From the 2022 American Battlefield Trust December calendar.
DECEMBER 5-7, 1776
** Battle of White Marsh, Pennsylvania
DECEMBER 9, 1775
** The Battle of Great Bridge, Virginia.
DECEMBER 16, 1773
** The Boston Tea Party
DECEMBER 22, 1775
** Battle of Great Canebreak, South Carolina
DECEMBER 30-JANUARY 1, 1775
** The Battle of Quebec
--Cooter
From the Summer 2022 Hallowed Ground magazine.
At its spring meeting,the National Society Sons of the American Revolution (NSSAR), in unanimous acclamation, named the American Battlefield Trust the 2022 recipient of its Distinguished Patriotic Leadership Award, and recognizing both the Trust's land preservation and educational initiatives.
Of course, the American Battlefield Trust originally was the Civil War Battlefield Trust and only targetting preservation of Civil War battlefields, but has recently expanded its preservation efforts to the American Revolution and the War of 1812 battlefields.
The NSSAR has been a strong supporter of the Trust's work since its earliest forays into the protection of Revolutionary War battle sites. Its advocacy meaningly advanced Trust preservation efforts at Princeton and together the two organizations have worked to protect 2,500 additional acres to mark the Revolutionary War's 250th anniversary, the semiquincentennial.
--Cooter
From the October 2022 American Battlefield Trust calendar.
SARATOGA, NEW YORK
26 acres saved
The American game-changing victory at Saratoga, New York, on October 7 (today), 1777, marked the end of British General John Burgoyne's efforts to control the Hudson River Valley and the beginning of a Franco-American alliance, which brought the American Revolution to a global stage.
The American Battlefield Trust, along with the Saratoga National Historical Park, has saved 26 acres at the upstate New York battlefield and continues to work with American Veteran Archaeology Recovery to coordinate archaeological endeavors in the storied terrain.
As I said before, I am very glad that the former Civil War Trust has expanded its efforts to include the two other wars fought on American soil, the American Revolution and the War of 1812.
--Cooter
From the American Battlefield Trust.
OCTOBER 7, 1763
** Proclamation of 1763. King George III banned American colonists from settling beyond the Appalachian Mountains.
OCTOBER 7-23, 1765
** Stamp Act Congress meets in Philadelphia to discuss the crisis.
SEPTEMBER 5 -- OCTOBER 26, 1774
** The First Continental Congress meets at Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia.
OCTOBER 7, 1777
** Battle of Saratoga, New York, concludes with a major American victory.
OCTOBER 19, 1781
** British General Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown, Virginia.
--Cooter
From the American Battlefield Trust September 2022 calendar.
SEPTEMBER 5, 1774
** The First Continental Congress opens at Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia.
SEPTEMBER 8,1781
** Battle of Eutaw Springs, South Carolina
SEPTEMBER 11, 1777
** Battle of Brandywine, Pennsylvania
SEPTEMBER 16, 1776
** Battle of Harlem Heights, New York
SEPTEMBER 22, 1776
** British execute Nathan Hale, a soldier in the Continental Army.
SEPTEMBER 28, 1781
** Siege of Yorktown, Virginia, begins
--Cooter
From the American Battlefield Trust September 2022 calendar.
BRANDYWINE, PENNSYLVANIA
187 acres saved.
Fought on September 11, 1777, the Battle of Brandywine pitted the Americans, led by George Washington and rising stars Nathaniel Greene and Marquis de Lafayette, against British forces under William Howe and Wilhem von Kynpausen.
A pivotal British victory, Brandywine cleared the way for the Redcoats to capture and occupy Philadelphia, forcing the Continental Congress to flee.
The Trust and its many partners have saved 187 acres of the Brandywine Battlefield, which is located about 32 miles southwest of Philadelphia near Chadd's Ford, Pennsylvania.
--Cooter
Back in last month, I was writing about Army General William J. Snow, the father of Lt. Col. William A. Snow, who engineered Snow's Cut in North Carolina near Wlmington. Always, reaching the Snow's Cut Bridge on US Highway 421, meant you were entering Carolina Beach, my favorite all-time beach.
Major General Snow was a major figure in the U.S. Army's artrillery in the first part of the 20th century. Much like Anne-Louis Toussard was for the Continental Army and early 1800s U.S. Army (I've been writing about him in my Cooter's History Thing blog last month.
AFTER WORLD WAR I
After World War I, Wiliam Snow continued to serve as Chief of U.S. Artillery. This position was codified by law in 1920. He served until retiring in 1927.
During this time, he oversaw the artillery branch's postwar reorganization, including the beginning of testing and experimentation to determine how to transition from horse drawn equipment to mechanized and modernized processes for directing and controlling indirect fire to improve speed and accuracy.
--Cooter
From the American Battlefield Trust 2022 calendar.
AUGUST 6, 1790
** Battle of Hanging Rock, South Carolina
AUGUST 16, 1777
** Battle of Bennington, New York
AUGUST 16, 1780
** Battle of Camden, South Carolina
AUGUST 27, 1776
** Battle of Long Island, New York
AUGUST, 30 1781
** Battle of Parker's Ferry, South Carolina.
--Brock-Perry
In July, 1917, he was selected to command the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and promoted to brigadier general. At the school, he began the process of reorganizing and modernizing the program of instruction to meet the increased demand for officers created by World War I.
In September 1917, Snow was assigned to command the 156th Field Artillery Brigade at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. In February 1918, he was selected to serve as the first Chief of Field Artillery, an unofficial position created to oversee the field artillery branch's wartime mobilization and training and was promoted to major general in June.
In this role, he created a system of training centers and replacement depots, which enabled the artillery branch to meet the wartime demand for qualified artillerymen.
William J. Snow was obviously a very important man in the field artillery branch of the U.SA. Army. Of interest, currently I am writing about a man named Anne-Louis Toussard in my Not So Forgotten: War of 1812 blog. He was of great importance to the American artillery in the American Revolution and wrote a book about artillery used in the 1800s by the United States. He also was very important in the creation and early days of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Well worth a trip over there to read about him.
Just Some More RoadTripping Through History. --Cooter
His estate is now part of the campus of LaSalle University in Philadelphia. It can still be visited.
Peale also raised troops for the American Revolution and eventually became a captain in the Pennsylvania militia in 1776 and participated in several battles. While in the field, he continued to paint. doing miniatures of American officers. After the war, he made many into larger paintings.
From 1779 to 1780 he was in the Pennsylvania state assembly, after which he returned to painting full time.
Peale was quite prolific as an artist and did portraits of scores of historic figures such as Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton to name a few.
He is probably best known for his portraits of George Washington. The first time Washington sat for his portrait with Peale was 1772 and they had six other sittings. Using these seven as models, Peale produced altogether close to sixty portraits of Washington. In January 2005, a full-length portrait of Washington at Princeton from 1779 sold for $21.3 million, setting a record for the highest price ever paid for an American portrait.
--Cooter
Yes, his middle name is actually spelled Willson with two "Ls".
From Wikipedia.
Since I was writing about the portrait this man painted of George Washington at the Battle of Princeton, I figured I's find out some more about him. I don't remember ever knowing anything about him. Now, I do.
(April 15, 1741- February 22, 1827)
American painter, soldier, scientist, inventor, politician and naturalist. A real Renaissance Man. He is best remembered for his portrait paintings of leading figures of the American Revolution and establishing one of the first museums in the United States.
After forays into saddle making, clocks and metal working, he found his niche in painting. After joining the Sons of Liberty, he became enamored with the new country that was being established on Philadelphia and moved there where he painted many of the famous people leading the effort, including, of course, George Washington.
--Cooter
Maybe I'll finish these ten facts sometime in the future. Continued from February 17.
7. MARINES FOUGHT ALONGSIDE WASHINGTON AT THE BATTLE OF PRINCETON
Washington sent out a desperate plea for reinforcement. One of the first groups to respond to this request were roughly 600 Marines from the Philadelphia area. This force had been recruited to serve aboard Continental warships now anchored in Philadelphia and were generally considered to be excellent fighters.
Their officers had had duty against British ships and they had been occupied in daily drill and frequent skirmishes with the British forces operating in the area.
Three companies of Marines accompanied Washington on his nighttime march to Princeton. Moving with Cadwalader's Brigade into the fight, a few Marines under the command of Major Samuel Nicholas, engaged Manhood's British troops on the Clarke Farm.
(Major Samuel Nicholas was the first Marine Corps officer and, by tradition, considered the first commandant of the corps.)
During the fierce fighting, several Marines were killed, including Captain William Shippin.
These casualties were some of the first to be suffered by the Marine Corps on any battlefield.
--Cooter
The HMS Rose was a brig that carried 160 men and twenty 9-pounder cannons. Earlier, it had worked to control smuggling in Rhode Island and fought and patrolled waters off New York City and up the Hudson River. Later, it switched operations to the south as the British were hoping they could get the support of many Loyalists there and the ship ended up in Savannah, Georgia, after the British captured it.
But with French ships closing in on the city, the Rose was scuttled on September 19, 1779, to block the Savannah River.
It is possible that the cannons also may have belonged to the HMS Venus or HMS Savannah which were also scuttled. The French did not capture the city and kept control of it until almost the war's end. (I could not find any records on these two ships as British Navy ones, but likely were troopships. I have seen a couple places where it was mentioned that ships by these names were sunk in the river.)
The cannons appear to date from about the mid 1700s, which would put them closely aligned to the Rose's history.
The ones found last February were about five feet long.
An interesting story.
--DaCootRose
From the American Battlefield Trust.
MARCH 3, 1779
** Battle of Brier Creek, Georgia
MARCH 5, 1770
** Boston Massacre
MARCH 15, 1781
** Battle of Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina.
MARCH 22, 1765
** Stamp Act. Tax on paper goods and legal documents.
MARCH 23, 1775
** Patrick Henry's "Liberty or Death" speech, Richmond, Virginia.
MARCH 29, 1780
** Siege of Charleston, South Carolina, begins.
--Cooter
From the American Battlefield Trust March 2022 calendar.
CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
88 acres saved
Picture of Marion Square.
Home to a weekly farmers market and impromptu picnics, Charleston's Marion Square is also the setting for a Liberty Trail-sponsored archaeological study to document the footprint of the Horn Work.
This structure once stood tall as the defensive centerpiece for Continental commanders during the American Revolution. It was where American generals Lincoln and Moultrie surrendered to the British after a six-week siege that began on March 29, 1780.
The trust and its partners, including the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust, have saved 88 Revolutionary acres around Charleston.
--Cooter
From the February 9, 2022, WJCL ABC "Archaeologists discover a dozen Revolutionary War cannons in the Savannah River" by CNN.
This is a remarkable find that raises the question of what vessel had they been on before their trip to river bottom and, of course, why were they dropped.
The local district of the Army Corps of Engineers is in charge of deepening the river channel posted a video and photos about it.
Last month's raising of the rusty artifacts brings to the number of recovered cannons to fifteen, plus fragments of another one found over the last year in preparation for the river project.
"There is no telling what all is down there," says Corps district archaeologist Andrea Farmer told CNN, saying, "so much of the river is unknown.
--Cooter
I'm going to take a break from the Battle of Princeton (and hopefully get back to it in a more timely amount of time than last time) to go through this list from the History Site about our presidents in honor of Presidents Day coming up this Monday.
1. GEORGE WASHINGTON (1789-1797)
The first U.S. president and hero of the American Revolution was an enthusiastic dog breeder, particularly of hunting hounds, to which he gave names like "Sweet Lips" and "Drunkard."
2. JOHN ADAMS (1797-1801)
Adams and his wife Abigail exchanged more than 1,100 letters over the course of their lengthy relationship.
3. THOMAS JEFFERSON (1801-1809)
Jefferson, the principal author of the declaration of Independence, died on July 4, 1826, within hours of his "frenemy" John Adams.
4. JAMES MADISON (1809-1817)
Madison was the shortest president at 5'4" and weighed barely 100 pounds.
5. JAMES MONROE-- (1817-1825)
Other than Washington, Monroe was the only president to ever run essentially unopposed, coasting to re-election in the 1820 race.
--CootPres
I must admit that I didn't know much of anything about either one of these battles before I started writing about them in this blog.
Both had ramifications, but, again, I knew nothing about them.
I have been writing about the Battle of Kettle Creek this month. This one was Tories vs. Patriots.
I wrote about the Battle of Princeton back in this blog during the month of December so if you're also unfamiliar with it, that's where you go. This one involved regular soldiers on both sides.
And, for that matter, I wasn't aware of the Battle of Shepherdstown during the Civil War until recently and I have been writing about it a lot in last month and this month's Saw the Elephant: Civil War blog.
Learning stuff every day.
--Cooter
From American Battlefield Trust.
He commanded the Tories at the Battle of Kettle Creek, Georgia.
Information about John Boys id unfortunately extremely sparse. It is also possible that his name might have even been James.
In any event, he was probably a landowner in South Carolina. After the British capture of New York City, Boyd traveled north and met with Sir Henry Clinton, receiving a commission and orders to form a Loyalist regiment in the South.
In November 1778, Boyd accompanied British Colonel Archibald Campbell's expedition to Savannah, Georgia, which was captured by British forces on December 29, 1778. After Campbell followed up his victory by moving inland and capturing Augusta, Georgia, Boyd was dispatched north to raise a force of Loyalists in the Carolinas.
He was attacked at Kettle Creek on his return journey after completing his recruitment expedition. Boyd was buried in an unmarked grave on the Battle of Kettle Creek site.
It has not been located.
--Brock-Perry
