blackguards, including drunk or disgruntled rank and file. This could occur either while walking the streets of cities and villages, or in camp or along secluded country roads. Snatching a fattened purse, or taking out their …