This iCue Mini-Documentary describes the war that ignited between England and France when a young George Washington was drawn into a skirmish with French scouts. Control over the continent of America was at stake as the two world powers conducted a massive war in the colonies.
Why did armies, during the American Revolution and at other times, fight with lines of men standing near each other? Why did they not simply fight from behind cover?
The use of linear formations in European army infantries was one element of what military historians have called the "Military Revolution," though they have disagreed on the period within early modern history—the Hundred Years' War (13371453), 15501660, or 16601720—during which the tactic became most significant.
In linear formations, infantry troops, armed beginning in the late 17th century with bayoneted flintlock muskets, marched in columns until they were ordered by commanders to form lines, usually three-to-five men in depth, and charge enemy targets while firing in unison. The tactic did not require skilled marksmanship or out-of-the-ordinary heroics, but relied instead on well-drilled and disciplined soldiers delivering massive amounts of firepower.
Line charges, especially when accompanied by artillery fire that arrived at enemy lines just as the advancing soldiers came into firing range, could be decisive in battle. Defending armies, arranged in similarly cohesive lines, could respond with corresponding volleys of ammunition and fend off larger forces. Army size was greatly increased due to the institutionalization of linear formations within a framework of centralized bureaucratic organization, as was the impact of the military on societies.
Historian Guy Chet has discredited a popular "Americanization thesis" that attributed colonists in militias during the late 17th and early 18th centuries with adopting guerrilla warfare tactics learned in battles with Indians as more appropriate than linear formations for fighting in wilderness terrains. Chet finds a lack of evidence for the claim and maintains that contrary to popular belief, the initial victories of American forces in the first battles of the War of Independence were not due to so-called American tactics, but from the failure of the British forces to adhere to established tactics and strategies.
While guerrilla warfare did break out in the backcountry of the South during the final year of the Revolutionary War, both sides for the most part engaged in battles fought according to tactics developed during the Military Revolution.
Clifford J. Rogers, ed., The Military Revolution Debate: Readings on the Military Transformation of Early Modern Europe. Boulder: Westview Press, 1995.
Jeremy Black, European Warfare, 16601815. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994.
Guy Chet, Conquering the American Wilderness: The Triumph of European Warfare in the Colonial Northeast. Amherst and Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2003.
The Lapakahi State Historical Park consists of a partially restored ancient Hawaiian coastal settlement. In addition to the settlement, the park is also home to a marine preserve.
The park offers self-guided tours and a visitor kiosk with interpretive displays. The website offers visitor information.
These 12,000 items (72,000 digital images) allow the visitor to explore James Madison's life, the Revolution, or the Early Republic. Materials include his father's letters, Madison's correspondence, personal notes, drafts of letters and legislation, and legal and financial documents. Material covers the period from 1723 to 1836.
Page images of correspondence can be browsed by title, name, or correspondence series or they can be searched by keyword or phrase appearing in the bibliographic records (descriptive information) of the collection. Additionally, the full text of correspondence for which transcriptions are available can also be searched by keyword or phrase. A timeline covers the period from 1751 to 1836 and is useful for placing the events of Madison's life in historical context. Three essays are available, including one on Madison's life and papers and one on Madison at the Federal Constitutional Convention.
The Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site preserves the Georgian residence in which the Schuyler family, a prominent Dutch family within the United States, lived between 1763 and 1804. Philip J. Schuyler (1733-1804) served as a Revolutionary War general and U.S. Senator, in addition to pursuing business interests. His daughter married Alexander Hamilton (circa 1755-1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, on site in 1780.
The site offers guided mansion tours, exhibits, interpretive signs, and outreach programming. Between November and the middle of May tours are available by appointment only.
Knox's Headquarters State Historic Site consists of the 1754 Georgian-style Ellison residence, remains of a flour mill, and the Jane Colden Native Plant Sanctuary. The site presents daily life in the 18th-century mid-Hudson Valley. At various times during the Revolutionary War, the home served as the quarters of both Major General Henry Knox (1750-1806), Commander of the America artillery, and Major General Horatio Gates (circa 1727-1806), perhaps best known for his defeat at the Battle of Camden.
The site offers demonstrations, costumed interpreters, gardens, guided tours, educational programs, interpretive signage, and re-enactments.
Founded in 1913, the Society is headquartered at the Samuel Dale Stevens Memorial Building. This museum houses the Society's collection of early American furniture and changing exhibits in the Main Gallery; an extensive archive of historic documents, photographs, and maps; a book shop, and staff offices. The 1789 Johnson Cottage, adjacent to the museum, is the last surviving artisan's cottage in North Andover's Old Center. The Cottage shows the life of an average family in the 19th century. The 1715 Parson Barnard House is the Society's other historic house. Visitors will see furnishings that reflect the changes in lifestyle as experienced by four early inhabitants of the house from 1715 through 1830.
The society offers tours, lectures, workshops, research library access, and educational and recreational programs; the museums offer exhibits.
As part of Philadelphia's Historic Northwest, Stenton sits on three acres of the original 500-acre plantation. The site includes an elegant 1730 mansion, a kitchen wing, privy, icehouse, barn, and Colonial Revival garden.
Built and owned by James Logan, Secretary to Pennsylvania founder William Penn, Stenton is a house of learning, past and present. As Pennsylvania grew as a colony, James Logan was one of the most important individuals in guiding that growth. In time, he was able to build a country house, saying, "I am about purchasing a plantation to retire to for I am heartily out of love with the world." During the last 20 years of his life when he lived at Stenton, Logan was a distinguished scholar and collected a tremendous library, which he left to the City of Philadelphia.
The site offers tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.
The Crown Point State Historic Site commemorates the international history of Crown Point. Originally contested territory between the French and British, the French maintained control until 1759 when the British took the then abandoned French fort, Fort St. Frederick. At that time, the British created His Majesty's Fort of Crown Point. However, in 1775, American colonists seized this newer fort, securing the artillery. Eventually, the Americans were forced to evacuate, and in 1777 the fort returned to British hands. Today, the site includes ruins of both Fort St. Frederick and His Majesty's Fort of Crown Point, as well as a visitor center. The interpretive focus is on the use of the forts by the French, Americans, and British.
The site offers exhibits, audio-visual programs, group tours, self-guided tours, demonstrations, costumed interpreters, educational programs, interpretive signs, outdoor activities, and a picnic area.
On May 15, 1602, English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold dropped anchor off the Massachusetts coast, and due to the abundance of cod fish in the waters surrounding his ship, named the location Cape Cod. This is the first of 365 moments in Massachusetts history presented at this website.
The majority of moments cluster in the 19th and 20th centuries, and include events of relevance to political, economic, social, and cultural history, including the incorporation of the town of Natick in 1781, the opening of Boston's African Meeting House in 1806, and the release of the movie Good Will Hunting in 1997.
Each moment is described in roughly 750 words, and is accompanied by an excerpt from a primary source. The text is also available in audio format. The moments are keyword searchable, as well as browseable through the website's Timeline and Map features.
Elementary, middle, and high school teachers will find the Teachers' Features section especially useful, as it includes several comprehensive lesson plans, on labor, women's rights, the African American experience in Massachusetts, and early contact between settlers and indigenous peoples in Plymouth.