Non-Profit Dedicated to Historical Education of the American Revolution and the Colonial Period
Battle of Rugeley’s Mill, South Carolina, November 30, 1780, not December 4th,[1] was a battle in name only. Eighty American dragoons, light horse cavalry under Lt. Colonel William Washington (distant cousin of General George Washington) attacked 109-112 loyalists[2] led by Colonel Henry Rugeley. The King’s Men were secured in a fortified barn surrounded by a ...
From January 19 – February 15, 1781, a dramatic race of courage, determination, and endurance played out over a 250 mile stretch of South and North Carolina to the Dan River, just over the border of Virginia. British General Charles Cornwallis had one mindset; to destroy the American Southern Continental Army under General Nathanael Greene. ...
The Siege of Fort Ninety-Six, May 22 – June 19, 1781, was part of American Southern Continental Army Commander Major General Nathaniel Greene’s continuous pressure to regain the Carolinas from the British. In the purest sense, it was not a win for the Americans. Greene lifted the siege as British Lord Rawdon approached with a ...
Major General Joseph Spencer (October 3, 1714 – January 13, 1789) was a good officer. Through three wars, rising in rank from lieutenant to major general, he followed orders and demonstrated clear thinking and carefully thought-out decisions. But he was not a great general. He had not the daring and drive of a Benedict Arnold, ...
The Molasses Act of 1733 was an attempt by the British Parliament, under de facto Whig Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole[1], to control the molasses trade that produced rum; a major source of income for the North American colonial markets – more so than tobacco. The act placed a high tax on any molasses that ...
The Stamp Act, issued on March 22, 1765, was among the first rubs, some would note the last straw after a series of lesser trade acts, that led to North American colonies flexing their independent muscle. The Act in itself was the result of a new fair-minded British Prime Minister and his determination that Americans ...