On December 19, 1776, Thomas Paine published the first of his series of pamphlets titled “The American Crisis” in The Pennsylvania Journal. This work marked a pivotal moment in the American Revolution. Beginning with the now-iconic line, “These are the times that try men’s…
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During the winter of 1775-1776, General George Washington faced a dire need for artillery to break the British siege of Boston. That’s when Brigadier General Henry Knox, Washington’s Chief of Artillery, proposed a daring plan to transported “the guns of Ticonderoga” to Beantown, covering…
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On December 3, 1775—six months after Lexington and Concord, and amid the halting, improvisational birth of a Continental Navy—the newly commissioned USS Alfred unfurled a banner no American warship had ever carried. It was not yet the “Stars and Stripes,” nor anything immediately recognizable…
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The United States became independent on July 4, 1776, but it did not become free from the British until November 30, 1782. The Treaty of Paris, preliminarily signed on that date and sent to both countries for final approval, marked the official end of…
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The Articles of Confederation, adopted by the Continental Congress on November 15, 1777, and submitted to the states for ratification two days later on November 17, marked a crucial step in the formation of the United States. As the first framework for a unified…
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The creation of the United States Marine Corps on November 10, 1775, at Philadelphia’s Tun Tavern stands as one of the most durable institutional legacies of the American Revolution. Conceived in the early weeks of the war—when the Continental Congress urgently sought to build…
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Lord Dunmore’s bold proclamation in 1775 threw the American colonies into turmoil, forcing them to confront the deep contradictions between their ideals of freedom and their reliance on slavery. John Murray, better known as Lord Dunmore and the last Royal Governor of Virginia, issued…
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When King George III strode into the House of Lords on October 27, 1775, the ornate chamber was heavy with ceremony, but also with the weight of war. Three months earlier, British troops had fought colonial militiamen at Lexington and Concord. Now, the King’s…
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By early October 1777, the fate of Britain’s northern campaign hung in the balance. General John Burgoyne’s grand plan—to drive south from Canada and cut off New England from the rest of the colonies—had stalled along the upper Hudson River. His supply lines stretched…
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On September 28, 1781, the world began to turn upside down. On the battle-scarred fields of Yorktown, Virginia, the forces of destiny collided. General George Washington, leading the battle-hardened Continental Army, joined forces with French General Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau, to…
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