American Revolution Round Table of Williamsburg/Yorktown

10/09/2026

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10/05/2026

“It may be that strong, for the rebel race has greatly increased of late. In the meanwhile, I hope that they will stay where they are, and that we (I mean the English) may be a bit more closely drawn together for the attack. For unless we are, I cannot yet reassure myself that infantry with its files four et apart can capture entrenchments by escalade, or hold its ground against Page. We have allowed the rebels too much me in which to become soldiers. They are drilled by French officers; and I am none too sure how our general is going to get himself out of this affair.”
-Colonel Carl Emil Curt von Donop
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Hessians are more complicated than the mercenary label usually attached to their involvement in the Revolutionary War. Political alliances dominated Europe in the 1700s; thankfully for King George the Third, he sat on the throne of Hanover and maintained political ties to Hesse-Kassel and Hanau. When the Revolutionary War broke out, King George relied heavily on these auxiliary troops to ease the burden on a Britain still recovering from the Seven Years War. Throughout the Revolution, Hessian units served bravely alongside their British comrades. Notably, Hessians were present for the capture of New York City and the famous Battle of Trenton.
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After the war, many Hessians elected to stay in America for a new life. Many of these men had been ordered into ships and sent to America with little say. Many families in the Appalachian mountains can trace their family’s first American to a Hessian soldier.
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Art: Bennington by Don Troiani

08/31/2026

A Royal Twist https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1646985337426512

For the first time, Britain will have a monarch whose ancestors fought in the American Revolution against the very crown he will bear. But what are Prince William’s family connections to the Revolutionary War?

Join us next Thursday, September 3 at 6:30 p.m. for an author’s talk featuring independent historian Stephanie Green discussing her new book, American Crown: From Revolutionaries to Royalty, The Story of Prince William’s American Ancestors. She will highlight William’s connection to the American Revolution and how past generations can shape the Prince of Wales’s role in the future of Britain, America, and the world.

Stemming from the roots of Diana, Princess of Wales, Prince William’s ancestry includes numerous American rebels. The Spencer family had a friendship with the Washington clan of Sulgrave Manor, whose family produced the first president of the United States. On Diana’s maternal side, American ancestors fought in the Revolution in New England, became successful in the new nation, and then sent a daughter across the Atlantic Ocean to marry into the British elite. Embodying more interconnected history than any of his predecessors, William’s sense of his own role in the world is markedly different from anyone who’s ever held the throne.

Learn more and register: https://bit.ly/4qJM5z1

08/28/2026

OTD https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1059408986834037

George Washington’s army was on the brink of annihilation. During the early morning hours of August 27, 1776, British General William Howe had quietly slipped 10,000 troops through an unguarded pass and into the rear of the American Army, while it was being pinned down by a feint from Hessian forces in its front. When the Patriots realized they were being flanked and surrounded, many began to panic. Seeing that his men were about to be trapped, General William Alexander, a Scotsman who was called Lord Stirling, ordered them to retreat through the narrow gap still available to them, across a creek. But Stirling didn’t go with them. He stayed behind with a regiment of Maryland Continentals, about 270 men commanded by Major Mordecai Gist. Those men would perform one of the most sacrificial and heroic feats of the Revolutionary War.

As over 2,000 British regulars advanced on the tiny rear guard, supported by artillery, Stirling ordered his men to attack. Against overwhelming odds, the Marylanders charged.

As their comrades hurriedly made their escape, the Marylanders drove headlong into the British lines, stalling their advance. Thrown back, the Maryland men rallied and charged again, fighting desperately to buy time for the rest of the army.

Eventually they were overwhelmed. Of Stirling’s approximately 270 Marylanders, 259 were killed, wounded, or captured. Only about a dozen made it back to the American lines. But Washington’s army was saved from destruction, and a few days later would make a seemingly miraculous escape from Long Island under the cover of fog. Had the army been destroyed on Long Island, the Revolution might have been over.

Because at the time it was believed there were 400 of them, these brave Marylanders, the 1st Maryland Regiment, have gone down in history as “the Maryland 400.” The inscription on the battlefield monument in their honor reads: “In honor of Maryland’s Four Hundred, who on this battlefield August 27, 1776, saved the American army.”

08/23/2026

what happened next?

St. John’s Church Foundation historical interpreter John Wilkes dis...

08/21/2026

Share with your friends in Texas Sam Houston has Virginian Roots

History Under the Star Lecture Series: "Imitating the Example of Our Forefathers:” The Texas Revolution and the Memory of 1776 with Sam W. Haynes
This presentation seeks to shed light on a question that has long preoccupied historians of the state: what were the motives of those who took up arms against Mexico during the Revolution? In deciding upon a course of action, Haynes argues, Anglo-Texans looked to the past, drawing upon their memories of the “Spirit of 1776” to make sense of the political crisis with Mexico City and as a template for revolutionary action.

Date: Saturday, November 7, 2026
Time: 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Talk: 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Q&A: 6:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Reception: 6:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Location: San Jacinto Museum
Ticket Link: https://apps.sanjacinto-museum.org/special-events?EV=352

08/07/2026

Register on line........ https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1626293199495726

Join us next Thursday, August 13 at 6:30 p.m. for a lecture featuring historian Ronald A. Johnson of Baylor University bringing to light the fascinating story of American patriots and rebels from Saint-Domingue (later Haiti) allying against European tyranny.
While modern understandings of freedom are often linked to the U.S. Declaration of Independence, Johnson argues that the desire of Black Atlantic inhabitants for liberty and their will to resist slavery predated the fateful standoff between minutemen and redcoats at Lexington and Concord.

Drawing from original multilingual sources to offer a fresh perspective, this lecture fuses the search for freedom by Black and white founders in the United States and Saint-Domingue into a coherent story of collective resistance during the most explosive twenty-year period of the eighteenth century. This program accompanies our current exhibition, Voices of Revolution, on view through January 10, 2027.

Learn more and register: https://bit.ly/4hnRzgt

07/30/2026

For those siding on Historic Preservation here is something to ponder and act on.

Last week, we examined the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's (ACHP) proposed rewrite of the Section 106 regulations and why it represents the most significant change to the process in decades. If you haven't already, we encourage you to read The End of Section 106 as We Know It?, which…

07/25/2026

Happy Birthday Gen. Knox