The ‘Virginia Hercules’ was the one-man army of the American Revolution
One day in 1765, a 5-year-old boy wearing fine clothes and speaking no English was found on the docks of City Point, Virginia. No one knew where he came from,…
Today in military history: The American Revolution begins
On April 19, 1775, the American Revolution began, with a “shot heard round the world.” The very first confrontation in the war for independence began with an early morning-hour standoff…
This is what inspired the patriotic Yankee Doodle song
The origin of the famous patriotic Yankee Doodle song lies deep in the history of the United States. While it is commonly associated with the children’s classic Barney & Friends,…
The last battle of the American Revolution was fought in India
Despite what high school textbooks would have us think, the American Revolution didn’t end at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. A 2015 article in the Journal of the American…
Today in military history: Patriot victory at Battle of Kettle Creek
On Feb. 14, 1779, a militia force of patriots defeated loyalists at the Battle of Kettle Creek during the American Revolution. Savannah, Georgia, had been captured by the British on…
The Boston Tea Party and the ungrateful colonists who started it all
On December 16, 1773 a bunch of rebel colonists from Massachusetts got sassy and decided to defy their one true king. While disguised as Indians, they dumped 342 chests of…
The insanely simple reason Lord Nelson revolutionized naval warfare
For centuries, the British Empire was as close as any nation could come to global superpower status in the age of sail. The biggest reason for that was the Royal…
A navy of privately owned ships helped win the American Revolution
It’s no secret that the early American revolutionists were up against a serious enemy when it came to the British Navy. Not only was the British Navy, one of the…
Today in military history: American victory at Saratoga
On Oct. 17, 1777, Americans won a major victory at Saratoga. During the American Revolution, the nascent United States needed a large victory to prove to foreign countries that the…
This British marksman could have killed George Washington
It’s difficult to imagine how history would have been altered if George Washington had been killed during the Revolutionary War. Without the father of our country leading its fight for freedom, the war might have been lost and America might still b…