Rosy the Riveter, strong, iconic figure, symbolic of women who worked countless hours on military armaments for American men fighting on World War II’s battlefields, had a true to life predecessor; one hundred and sixty-eight years earlier. In 1775, Elizabeth Hager, known as “Handy Betsy” or “Betsy the Blacksmith,” stood at her forge and repaired …
“Contrary to general opinion, only thirteen percent of colonial Americans owned a gun at the start of the American Revolution and of those, clearly half did not work.” Michael Bellesiles, noted author and researcher The Myth of Minutemen looms large in legends surrounding the American Revolution. Statues with robust colonials grasping their musket line New …
Revolutionary War Journal is published by Harry Schenawolf, author of the Shades of Liberty Series about African American soldiers in the American Revolution. The implication by some published writers and scholars that Colonel George Washington carried a musket during the French & Indian War is not supported by research. This article by Yaacov Apelbaum presents …
By Harry Schenawolf, author of the Shades of Liberty Series about African American soldiers in the American Revolution. Remember that scene in The Patriot where Mel Gibson scooped up a bunch of guns from under his bed and ran off to destroy a column of redcoats single handed, except he also armed his young children …
Kentucky Long Rifle was the weapon of choice for wilderness hunters and during the American Revolutionary War forming rifle corps and ranger outfits. In 18th century warfare, there were two types of weapons carried into battle: the smooth-bore musket and the grove-bore rifle. Both had their strengths and weaknesses. The smooth bore musket could be …
Mankind discovered the amazing qualities of flint long before written history. The introduction of steel to what became known as the tinder box brought ready flame for quick use. People became adept at sparking dried tinder to start fires, but ingenuity lead to quicker and more practical means to achieve the same end. In the …
“I never in my life saw better rifles, or men who shot better, than those in America.” Lt. Colonel George Hanger, 4th Baron Coleraine, considered one of the finest marksmen in all of Europe. Lt. Colonel Hanger served with Hessian Jaegers, German huntsmen who all carried rifles, and later with Banastre Tarleton’s Legion. At the …
How does a nation defend a spacious new land to which it just laid claim? Consider a land that began with a trickle of settlers, only to surge into a steady stream of immigrants, each year’s population surpassing the next by leaps and bounds; a territory teaming with merchants, farmers, and artisans, who quickly fanned …
The main weapon of choice during the American Revolutionary War was the Long Land Pattern Musket, or smoothbore muzzleloader, used by both the British army and patriotic rebels. This design was developed in the early 1720’s in England and was used by many nations’ infantries throughout the rest of the century until the 1830s. It …