Places and Artifacts of The American Revolution

  One of our favorite family vacation destinations is Virginia. Specifically, the Historical Triangle area, which is comprised of:  Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg and Yorktown.   We have been vacationing there every few years for the better part of 10 years and each time we seem to find new sites to visit and always run out of time before we run out of things to do. Most recently, we expanded out past the Historic Triangle and ventured to Monticello which is around 110 miles from Williamsburg in Charlottesville, and Mount Vernon which is around 105 miles from Williamsburg in a completely different direction. Both are equally amazing and majestic, but in very different ways. I'll start off with our basecamp, Colonial Williamsburg. Colonial Williamsburg Williamsburg was founded in 1632 between the James and York rivers. It was the capital city of the Commonwealth of Virginia from 1699 to 1780, when it moved to Richmond. Williamsburg just was just as central to the po...

  Round shot, solid shot, small shot, grape shot, swivel shot, canister shot, cannonballs and so on and so on and so on. So many names, variations and types of round projectiles used during The American Revolutionary War to inflict harm to property and person. I'll keep the subject matter of this post limited to 18th century solid shot, swivel shot and case/grape shot. I'll post at a later time in regards to musket balls and pistol balls, as they are a whole other matter which merits discussion. Here we go with some definitions and a few examples from my personal collection. Dating back to the 15th century, initially made of stone then cast iron, cannonballs were first utilized by the French as a means to level castle walls. By the time of the American Revolution, cast iron solid shot were in standardized sizes with their calibers based on the weight of the shot ranging from less than a pound up to fifty pounds. Anatomy of an Iron Solid Shot Ball   Cannon balls and the smaller...

I had the privilege of visiting Philadelphia a few years ago for a business trip and was fortunate enough to do a little bit of sight seeing in the evenings after work. Unfortunately, I was not able to go into many of the museums or attractions since it was usually after 5PM each day and most were closed. Here are some pics and videos of some of the things I was able to do/see.

  The military finances for the colony of Connecticut were handled by the Pay-Table, also known as the Committee of Four, during the American Revolution. Pay-Table members rotated and included such notables as jurist Oliver Ellsworth, attorney Oliver Wolcott, Jr. (a future U.S. Secretary of the Treasury), Hezekiah Rogers (an aide de camp to General Jedidiah Huntington, who was also a member), William Moseley, Fenn Wadsworth, Eleazer Wales and General Samuel Wyllys, son of Governor George Wyllys. During the American Revolution, Samuel Wyllys (1739-1823) led a regiment in the siege of Boston. Fort Wyllys was named in his honor. William Moseley (1755-1824) later served in the Connecticut state senate (1822-1824).   Financing the Revolution laid a heavy burden upon each colony, especially those which balked at levying taxes. In order to meet immediate needs, such as wages, the colonies relied upon wealthy revolutionists, foreign loans, and taxes and gifts from abroad. Connect...

"Let us expel every species of luxury and extravagance, the parents of poverty and ruin, and banish the great cause of both - PAPER MONEY" - Letter to the editor - Boston Evening Post - January 8, 1750