May 24, 2020
General William Howe gets a late start to the 1777 fighting campaign, not leaving New York City until the end of July. He opts to sail all they way to Virginia and then up the Chesapeake Bay to land in Maryland, with Philadelphia as his goal.
Weeks of the British Army at sea leave the Continentals perplexed and guessing at what the ultimate goal would be.
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Book Recommendation of the Week: The Philadelphia Campaign: Volume One: Brandywine and the Fall of Philadelphia, by Thomas J. McGuire
Online Recommendation of the Week: The Civil War 1861-1865 (Podcast) CivilWarPodcast.org
May 17, 2020
The Marquis de Lafayette, a young french noble with dreams of fighting for liberty travels to America to become a major general in the Continental Army. In doing so, he must overcome skepticism and resistance from both sides of the Atlantic.
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Book Recommendation of the Week: The Marquis: Lafayette Reconsidered, by Laura Auricchio
Online Recommendation of the Week: ebook, The Life of General Lafayette, by John Quincy Adams: https://archive.org/details/lifeofgenerallaf00adam
May 10, 2020
General Burgoyne's army reaches the Hudson river after slogging through the wilderness for most of August 1777. Burgoyne relied on his Indian allies to keep the enemy from setting up ambushes or otherwise interfering with progress.
After an Indian returned with the scalp of Jane McCrea, the fiancé of one of his officers, Burgoyne had to put restrictions on the Indians. Most warriors responded by leaving the army and returning home. The story of Jane McCrea became a rallying point for Americans against the barbarous tactic of the British.
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Book Recommendation of the Week: The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution, by Alan Taylor
Online Recommendation of the Week: The Life of Jane McCrea, by David Wilson: https://archive.org/details/lifeofjanemccrea01wils
![Episode 146 Battle of Hubbardton]()
April 26, 2020
As the Fort Ticonderoga garrison escapes the attacking British under General Burgoyne, American General Arthur St. Clair leaves a rearguard at Hubbardton to prevent the British from advancing on the retreating army.
Colonel Seth Warner commands the American rearguard, which is still at Hubbardton when the British advance guard, under the command of General Simon Fraser, catches up to them. A brutal wilderness battle rages for hours in the wooded mountains. Finally German reinforcements under the command of General Friedrich von Riedesel reach the battle and force the remaining Americans to flee into the woods.
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Book Recommendation of the Week: The Battle of Hubbardton: The Rear Guard Action That Saved America, by Bruce M Venter
Online Recommendation of the Week: Animated Map of the Battle of Hubbardton, by Seth Warner's Regiment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdCdykHbP4s&t=11s
![Episode 145 Retreat from Ticonderoga]()
April 19, 2020
The American garrison at Fort Ticonderoga make a confused nighttime escape from Fort Ticonderoga, just in time to avoid capture. The bulk of the army marches off into the woods while the sick, wounded and supplies are loaded aboard ships.
The next morning, the British fleet chases after the ships, catching up with them at Skenesborough. The American fleet is captured or destroyed. A few soldiers escape to Fort Anne. The British pursue with a small advance force. The Americans counter attack before British reinforcements arrive. When the British reinforcements get to the scene, the Americans withdraw and destroy Fort Ann.
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Book Recommendation of the Week: With Musket and Tomahawk, The Saratoga Campaign and the Wilderness War of 1777, by Michael O. Logusz
Online Recommendation of the Week: The British Invasion from the North: The Campaigns of Generals Carleton and Burgoyne, With the Journal of Lieut. William Digby, by James Phinney Baxter: https://archive.org/details/britishinvasion02digbgoog
April 12, 2020
After the British fail to take the Fort Ticonderoga in 1776, the Continentals squander the winter fighting among themselves. When General Burgoyne's British army moves to surround and assault the fort in the summer of 1777, General St. Clair realizes his Continental garrison is a sitting duck.
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Book Recommendation of the Week: Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War, by Richard M. Ketchum
Online Recommendation of the Week: The Paradocs Podcast http://theparadocs.com
April 5, 2020
General Burgoyne assembles his army in Canada. His army of thousands, led by Simon Fraser, William Phillips, Baron von Rediesel assembles in the early summer of 1777 to march on Fort Ticonderoga, then down the Hudson valley to cut of New England and reestablish British authority.
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Book Recommendation of the Week: Where a Man Can Go: Major General William Phillips, British Royal Artillery, 1731-1781, by Robert P. Davis.
Online Recommendation of the Week: History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, by Francis Duncan: https://archive.org/details/historyroyalreg02duncgoog
March 29, 2020
Throughout the Revolution, disease was a far greater killer of soldiers than the enemy. This week, we discuss how people suffered from disease during the Revolutionary War, how it impacted the course of the war, and what they did to fight back.
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Book Recommendation of the Week: Medicine and the American Revolution: How Diseases and Their Treatments Affected the Colonial Army, by Oscar Reiss.
Online Recommendation of the Week: The American Revolution: from the commencement to the disbanding of the American army; given in the form of a daily journal, with the exact dates of all the important events; also, a biographical sketch of all the most prominent generals, by James Thacher: https://archive.org/details/americanrevoluti00thacuoft
March 22, 2020
Congress returns from its removal to Baltimore after the fear of British occupation of Philadelphia passes. The new session approves a new American flag on June 14, 1777. Congress also promotes new generals. It must deal with an influx of French officer applicants that it does not want, but also does not want to offend France. Finally, after several months, Congress once again leaves Philadelphia after the British threaten another occupation.
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Book Recommendation of the Week: Robert Morris Financier of the American Revolution, Charles Rappleye
Online Recommendation of the Week: https://www.chamberofcommerce.org/usflag/history/flagday.html
