First and foremost, I hope you all healthy and coping as best as can be done given the coronavirus pandemic. Thank you to all of you who bought and read my first book, The War has Begun. I have sincerely appreciated your support and reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. It has encouraged me to not…
A Worthy Milestone to Report
At long last, I've finished the draft of "Honor and Valor". Let the editing begin.
Memorial Day Tribute to Five of a 40-Man Scout
"a Scout of 40 men under Command of Capt. fry of Colo. Scammels Regt. was Surpris'd By a Body of Indians & others Consisting in the whole of about 300. we Lost out our scout 9 men kild & taken--"
KVCR 91.9 – KVC Arts Interview
It is really nice when your hometown Library, the A.K. Smiley Public Library in Redlands, takes great care of you. They invited me to give a presentation on the research behind The War has Begun, and to promote the presentation they arranged for
Here's a great article, following up on the intersection of Joseph Gray's narrative and the Van Veghton family's accounts of the New Hampshire Continental troops assisting in the evacuation of Schaghticoke, NY in August of 1777. I am re-writing that part of Book 2 in Duty in the Cause of Liberty for the third time…
Schaghticoke in the American Revolution, Major VanVeghten scalped
Got to love the Internet for providing the basis to connect the threads of history! See my comment proposing the connecting the thread at the end.
In the last post, I related a Knickerbocker family legend that the fort near the Mansion was occupied by Hessian soldiers at the time of the battle of Saratoga. Though I doubt very much that that was true, there is no doubt that there were bands of Tories, Indians, and perhaps Hessians and British roaming through the area during the summer of 1777 before the battle of Saratoga. Major Dirck VanVeghten of the local militia unit, the 14th Albany County, was killed by one band when he came from Saratoga just before the battle to check on his home in Schaghticoke. One source states that VanVeghten came home on “an intelligence gathering mission.” In either event, he was accompanied only by Solomon Acker, one of the soldiers in his company of the 14th Albany County Militia.
The story of Major VanVeghten really illustrates the great variety…
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Reflections on Josiah Parker
This Memorial Day, take some time to consider what you've learned from a Revolutionary War soldier who was killed or died while serving.
Military Buckshot in the Mid-Eighteenth Century — Kabinettskriege
Reenactors portray Maryland troopsDear Reader,Today, we are going to examine a particular type of ammunition used by eighteenth-century soldiers: buckshot. For those unfamiliar with the term, buckshot consists of smaller projectiles, which spread out after leaving the barrel of the weapon. It is often used in a shotgun today. In the eighteenth-century, German language speakers… via…
How Accurate were Regular Soldiers in the Mid-Eighteenth Century? — Reposted from Kabinettskriege
A Soldier from the King's Regiment takes aim. Dear Readers, Today, I want to touch on a rather controversial subject.* The subject is the infantry fire effectiveness of mid-eighteenth century European and Euro-American armies. At the outset, "shooting at marks" or target practice, was common in many eighteenth-century armies. Specifically, I am examining the accuracy…
Book of the Week (10/23/2017) — Book Notes New Hampshire
The War has Begun by Charles E. Frye (CreateSpace, 2017). Based on extensive historical and ancestral research, U.S. Army Veteran Charles Frye's book is the first in a series about NH native Isaac Frye, during the American Revolution. You can learn more about the series and the author's fascinating research findings in an interview with…
Duty in the Cause of Liberty 