Surveying was a family business for Thomas Jefferson. Both he and his father Peter Jefferson were land surveyors for the King of England. Although Thomas Jefferson didn’t continue to survey as a profession, the skills he acquired as a surveyor were a solid foundation for his subsequent success. In the early 18th century, much of …
Author Archives: Michael Carver
Historical Tidbits — British Evacuate Philadelphia
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. June 18, 1778 British evacuate Philadelphia After almost nine months of occupation, 15,000 British troops under General Sir Henry Clinton evacuate Philadelphia. The British position in Philadelphia became untenable …
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George Washington was a Surveyor
As a boy, George Washington strongly considered a career in the Royal Navy and studying geometry and celestial navigation. To improve his skills, he took up surveying using a set of surveyor’s instruments his father owned for his farm. Early in 1748, Washington accompanied George Fairfax and James Genn, the Royal Surveyor of Prince William …
Coming-of-age ale — a long-forgotten British beer style
For most of the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries, the practice of home-brewing was common on most farms and homestead, but one beer style was almost exclusively the domain of noblemen and country gentlemen – the “coming-of-age” beer. These beers, typically extra stout, were brewed and laid down laid down when the son and heir …
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Spy vs Spy: George Washington’s and King George’s Spies (#7)
No one would suspect “little ole me” of being a spy — Ann Bates Ann Bates was Philadelphia schoolteacher with Loyalist sympathies. She was also married to a British soldier and gunsmith, posted in New York. At the British camp, she met Major Duncan Drummond, the intelligence chief for the British commanding general, who preceded …
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Historical Tidbits — Battle of “Bunker Hill”
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. June 17, 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill. Well actually, Breed’s Hill… On June 13, 1775, the leaders of the colonial forces besieging Boston learned that the British were planning to send …
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The EIC and Opium, a Deadly Combination
Next time you hear some politician blaming China for all the problems in the world, remember our friends in the East India Company. Unregulated, government and military backed capitalist that they were, started a WAR in order to extract a trade balance with China. Even though Europeans were eager to acquire Chinese tea, silk, and …
Spy vs Spy: George Washington’s and King George’s Spies (#6)
The Black Freeman and his Slave were BOTH Spies! — Hercules and Cato Mulligan Many know Hercules Mulligan as a character in the play Hamilton and ironically, he is the only personae in that play who actually was black. He was also a very successful spy for the American cause. Mulligan was one of the …
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NO, We Didn’t All Write with Quills in the 18th Century. Some Used Pencils.
People began using pencils in Europe in the early 17th century. Graphite was discovered in England’s Lake District and it was soon discovered that this mineral made marks on paper and other surfaces that could be easily rubbed away. Early pencils were often a bit of graphite held in some sort of holder that allowed …
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In 1797 Henry Cavendish Used Small Metal Spheres to Weigh the Earth
In 1768, through careful observation and lots of computations, the Royal Society was able to compute the distance of the Earth from the Sun. Armed with this information, and using Newtons universal law of gravitation (1687), it should be possible to understand the behavior of the planets. There remained, however, just one problem. How much …
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Michael Carver -- Historical Interpreter/Reenactor 