400 years ago today, November 21st, 102 passengers and 30 crew on the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock near modern day Cape Cod, Massachusetts after 10 weeks at sea. The passengers on the Mayflower were separatists from the Church of England who had fled to The Netherlands to escape what they viewed as religious persecution

On September 27, 1722, Samuel Adams was born to Samuel Adams, Sr. and Mary (Fifield) Adams. Samuel was one of twelve children only three of whom survived past their 3rd birthday. The younger Adams went on to attend Harvard College where he graduated in 1740. After short and failed stents working as a lawyer, in

On this day, August 8, 1754 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 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

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

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

On July 5, 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 every

On June 11, 1741, Joseph Warren is born in Roxbury, Province of Massachusetts Bay. Joseph’s father died in 1755 after falling off a ladder while picking fruit in his orchard; Joseph was only 14 at the time. Joseph later attended Harvard, graduating in 1759, and taught for a short time at Roxbury Latin School where he

On this day, May 4, 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