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

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

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

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

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

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

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. 

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