Yes, the Independence Day Holiday is fast approaching! Like other holiday seasons Balladeer’s Blog mixes new posts in with the seasonal favorites of you readers. To start this year’s countdown here are the most popular items from years past:
REVOLUTIONARY WAR BATTLES BEFORE JULY 4th
QUICK FACTS ON ALL THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION
NAVAL BATTLES OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
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Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog are familiar with my fondness for old Silent Movies. America was D.W. Griffith’s 1924 production about the Revolutionary War. The movie is pleasant enough for the July 4th holiday season, but don’t expect a classic like The Phantom of the Opera, The Mark of Zorro or many other masterpieces of the silent era.
Batman fans may enjoy the fact that a very young Neil Hamilton – Commissioner Gordon on the much later Adam West Batman show – starred in America as Nathan Holden, a rebel Minute Man in Massachusetts. Nathan is part of a Romeo and Juliet-styled romance and is in love with Nancy Montague (Carol Dempster), who belongs to a Tory family still loyal to England.
The Holdens can’t stand the snobbish Montagues and the Montagues pompously look down on the Holdens and the rest of the rebels. Nancy’s father would rather see Nancy married off to the prominent British military officer Captain Walter Butler, played with aristocratic and sadistic flair by THE Lionel Barrymore.
The star-crossed lovers Nathan and Nancy struggle to keep their romance alive against the backdrop of historical events like the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere’s Ride, the Battle of Bunker Hill and many others.Various actors portray figures like John Hancock, Samuel Adams, William Pitt, King George III, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee and, of course, George Washington. Continue reading
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Balladeer’s Blog wishes a happy birthday to the USA! What happened in early July of 1776 certainly needs no rehashing so in keeping with my blog’s theme of addressing more out of the way subjects this post will examine various events that took place on other July 4th’s throughout American history.
JULY 4TH, 1778 – George Rogers Clark led his rebel forces in taking the British stronghold of Kaskaskia, near the confluence of the Mississippi and Kaskaskia Rivers. Clark and his Rangers were on a mission for then-Virginia Governor Patrick Henry.
JULY 4TH, 1783 – The Massachusetts Supreme Court is finalizing its written decision holding that slavery has been illegal in the state since adoption of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights in 1780.
JULY 4TH, 1788 – Continue reading
Filed under Neglected History, Revolutionary War
It may be my fondness for mythology that makes me love to watch particular movies around particular holidays. I say that because many of the well- known myths were recited on ancient holidays when their subject matter was relevant to those holidays. The stories helped accentuate the meaning of the special events and that’s the way I use various movies. At Christmas I watch countless variations of A Christmas Carol, around Labor Day I watch Eight Men Out, at Halloween The Evil Dead and the original Nightmare On Elm Street, Thanksgiving Eve I do Oliver! and for Frontierado (which is just a month away now) I do Silverado.
Since the actual 4th of July is loaded with activity I always show 1776 on the night before. It’s a great way to get in the mood for Independence Day. It’s a musical but with brilliant dialogue portions and the story involves the political maneuvering surrounding the Original Thirteen Colonies at last announcing their independence from Great Britain, more than a year after Continue reading
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Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of neglected naval clashes of the Revolutionary War.
MAY 21st, 1777 – Off St Augustine, FL the USS Comet waged an all-night battle with the HMS Apalachicola until the British ship had lost all sails and riggings and was forced to surrender.
APRIL 27th, 1778 – THE John Paul Jones, leading a detachment from the USS Ranger, raided the British port of Whitehaven. The detachment’s commando-style raid resulted in Continue reading
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The Fourth of July is rapidly approaching! Some people get puzzled about the actual Thirteen Original Colonies of America. They know for instance that Daniel Morgan’s Kentucky Rifles were one of the most storied units of the war and saw action from Canada to the American South. Yet, Kentucky is not listed as one of the original colonies.
Similarly they know that Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys were a Vermont unit and that Chillicothe in Ohio was the site of the REAL last battle of the war, yet neither Vermont nor Ohio were original colonies, either. The reason for all that is this: Continue reading
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In the spirit of the 4th of July season here’s a neglected battle from the American Revolution.
BATTLE OF ELIZABETHTOWN
Date(s): January 5th-7th, 1777
Location: Elizabethtown and Springfield, NJ
American Commander: General William Maxwell
British Commander: Colonel Charles Mawhood
The Battle: On January 5th American Rebels attacked a British Cavalry patrol, killing one man and wounding another. The next day some cavalrymen and 50 infantrymen set out from the town to kill or capture any Rebels in the area. Continue reading
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*** *** *** *** *** *** The Thomas Carpenter House
THE FIGHTING QUAKER, THOMAS CARPENTER: The Fourth of July is fast approaching! As always Balladeer’s Blog will be marking the occassion with plenty of seasonal posts.
Though his Quaker principles prevented him from taking on a combat role in the Revolutionary War, Thomas Carpenter became a Paymaster of militia units on March 19th, 1777. Continue reading
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HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY FROM BALLADEER’S BLOG! Here’s a look at the overlooked final year of fighting in America’s Revolutionary War.
THE FORGOTTEN YEAR OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR (1781 – 1782) – My fellow Revolutionary War geeks and I are forever rolling our eyes at documentaries that act like Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown marked the end of that conflict. True, it was the last MAJOR battle of the war, but there were 13 more months of open bloodshed and another year after that before the peace treaty was signed.
October 1781 to November 1782 saw General “Mad” Anthony Wayne’s campaign to fully recover Georgia from British Loyalists and Continue reading
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Welcome back to Balladeer’s Blog! As always I am big on seasonal articles and here is another one of my examinations of a neglected aspect of Revolutionary War history. With the 4th of July coming up quickly enjoy this look at some forgotten naval battles from the war for our country’s independence.
AUGUST 7th, 1775 – The Commerce raided the HMS Betsy and successfully made off with over 17,000 lbs of gunpowder for the rebel cause.
AUGUST 10th, 1775 – In Gloucester, MA the town militia fired on the HMS Falcon and drove it off, killing 35 British sailors and forcing the ship to Continue reading
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