Putnam's Revolutionary War Winter Encampment

Putnam's Revolutionary War Winter Encampment PDF Author: Daniel Cruson
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 9781609492311
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Putnam State Park, Connecticut's first state park, was the site of Revolutionary War general Israel Putnam's last command. In the winter of 1778-79, three thousand troops of the Continental army built and lived in "the city," a winter encampment in the valleys of northern Redding. Historian Daniel Cruson describes in fascinating archaeological detail the construction of the camp and the soldiers' daily struggle to survive. Mutiny, execution, skirmishes and the heroism of Putnam himself are revealed in this compelling history. The story of Putnam State Park doesn't end when Continental troops marched out to engage the British; Cruson takes readers from the creation of the park itself to the present day.

Putnam's Revolutionary War Winter Encampment

Putnam's Revolutionary War Winter Encampment PDF Author: Daniel Cruson
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 9781609492311
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Putnam State Park, Connecticut's first state park, was the site of Revolutionary War general Israel Putnam's last command. In the winter of 1778-79, three thousand troops of the Continental army built and lived in "the city," a winter encampment in the valleys of northern Redding. Historian Daniel Cruson describes in fascinating archaeological detail the construction of the camp and the soldiers' daily struggle to survive. Mutiny, execution, skirmishes and the heroism of Putnam himself are revealed in this compelling history. The story of Putnam State Park doesn't end when Continental troops marched out to engage the British; Cruson takes readers from the creation of the park itself to the present day.

Historical Archaeology of the Revolutionary War Encampments of Washington’s Army

Historical Archaeology of the Revolutionary War Encampments of Washington’s Army PDF Author: Cosimo A. Sgarlata
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813057175
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
This volume presents recent archaeological and ethnohistorical research on the encampments, trails, and support structures of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. These sites illuminate the daily lives of soldiers, officers, and camp followers away from the more well-known military campaigns and battles. The research featured here includes previously unpublished findings from the winter encampments at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, as well as work from sites in Redding, Connecticut, and Morristown, New Jersey. Topics range from excavations of a special dining cabin constructed for General George Washington to ballistic analysis of a target range established by General von Steuben. Contributors use experimental archaeology to learn how soldiers constructed their log hut quarters, and they reconstruct Rochambeau’s marching route through Connecticut on his way to help Washington defeat the British at Yorktown. They also describe the underrecognized roles of African descendants, Native peoples, and women who lived and worked at the camps. Showing how archaeology can contribute insights into the American Revolution beyond what historical records convey, this volume calls for protection of and further research into non-conflict sites that were crucial to this formative struggle in the history of the United States. Contributors: Cosimo Sgarlata | Joseph Balicki | Joseph R. Blondino | Douglas Campana | Wade P. Catts | Daniel Cruson | Mathew Grubel | Mary Harper | Diane Hassan | David G. Orr | Julia Steele | Laurie Weinstein

Surviving the Winters

Surviving the Winters PDF Author: Steven Elliott
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806169753
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
George Washington and his Continental Army braving the frigid winter at Valley Forge form an iconic image in the popular history of the American Revolution. Such winter camps, Steven Elliott tells us in Surviving the Winters, were also a critical factor in the waging and winning of the War of Independence. Exploring the inner workings of the Continental Army through the prism of its encampments, this book is the first to show how camp construction and administration played a crucial role in Patriot strategy during the war. As Elliott reminds us, Washington’s troops spent only a few days a year in combat. The rest of the time, especially in the winter months, they were engaged in a different sort of battle—against the elements, unfriendly terrain, disease, and hunger. Victory in that more sustained struggle depended on a mastery of camp construction, logistics, and health and hygiene—the components that Elliott considers in his environmental, administrative, and operational investigation of the winter encampments at Middlebrook, Morristown, West Point, New Windsor, and Valley Forge. Beyond the encampments’ basic function of sheltering soldiers, his study reveals their importance as a key component of Washington’s Fabian strategy: stationed on secure, mountainous terrain close to New York, the camps allowed the Continental commander-in-chief to monitor the enemy but avoid direct engagement, thus neutralizing a numerically superior opponent while husbanding his own strength. Documenting the growth of Washington and his subordinates as military administrators, Surviving the Winters offers a telling new perspective on the commander’s generalship during the Revolutionary War. At the same time, the book demonstrates that these winter encampments stand alongside more famous battlefields as sites where American independence was won.

Founding Myths

Founding Myths PDF Author: Ray Raphael
Publisher: New Press, The
ISBN: 159558949X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
First published ten years ago, award-winning historian Ray Raphael’s Founding Myths has since established itself as a landmark of historical myth-busting. With the author’s trademark wit and flair, Founding Myths exposes the errors and inventions in America’s most cherished tales, from Paul Revere’s famous ride to Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” speech. For the seventy thousand readers who have been captivated by Raphael’s eye-opening accounts, history has never been the same. In this revised tenth-anniversary edition, Raphael revisits the original myths and explores their further evolution over the past decade, uncovering new stories and peeling back additional layers of misinformation. This new edition also examines the highly politicized debates over America’s past, as well as how school textbooks and popular histories often reinforce rather than correct historical mistakes. A book that “explores the truth behind the stories of the making of our nation” (National Public Radio), this revised edition of Founding Myths will be a welcome resource for anyone seeking to separate historical fact from fiction.

"And So the Tomb Remained"

Author: Nick Bellantoni
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1789255031
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Stone and brick tombs were repositories for the physical remains of many of Connecticut’s wealthiest and influential families. The desire was to be interred within burial vaults rather than have their wooden coffins laid into the earth in direct contact with crushing soil burden led many prominent families to construct large above-ground and semi-subterranean tombs, usually burrowed into the sides of hills as places of interment for their dead. "And So The Tomb Remains" tells the stories of the Connecticut State Archaeologist’s investigations into five 18th/19th century family tombs: the sepulchers of Squire Elisha Pitkin, Center Cemetery, East Hartford; Gershom Bulkeley, Ancient Burying Ground, Colchester; Samuel and Martha Huntington, Norwichtown Cemetery, Norwich; Henry Chauncey, Indian Hill Cemetery, Middletown; and Edwin D. Morgan, Cedar Hill Cemetery, Hartford. In all of these cases, the state archaeologist assisted in identifying and restoring human skeletal remains to their original burial placements when vandalized through occult rituals or contributed to the identification of unrecorded burials during restoration projects. Each investigative delves into family histories and genealogies, as well as archaeological and forensic sciences that helped identify the entombed and is told in a personal, story-telling approach. Written in essay form, each investigation highlights differing aspects of research in mortuary architecture and cemetery landscaping, public health, restoration efforts, crime scene investigations, and occult activities. These five case studies began either as “history mysteries” or as crime scene investigations. Since historic tombs were occupied by social and economic elites, forensic studies provide an opportunity to investigate the health and life stress pathologies of the wealthiest citizens in Connecticut’s historic past, while offering comparisons to the wellbeing of lower socio-economic populations.

Major General Israel Putnam

Major General Israel Putnam PDF Author: Robert Ernest Hubbard
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476627835
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
A colorful figure of 18th-century America, Israel Putnam (1718-1790) played a key role in both the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. In 1758 he barely escaped from being burned alive by Mohawk warriors. He later commanded a force of 500 men who were shipwrecked off the coast of Cuba. It was he who reportedly gave the command "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes" at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Detailing Putnam's close relationships with Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, and John and Abigail Adams, this first full-length biography of Putnam in more than a century re-examines the life of a revolutionary whose seniority in the Continental Army was second only to that of George Washington.

Becoming Valley Forge

Becoming Valley Forge PDF Author: Sheilah Vance
Publisher: Elevator Group
ISBN: 9780982494592
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
This epic historical novel shows how the lives of ordinary men and women who lived in the shadow of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, were changed forever beginning in early 1777, when the Revolutionary War battles came to their doorsteps, leading them and their loved ones to Valley Forge from winter 1777 through summer 1778. James, a former slave, lives as a blacksmith on Rebel Hill, with his patriot friend, Fred. Both are reluctant to volunteer for the army because they need their wages. But ten days later, they join the march to Valley Forge. Once at Valley Forge, Washington's army, a young nation, and the fascinating characters in this book are forced to grow in so many ways. At the end of a long winter, their lives have become a part of what we mean when we say, "Valley Forge."

Valley Forge

Valley Forge PDF Author: Bob Drury
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 1501152726
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
The #1 New York Times bestselling authors of The Heart of Everything That Is return with “a thorough, nuanced, and enthralling account” (The Wall Street Journal) about one of the most inspiring—and underappreciated—chapters in American history: the Continental Army’s six-month transformation in Valley Forge. In December 1777, some 12,000 members of America’s Continental Army stagger into a small Pennsylvania encampment near British-occupied Philadelphia. Their commander in chief, George Washington, is at the lowest ebb of his military career. Yet, somehow, Washington, with a dedicated coterie of advisers, sets out to breathe new life into his military force. Against all odds, they manage to turn a bobtail army of citizen soldiers into a professional fighting force that will change the world forever. Valley Forge is the story of how that metamorphosis occurred. Bestselling authors Bob Drury and Tom Clavin show us how this miracle was accomplished despite thousands of American soldiers succumbing to disease, starvation, and the elements. At the center of it all is George Washington as he fends off pernicious political conspiracies. The Valley Forge winter is his—and the revolution’s—last chance at redemption. And after six months in the camp, Washington fulfills his destiny, leading the Continental Army to a stunning victory in the Battle of Monmouth Court House. Valley Forge is the riveting true story of a nascent United States toppling an empire. Using new and rarely seen contemporaneous documents—and drawing on a cast of iconic characters and remarkable moments that capture the innovation and energy that led to the birth of our nation—Drury and Clavin provide a “gripping, panoramic account” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) of the definitive account of this seminal and previously undervalued moment in the battle for American independence.

 PDF Author:
Publisher: Youguide International BV
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 151

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Book Description


The Continental Army

The Continental Army PDF Author: Robert K. Wright
Publisher: Washington, D.C. : Center of Military History, United States Army
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 476

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Book Description
A narrative analysis of the complex evolution of the Continental Army, with the lineages of the 177 individual units that comprised the Army, and fourteen charts depicting regimental organization.