Francis Marion was born in Berkeley County, South Carolina c. 1732. At the age of 15, Francis hired on a merchant ship bound for the West Indies.  The ship sank on his first voyage.  After this seafaring experience, Marion returned to Berkley County and ran the family’s plantation. In 1757, Francis was recruited to serve in the militia during the French and Indian War. During the American Revolution, Marion supported the Patriots and in June 1775, he was commissioned as an officer (Captain) in the Continental Army’s 2nd South Carolina Regiment.  In 1776, the Continental Congress commissioned Marion as a lieutenant colonel. The British forces, under Henry Clinton, entered South Carolina in the early spring of 1780 and laid siege to Charleston. Lord Charles Cornwallis then took command of the Carolinas.  Marion organized a small unit, which at first consisted of between 20 and 70 men.  This was the only unit

Andrew Pickens (1739 –1817) was born in 1739 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  His family traveled to the Shenandoah Valley where they stayed a short time.  Then the family permanently located to the frontier in South Carolina. Andrew married Rebecca Calhoun at age 25.  They had 12 children and raised their family at their “Hopewell” plantation on the Keowee River. When the Revolutionary War started, he sided with the rebel militia. Early in 1779 Henry Clinton deployed British soldiers to the Carolinas. In the same year, Colonel Pickens and his 300-man militia overtook the larger British force of 700–800 men under Colonel Boyd at the Battle of Kettle Creek. His victory was later marred by the Siege of Charleston, where he surrendered a fort.  He and his men agreed to set out the war and were paroled by the British. After Tory raiders destroyed most of his property and accosted his family,

Before Uncle Sam became a national symbol, we had Brother Jonathan. Brother Jonathan started out as a personification of New England. He was also used as an emblem of the United States in general, and was sometimes used as an allegory of capitalism. His too-short pants, too-tight waistcoat and old-fashioned style reflect his taste for inexpensive products and efficient use of means. Brother Jonathan soon became a stock fictional character, developed as a good-natured parody of all New England during the early American Republic. He was widely popularized by the weekly newspaper Brother Jonathan and the humor magazine Yankee Notions. The character was originally adopted by citizens of New England from 1783 to 1815, when Brother Jonathan became a nickname for any Yankee sailor, similar to the way that G.I. is used to describe members of the U.S. Army. During the War of 1812, Brother Jonathan began giving way to

I found another unusual hunting story among the reminiscences of Joseph Coe.   Coe and his family were early settlers in northwest Ohio.  The story was published 1837 & 1868 in the Troy Times Newspaper, and subsequently by Juda Moyer’s marvelous compilation, Pioneer Recollections of Miami Valley of Ohio 1797-1850. “The traditional reminisces of Mr. Coe are not filled with adventure that would claim public interest. He states he has studied the art of living well at home as better agreeing with his natural temper.  He however has a few stories worth recording. One story is of a Delaware Indian who boarded some months with his family in early Miami County Ohio, and with whom they lived on terms of most confidential intimacy. The spirit of this man would never submit to the drudgery of common labor, for which he seemed to entertain a profound contempt, but he would toil incessantly

Oh those patriotic women…. Margaret Cochran Corbin was the first woman to receive a military pension. She was born in what is now Franklin County, Pennsylvania in 1751. In 1756, when Margaret was five years old, her parents were attacked by Native Americans.  Her father was killed, and her mother was kidnapped, never to be seen again — Margaret was not home at the time and was not captured.  She  lived with her uncle for the remainder of her childhood. When the war began, her husband, John Corbin, whom she married in 1772, enlisted in the First Company of Pennsylvania Artillery as a an artilleryman for a cannon crew. Margaret became a camp follower, accompanying John. It was at this time she became known as “Molly Pitcher” because she brought water to thirsty soldiers. On November 16, 1776, Corbin dressed as a man and joined her husband in the Battle

A common concern many people have had for centuries  is being buried alive.  One method of ensuring someone had died before burial is waiting until the body started decaying.  Washington asked to be buried three days after his death to prevent premature burial.  However, in the early 1800s, most poor people were buried as quickly as possible to prevent spread of the disease. I found this interesting article in the March 25, 1921 Shelby County Democrat (a newspaper from Sidney, Shelby County, Ohio) that tells of the death of Margaret Johnston Harrop. Harrop – Grandma Harrop’s is dead!, was the sad words that reached our people Monday afternoon at 6:30.  Grandma Harrop has been indisposed on account of her advanced age but was not considered seriously ill but rather thought to be more better than usual, during the day and afternoon, especially.  Kindred and neighbors carefully took care of the

When historians, (you, me, re-enactors, academics, etc) attempt to better understand the past, one of the materials that is used is surviving documentation. Having said that, I am sharing a transcription of the Constitution for the Dayton Rifle Company.  The document was written and agreed to in August of 1809.  It can help us understand some basics (clothing, gear, rules) for rifle companies of this era.  Here is the transcription: Constitution For the Dayton Rifle Company August 17th 1809 We the undersigned do bind ourselves to support the following as the Constitution of said Company: Section I The Captain and Lieutenant shall appoint the non-commissioned officers. Section II A candidate for membership in this company must be recommended by two members and voted in by the members present ballot, and if two-thirds of the members then favor his admittance, he shall become a member by equipping himself according to the

The “Great Wagon Road” was an improved trail through the Great Appalachian Valley from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, and from there to Georgia.  The heavily traveled Great Wagon Road was the primary route for the early settlement of the Southern United States. The Great Wagon Road started near the port of Philadelphia and passed through the towns of Lancaster and York in southeastern Pennsylvania.  Turning southwest, the road crossed the Potomac River and entered the Shenandoah Valley near Martinsburg, West Virginia. It continued south in the valley via the Great Warriors’ Trail (also called the Indian Road), which was established by centuries of Indian travel over ancient trails created by migrating buffalo herds. The Shenandoah portion of the road is also known as the Valley Pike. The Treaty of Lancaster in 1744 had established colonists’ rights to settle along the Indian Road. Although traffic on the road increased after the

One of the first Indian attacks on the Virginia colonists occurred in 1609.  The results were gruesome.  Many of you that are familiar with Virginia history recall that the “Starving Time at Jamestown” occurred during the winter of 1609-1610. At Jamestown, John Smith had recently returned to England for medical treatment to heal from a gunpowder injury.  Smith had maintained a very good report with the Powhatan tribe.  In his absence, John Ratcliffe, president of the colony, and around 50 colonists went to meet with a tribe of of Powhatan Indians to bargain for food. The Powhatan did not want to trade unless they could bargain with Smith and distrusted the group.  As a result, the colonists were ambushed and only 16 of the 50 survived. During this ambush, Ratcliffe was captured by the Powhatan and was taken to their village to suffer a particularly gruesome fate. He was tied