22 April 1778 Early in April 1778, Captain John Paul Jones in the 20-gun Continental sloop Ranger sailed from Brest in France for the Irish Sea. His intention was to “end the barbarous ravages perpetuated by the British in America.” To accomplish this seemingly impossible task, he proposed to descend upon an English port, destroy …
Continue reading “US Marines in the American Revolution — Whitehaven Raid”
Queen Elizabeth issued a Royal Charter to trade in the Indian Ocean in 1600 to the newly formed English East India Company. The EIC adopted a flag of thirteen red and white stripes with the flag of England (St George’s Cross) in the canton. This flag was chosen because many of the East India Company’s shareholders were Masons, and the …
In the spring of 1767, Robert Clive, then a “writer” for the East India Company (EIC) planned to return to England, having earned a sizable fortune in legitimate trade of spices and textiles. Several Bengali nobles, including asked him to remain in Bengal and offered him £1 million and the EIC another £1 million if …
Continue reading “Read the Fine Print, Keep your Powder Dry, and be Cautious of Turncoats”
One of the very first Indian words to enter the English language was LOOT, the Hindu word for plunder. To understand how this word became a common term across the British Empire in the 18th Century, take a look at the holdings of Powys Castle in Wales. Stored in great heaps in what could pass …
The Fugio Penny, also known as the Franklin cent, was the first coin ever minted by the United States under the new US Constitution. The coin does not say “In God We Trust” or “E Pluribus Unum” on its front face. Instead, it reads “Mind Your Business.” The coin was designed by Benjamin Franklin, who most …
In 1771, numerous American newspapers ran this excerpt of a “Letter from a Gentleman in India”: On our arrival here, we found a river full of dead human carcasses floating up and down, and the streets crowded with the dead and dying, without anyone attempting to give them relief; so horribly has the famine raged …
When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. April 20, 1775 Williamsburg Gunpowder Incident. On the night of April 20, Royal Navy sailors went to the Williamsburg powder magazine, loaded fifteen half barrels of powder into the …
Continue reading “Historical Tidbits — Williamsburg Gunpowder Incident”
Robert Clive, the 1st Baron Clive is also known as Clive of India and is widely credited for laying the foundation of the British East India Company (EIC) rule in Bengal after winning the Battle of Plassey in 1757. When Clive left India in January 1767, he had a fortune of £180,000 (equivalent to £25,700,000 today). On 22 November 1774 …
Continue reading “Clive of India: Literally a Robber Baron of the 18th Century”
Before grain can be used to make beer, the starches stored in the kernel must be converted to fermentable sugars. The grain does this naturally as part of the germination process, so the brewer need only harness this process and then stop it before the grain sprouts to capture the sugars they need for their …
Continue reading “Basic Colonial Brewing #8 — Malting the Grain”
When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. April 19, 1775 Shot heard round the world. About 700 British Army regulars were given secret orders to capture and destroy Colonial military supplies stored by the Massachusetts militia …
Michael Carver -- Historical Interpreter/Reenactor 