Revolutionary War

20 Stories

Revolutionary War Project Needs 'Citizen Archivists'

NPS needs volunteers to pore over old pension records of our 'first veterans'

(Newser) - For Americans who love exploring historic documents, it's a call to arms: The National Archives has joined with the National Park Service in asking the public to help reveal previously unknown stories from the Revolutionary War. Per CNN , it's called the Revolutionary War Pension Files Transcription Project...

12 of America's First Heroes to Be Reburied in South Carolina

The Revolutionary War soldiers lost their lives at the Battle of Camden

(Newser) - The 12 US soldiers died in a pine forest in South Carolina in 1780, their bodies hastily buried beneath a thin layer of soil as their comrades fled from the British who appeared ready to put a quick and brutal end to the American Experiment. But later this month, the...

Under Pennsylvania Soil, Remnants of a POW Camp

Researchers say they've found remnants of Camp Security in Yorktown, Pa.

(Newser) - Researchers say they've solved a decades-old riddle this week by finding remnants of a stockade, and therefore the site of a prison camp in York, Pa., that housed British soldiers for nearly two years during the American Revolutionary War. The location of Camp Security was thought to have been...

Scientists Uncover Remains of Hessian Troops From 1777

Forensic teams will try to identify German soldiers who fought in Revolutionary War

(Newser) - Researchers believe they have uncovered in a mass grave in New Jersey the remains of as many as 12 Hessian soldiers who fought during the Revolutionary War, officials announced Tuesday. The remains, found at the site of Fort Mercer and the 1777 Battle of Red Bank, rested for 245 years...

Collector's Reaction to 'Utterly Unique' Medal: 'Holy [Expletive]'

Only gold Daniel Morgan at Cowpens Medal, minted in 1839, could go at auction for up to $500K

(Newser) - In 1839, the Philadelphia Mint created a single gold medal in tribute to the courage shown by Revolutionary War Gen. Daniel Morgan at 1781's Battle of Cowpens . The medal was minted to replace the original given to Morgan, after that one was stolen in an 1818 robbery at a...

50 Years Later, Man Confesses He Stole Rifle Made in 1775

Thomas Gavin, 78, pleaded guilty Tuesday

(Newser) - The Johann Christian Oerter rifle, made in 1775, was stolen from Pennsylvania's Valley Forge visitor center in 1971. It took five decades, but now the man who took it has pleaded guilty in the case, the New York Times reports. Thomas Gavin, 78, will be sentenced Nov. 15; he...

River Dredging Brings Up a Possibly Revolutionary Find

Artifacts discovered in Georgia, including cannons and anchor, could be from late-1700s warship

(Newser) - What was supposed to be a routine dredging in the Savannah River turned up a handful of artifacts that might date back to the Revolutionary War. The AP reports that three barnacle-encrusted cannons, a rusty anchor, and a big piece of wood that could be a piece of a ship...

A Late President, a Sword, and a Mystery

Cops says weapon used by William Henry Harrison was recovered; historian says no

(Newser) - A sword believed to have seen action in the American Revolution, been wielded by eventual President William Henry Harrison in the War of 1812, and gone missing from a Cincinnati museum is now said to be recovered after 40 years, though one historian refutes the claim. Fox News reports on...

Revolutionary War Hero Appears Female or Intersex
Looks Like Revolutionary
War Hero Wasn't Male
new study
Apr 7, 2019 1:25 PM CDT

Looks Like Revolutionary War Hero Wasn't Male

Casimiar Pulaski may have been female or intersex, researchers say

(Newser) - A Revolutionary War hero dubbed the "father of the American cavalry" may well have been female or even intersex, if new research holds up. Experts analyzing the DNA and bones of Casimiar Pulaski—a Polish-American soldier who was fatally wounded in the 1779 Siege of Savannah—say the skeleton...

Revolutionary War Battlefield Finally Found

Exact site of the Feb. 3, 1779, encounter was only recently discovered

(Newser) - Historians say they've found the site of the Revolutionary War Battle of Grays Hill on the South Carolina coast. There's a roadside marker on US 21 north of Beaufort generally describing the battle, in which "a force of South Carolina militia, continentals, and volunteers ... defeated the British...

At Revolutionary War Site, 'Heroism Cries Out'

Archaeologists find exact spots soldiers stood during Parker's Revenge

(Newser) - Archaeologists using 21st-century technology are mapping out the exact spots British soldiers and Colonial militiamen were standing as they fired at each other during a pivotal skirmish on the first day of the American Revolution. Parker's Revenge, as the fight is known, occurred on April 19, 1775, after the...

Attic Find: 'One-of-a-Kind' 1775 Revolution Letter

A Continental Congress plea to the British people for reconciliation

(Newser) - A "one-of-a-kind document" James Madison once raved about has been discovered in the attic of George Washington's headquarters during the Revolutionary War. Emilie Gruchow of Manhattan's Morris-Jumel Mansion stumbled upon the yellowed, 12-page plea from the Continental Congress to the British people for reconciliation last summer in...

Secrets of 1780s POW Camp Buried in Pennsylvania

English, Scottish, and Canadian soldiers were imprisoned at Camp Security

(Newser) - The mud of a south-central Pennsylvania cornfield may soon produce answers about the fate of British prisoners of war—and the newly independent Americans who guarded them—during the waning years of the American Revolution. A few miles east of York, the city that briefly served as the fledgling nation'...

Palin: I Didn't Flub Paul Revere

'I know my American history,' ex-governor says

(Newser) - Sarah Palin will have you know that she knows her American history and "didn't mess up about Paul Revere," the might-be presidential candidate tells Fox News Sunday. Palin stood by last week's claim that Revere warned the Brits that they weren't going to take Americans'...

Americans Flunk History
 Americans Flunk History 
happy independence day
Jul 2, 2010 2:36 PM CDT

Americans Flunk History

One-quarter of Americans don't know who got the short end of Revolution

(Newser) - On July 4th, Americans from all walks of life will gather to celebrate their independence from … someone or other. According to a new poll, more than 1 in 4 Americans can’t name England as the country the colonists fought in the Revolutionary War, CNN reports. That figure includes...

Tea Partier's Trippy Ad Calls for Revolution

'Gather your armies,' Washington declares

(Newser) - Think the Tea Party rhetoric is getting a little overwrought? Then get a load of this video from Alabama House candidate Rick Barber, in which he has a kind of war council with various founding fathers. Barber calls for President Obama’s impeachment, then launches a mostly nonsensical rant about...

Ala. Blogger Hails 'Window War' Against Dem Offices

Glass smashed at least five places across US

(Newser) - Rocks have been flying through the windows of Democratic offices across the US, and one Alabama-based blogger is taking credit for what he calls the “window war” against the big-government supporters of health reform. “I guess that guy’s one of ours,” Mike Vanderboegh told the Rochester ...

History Often Forgets About This Adams
History Often Forgets About This Adams
BOOK REVIEW
Nov 26, 2008 4:22 PM CST

History Often Forgets About This Adams

And it's a shame: Sam, cousin of John, helped shape our revolution

(Newser) - When people think of Samuel Adams these days, the beer, and not the Revolutionary War hero, may come to mind first. But a new book from Ira Stoll—Samuel Adams: A Life—makes the case for bringing the cousin of John Adams out of "the attic of history."...

1780 British Warship Found
 1780 British Warship Found 
Jun 14, 2008 6:22 AM CDT

1780 British Warship Found

Extraordinarily well-preserved Revolutionary War sloop located in Lake Ontario

(Newser) - Two intrepid explorers using sonar and a remote-controlled submersible have discovered what may be the oldest shipwreck in the Great Lakes, the AP reports. HMS Ontario, a British warship carrying as many as 130, sank in a storm in Lake Ontario in 1780. Since 1781, when six sailors’ bodies washed...

One if by Land, LED if by Sea...
One if by Land, LED if by Sea...
Mar 3, 2008 8:30 PM CST

One if by Land, LED if by Sea...

Paul Revere's famous church stops living in the past, installs eco- friendly light bulbs

(Newser) - The green bulbs are coming, the green bulbs are coming! That’s the appropriate contemporary cry for a Paul Revere impersonator, who might still be able to use the Old North Church’s lanterns to warn of a British invasion—but would have to settle for LEDs. The Boston landmark...

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