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 18, 1775 The Midnight Ride of William Dawes and Paul Revere. Thanks to Longfellow, hardly a scholar or school child alive does not know the name of Paul …
Category Archives: General history
The danger of always marching in lockstep
If you’ve ever been part of an organization that marches — not just the military but even marching bands and re-enactors (sort of) — you know what it means to march in lockstep. Everyone steps in precision to a standard cadence (usually 120 steps/min, 28 in/step) and one person takes a step with his left …
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Historical Tidbits — Abolish Slavery!
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 14, 1775 The Society for the Relief of the Free Negros Unlawfully Held in Bondage first meets in Philadelphia. The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully …
Sugar Cones or Loaves and the Making of Rum
During Antiquity and the Middle Ages, sugar was rare and expensive commodity. Beginning in the 15th century, however, sugar cane plantations developed in the West Indies, then South America, particularly in Brazil. Sugar was the top colonial commodity. It was at the root of the ‘triangular trade’, where European shipowners exchanged trinkets for African men, who were then sold as slaves …
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“Mama always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun; But mama, … that’s where the fun is.”
“Mama always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun;But mama, … that’s where the fun is.”[i] What fun? Well on April 8 at 15:23 EDT the sun will disappear from the sky (well in Philly, 80% but that’s amazing!). Mama warns us to never to look directly at the sun because …
US Marines in the American Revolution — A Marine Lieutenant Dies
6 April 1776 The voyage northward following the raid on New Providence was routine. An hour into the midnight watch on 6 April 1776, however, the situation changed ; two unidentified sails were sighted to the southeast. All hands were called to quarters as the distance closed, and it became clear that one of the …
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The dye that causes people to die
Wallpaper with Scheel Green In the mid-1700s, Carl Wilhelm Scheele discovered a copper derivative that was a particularly vivid green. Scheele’s discovery — known as Scheele’s Green — was used as a pigment for all sorts of artistic works, particularly among the European elite. Wallpaper, in particular, was made using Scheele’s Green to achieve the …
Historical Tidbits — SUGAR ACT
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 5, 1764 – SUGAR ACT Sugar Act, also called Molasses Act, the Plantation Act or the Revenue Act, was passed by Parliament in an attempted to curb the …
Could one of our Founding Fathers have been a Jew?
While writing the blog on Chanukah in Colonial America, I came across some lectures and articles by Andrew Porwancher, a professor at the University of Oklahoma, who has an interesting hypothesis. It seems that while researching the early life of Alexander Hamilton, Porwancher uncovered some interesting facts. Alexander Hamilton is the son of Rachel Faucette …
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Historical Tidbits — SIEGE OF CHARLESTON
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. March 29, 1780 – SIEGE OF CHARLESTON: After approximately six weeks of siege, Major General Benjamin Lincoln, commanding the Charleston garrison, surrendered his forces to the British. It was …
Michael Carver -- Historical Interpreter/Reenactor 