On This Day : “The Kings Mountain Messenger” was Born
Wednesday, 08 August 2018
On this day, August 8th, 1754 in Philadelphia, PA, Joseph Greer was born. One of eleven children, his family would move to the frontier of Staunton, Virginia and later the Watauga River area of Tennessee. In 1769 Joseph, his father and brothers were among 40 men who would defend Fort Watauga from more than 300 Indians—he had just turned 15. During
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On This Day: George Washington Creates Three Military Honors
Tuesday, 07 August 2018
In his General Orders of August 7, 1782 issued from his headquarters in Newburgh, New York, George Washington decreed the creation of two Honorary Badges of Distinction and a Badge of Military Merit. Previous custom was to only present military honors to the high-ranking officers of victorious forces rather than honoring individual soldiers. Of the
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On This Day: Captain John Parker
Friday, 13 July 2018
On this day, July 13th 1729, Captain John Parker was born. “Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.” Captain John Parker’s words to his men on Lexington Green on April 19, 1775 have become inextricably associated with the beginnings of the Revolutionary
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On This Day: First Public Reading of the Declaration of Independence
Monday, 09 July 2018
On July 9, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read for the first time in New York in front of George Washington and his troops. In reaction to what had been read, soldiers and citizens went to Bowling Green, a park in Manhattan, where a lead statue of King George III on horseback stood. The
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On This Day: Hugh M. Brackenridge Delivers an Eulogium
Thursday, 05 July 2018
On this day in 1779, Hugh M. Brackenridge delivers an Eulogium to those gathered in Pennsylvania to honor those who have fallen during the Revolutionary War: “IT is the high reward of those who have risked their lives in a just and necessary war, that their names are sweet in the mouths of men, and
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On This Day: Colonel Israel Angell
Friday, 04 May 2018
On this day, May 4th, 1918, the relocated graves of Colonel Israel Agnell and his first wife, Martha, were dedicated at a ceremony in Providence, Rhode Island. Israel Agnell was born on August 24th, 1740 to Oliver and Naomi Agnell in Providence, Rhode Island and was a fifth generation descendant of one of the original settlers
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On This Day: A Second Copy of the Declaration of Independence Discovered
Tuesday, 24 April 2018
On April 24th, 2017 a second copy of the Declaration of Independence was discovered in Chichester, England. The copy is believed to have been commissioned by Charles Lennox, Third Duke of Richmond: “Richmond was a strong critic of Lord North’s American policy. In December 1775, he declared in the House of Lords that the resistance
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On This Day: The Massachusetts Spy
Monday, 16 April 2018
The Massachusetts Spy was a colonial weekly newspaper founded in 1770 by Isaiah Thomas and his former master, Zechariah Fowle; later Thomas would buy out Fowle to become sole publisher. Having a circulation of around 3,500, the Spy was substantially more popular than other newspapers of the day which typical had circulations of less than
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On This Day: Patrick Henry
Friday, 23 March 2018
If you’ve only heard the last line, Patrick Henry’s speech to the Virginia legislature on March 23rd, 1775 is worth reading in it’s entirety. Henry spoke as a delegate to the Second Virginia Convention at St. John’s Episcopal Church in the town of Richmond on that day. The convention was debating whether to include language
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On This Day: Crispus Attucks
Monday, 05 March 2018
On this day, March 5th 1770, Crispus Attucks is killed during the Boston Massacre. The first to defy, The first to die. On March 5, 1770, British soldiers Captain-Lieutenant John Goldfinch and Private Hugh White stood guard outside the Boston Custom House on King Street in Boston (known as State Street today). Edward Garrick, a wigmaker’s
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