If you have been following the news of late, you know that we just marked the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the American Revolution. The famous “shot heard round the world” refers to the un-named British soldier or Massachusetts militiaman who first opened fire at the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775. Although[…]Read more
The Treaty of Paris of 1783 ended the American Revolution; however, it was the British surrender to George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia, on October 19, 1781, that set the stage for American Independence. Indeed, Yorktown was the final decisive battle of the conflict, but nothing about it was preordained. For one thing, General Washington wanted[…]Read more
Editor’s Note: Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck’s groundbreaking book, Revolutionary War Pensions Awarded by State Governments 1775-1874, the General and Federal Governments Prior to 1814, and by Private Acts of Congress to 1905, identifies and recreates the Revolutionary War pension files generated prior to the disastrous fire in the War Department on 8 November 1800, and a[…]Read more
The following reviews were published in the Fall 2020 issue of the St. Louis Genealogical Society Quarterly (pp. 91-92) Women Patriots in the American Revolution: Stories of Bravery, Daring, and Compassion. By Jack Darrell Crowder. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 2018. 102 pages. Illustrations, bibliography, index. Softcover. $24.95. Strange, Amazing, and Funny Events that Happened during the[…]Read more
Historians and genealogists have mostly overlooked the role of women in the American Revolution, even though women’s roles in working their farms, raising their children, and generally supporting the morale of the Patriot side were of great importance. The suffering of the men at Valley Forge, on the British prison ships, and during long marches[…]Read more
In Chapter Seven in our new book, Victory or Death: Military Decisions that Changed the Course of the American Revolution, author Jack Darrell Crowder describes the lengths to which General Washington relied on spies following his retreat from New York in 1776. From 1777 to 1781, the American forces were out-gunned and less well supplied[…]Read more
Genealogists and historians will be eager to examine Paul Heinegg’s third major contribution to the literature of African American history and genealogy of 2021: List of Free African Americans in the American Revolution: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, and Delaware (Followed by French and Indian Wars and Colonial Militias) In this new book, Mr.[…]Read more
Over the course of the last few months, we’ve published a number of excerpts from J. Michael Cleverley’s intriguing book, Family Stories . . . and How I found Mine. We’ve followed the Cleverley ancestors from the court of William the Conqueror, to the intrigues of the British nobility on the eve of the War[…]Read more
Former teacher and school administrator Jack Darrell Crowder has devoted much of his adult life to studying the American Revolution. He has also made it his business to convert his learning into informative, illustrated books written for the ordinary reader, not academicians. Genealogical.com has published six of Mr. Crowder’s books, each of which is described briefly[…]Read more
Editor’s Note: Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck’s groundbreaking book, Revolutionary War Pensions Awarded by State Governments 1775-1874, the General and Federal Governments Prior to 1814, and by Private Acts of Congress to 1905, identifies and recreates the Revolutionary War pension files generated prior to the disastrous fire in the War Department on 8 November 1800, and a[…]Read more
After near 50 years and four editions, why is Val Greenwood’s Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy is still the most respected genealogy textbook? It is clear, to the point, and authoritative, to be sure, but “Greenwood” is also extremely resourceful. The following illustration from one of its two chapters on Military Records is a good[…]Read more
In the September 15 issue of “Genealogy Pointers,” we traced author J. Michael Cleveley’s ancestors to Rhode Island on the eve of the American Revolution, as they attempt to organize a militia company to support the Patriot cause. Nearly a century later, we learn that those Rhode Islanders’ descendants are struggling to establish themselves on[…]Read more
