October 28, 2019: Captain Diel Rockfeller and the Albany Militia: Victories at Saratoga and in the Mohawk Valley
One of our speaker’s ancestor is Captain Diel Rockefeller who served in the Revolutionary War as an officer in the Albany County NY Militia. In 1777, Diel Rockefeller and the Albany militia, serving alongside of Morgan’s Rifleman, at the Battle of Saratoga, played a critical role. From 1778 through 1781, Indian battles evidence the important […]
November 25, 2019: The Caribbean During the American Revolution
One island controlled in the Caribbean was worth more than the whole thirteen colonies combined. The Caribbean islands were fought over for hundreds of years and this was no different during the American Revolution. Each island played an important role in smuggling, transporting goods, and storing armies and navies. Add to Calendar Join us on […]
January 27, 2020: Battle of the Clouds
What really happened after the Battle of Brandywine? Where was this little know battle fought? Why did Washington cross the river to engage Howe again in the South Valley Hill area of the Great Valley? What happened here that set up the Battle of Paoli? Find out the answers to these questions in this lecture. […]
February 24, 2020: Frontier’s Rebels: The Fight for Independence in the American West 1765-1776
The untold story of the “Black Boys,” a rebellion on the American frontier in 1765 that sparked the American Revolution. A little-known rebellion that erupted in western Pennsylvania a decade before Lexington and Concord to expose pre-revolutionary America in all its ambiguity. This lecture broadens the horizons on the meaning of American independence, expanding the […]
March 30, 2020: George Washington’s Nemesis: The Outrageous Treason and Unfair Court-martial of Major Charles Lee during the American Revolution
General Lee, second in command in the Continental Army led by George Washington, was captured by the British in December 1776. While a prisoner, he prepared and submitted to his captors a military plan on how to defeat Washington’s army as quickly as possible. This extraordinary act of treason, arguably on a par with Benedict […]
April 27, 2020: The Contest for Liberty: Military Leadership in the Continental Army, 1775–1783
In the summer of 1775, a Virginia gentleman-planter was given command of a New England army laying siege to British-occupied Boston. With his appointment, the Continental Army was born. Yet the cultural differences between those serving in the army and their new commander-in-chief led to conflicts from the very beginning that threatened to end the […]
May 18, 2020: Outside the Encampment: Impact of the Valley Forge Encampment on the Local Area
We have heard many accounts of what went on inside the Valley Forge encampment, but very little of the impact on the local community. What did the people do with Washington’s army staying the winter and spring right in their own back yard? How far out were picket posts from the main encampment area? What […]
June 29, 2020: The Quaker and the Gamecock
As the newly appointed commander of the Southern Continental Army in December 1780, Nathanael Greene quickly realized victory would not only require defeating the British Army, but also subduing the region’s brutal civil war. “The division among the people is much greater than I imagined, and the Whigs and the Tories persecute each other, with […]