Untold Stories of American Independence

08/18/2025

1795 - August 18 - WASHINGTON SIGNS THE JAY TREATY

On August 18, 1795, President George Washington signED the Jay (or “Jay’s”) Treaty with Great Britain.
This treaty, known officially as the “Treaty of Amity Commerce and Navigation, between His Britannic Majesty; and The United States of America” attempted to diffuse the tensions between England and the United States that had risen to renewed heights since the end of the Revolutionary War. The U.S. government objected to English military posts along America’s northern and western borders and Britain’s violation of American neutrality in 1794 when the Royal Navy seized American ships in the West Indies during England’s war with France. The treaty, written and negotiated by Supreme Court Chief Justice (and Washington appointee) John Jay, was signed by Britain’s King George III on November 19, 1794 in London. However, after Jay returned home with news of the treaty’s signing, Washington, now in his second term, encountered fierce Congressional opposition to the treaty; by 1795, its ratification was uncertain.

Leading the opposition to the treaty were two future presidents: Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. At the time, Jefferson was in between political positions: he had just completed a term as Washington’s secretary of state from 1789 to 1793 and had not yet become John Adams’ vice president. Fellow Virginian James Madison was a member of the House of Representatives. Jefferson, Madison and other opponents feared the treaty gave too many concessions to the British. They argued that Jay’s negotiations actually weakened American trade rights and complained that it committed the U.S. to paying pre-revolutionary debts to English merchants. Washington himself was not completely satisfied with the treaty, but considered preventing another war with America’s former colonial master a priority.

Ultimately, the treaty was approved by Congress on August 14, 1795, with exactly the two-thirds majority it needed to pass; Washington signed the treaty four days later. Washington and Jay may have won the legislative battle and averted war temporarily, but the conflict at home highlighted a deepening division between those of different political ideologies in Washington, D.C. Jefferson and Madison mistrusted Washington’s attachment to maintaining friendly relations with England over revolutionary France, who would have welcomed the U.S. as a partner in an expanded war against England.

08/16/2025

Secretary of the Continental Congress for 15 years, Charles Thomson ...

“Posterity will find your name so honourably connected with the unification of such a multitude of astonishing facts... your services have been as important, as your patriotism was distinguished.”
~ George Washington's 1789 letter to Charles Thomson

Today marks the anniversary of the passing in 1824 of Founder Charles Thomson of Pennsylvania. Thomson is one of those forgotten Founders, but in his day his contributions to liberty and the founding of this nation were understood and valued. From 1775 through 1789, the government of this country was the Continental Congress. During its 15 years of existence, it went through many presidents, including the well-known John Hancock. But during that same time there was the secretary, Charles Thomson. When congress was not in session, which happened more often in those days, Thomson ran the country as a sort of prime minister. This makes him one of our most important, if not well remembered, Founders.

08/15/2025

1782 - August 15 – THE SIEGE OF BRYAN’S STATION, KY

Although General Cornwallis had surrendered his army at Yorktown, VA almost a year earlier and the War of Independence was over, just waiting for the Peace Treaty to be signed, hostilities still continued on the western frontier.

Since 1775, colonial settlers had been crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains from Virginia and settling in Kentucky at the rate of 1,000 or more each year. The British, from outposts in Detroit and Canada, had been encouraging raids on the Kentucky settlements by the native tribes in Ohio. In August of 1782, Captain William Caldwell and Simon Girty led a force of 400-500 natives (from the Wyandot, Shawnee, Delaware, and Lake tribes) and a detachment of Canadian Rangers across the Ohio River and into Kentucky with the mission to capture Bryan’s Station, a settlement/fort built near present day Lexington, KY.

Bryan’s Station, like other forts in the wilderness, was built as a wooden stockade enclosing 44 log cabins and located near a spring, which supplied water. The settlers lived inside the stockade at night and worked the fields nearby during the day, staying close enough to the fort in case of trouble.
On August 14, the attacking force arrived at the station and hid in the woods nearby.

The leaders of the settlement became aware of their presence, but did not move against the enemy, hoping to keep surprise on their side. The next day, in order to fool the attacking force, they kept up their normal activities, with most of the men staying inside the fort, to repel the expected attack. They sent just a few men to the fields, and two of them slipped away to the nearby Lexington settlement to bring the militia. The attackers, wanting to catch a large group of the settlers outside the fort by surprise, waited in hiding, thinking that they still had the element of surprise. The leaders of the settlement asked the women to leave the stockade and go to the spring for water, as they did every day, to keep up the subterfuge. And water was needed to prevent dehydration and to put out fires from flaming arrows. The women knew the attackers were hiding nearby, but went to the spring anyway in small groups, acting as calmly as possible. The attackers did not reveal themselves, still hoping to catch a large group of settlers outside of the stockade.

Later in the day, the leaders of the attacking force, realizing that they had been discovered, and launched a frontal assault on the stockade. The settlers were ready, and kept the attackers from taking the fort. During the attack, an additional force of 16 mounted militia arrived to give additional aid to the defense and fought their way through the attackers and into the fort, without receiving a wound. The siege lasted until August 17 when the leaders of the attacking force knew that they had failed and that more militia would be arriving soon, so they ended the left during the night.

In 1896, the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a monument to the heroines of the siege. Today, the monument is located on private property but can be seen from a nearby roadway.

08/13/2025

1781 - Aug 13 - "SWAMP FOX" SURPRISES LOYALIST ARMY AT PARKER'S FERRY, SC

On August 13, 1781, Brigadier General Francis Marion -- nicknamed "The Swamp Fox" by the British -- lured 450 Loyalist troops into an ambush at Parker's Ferry, about 30 miles northeast of Charleston, SC. Marion sent some fast riders ahead of the British force led by Major Thomas Fraser, enticing Fraser to order a cavalry charge directly into an ambush. The Patriots fired three successive volleys, which cut the Loyalist force in half. More would have been injured or killed, but the Patriots were low on ammunition and had to retire from the ambush. Fraser himself was hit three times in the skirmish, but managed to continue in command of his men.

Francis Marion was a Southern Planter in South Carolina who had served on the side of the British in the French & Indian War. With the onslaught of the Revolutionary War and the invasion of the Southern Colonies by the British Army, Marion signed on to the Patriot cause and became a leader of militia. He was known for his harassment attacks on General Cornwallis's supply lines, utilizing what became known as "guerilla warfare."

Marion became a folk hero when Parson Weems published a biography of him shortly after the Americans won independence. An 8 episode mini-series by Disney in the 1950's (starring Leslie Nielsen as Francis Marion) added to the legends. In the movie, The Patriot (released in 2000), the character Ben Martin, played by Mel Gibson, was modeled in part after Francis Marion.

08/11/2025

1776 - August 10 - LONDON LEARNS OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE

On August 10, 1776, the news reached London that the American Colonies had declared their independence from Great Britain by adopting a Declaration of Independence. The news took almost 6 weeks to cross the Atlantic.

Prior to this, the people of England (including the King and Parliament) thought of the conflict in the colonies (mostly occurring in Massachusetts) as a local uprising. Many Americans viewed it the same way. And England had responded by putting the colony under martial law.
But the Declaration of Independence changed everything -- now it was open rebellion, not just in one colony, but in 13 colonies. And King George was furious, of course! And rebellion must be put down.

To the Americans, who supported the Declaration, it had been a struggle for their rights as British citizens. But Parliament and the King had continued to oppose any reform and were unwilling to negotiate with the colonies. Instead the King had hired German mercenary soldiers -- Hessians -- to help the British army put down the rebellion. Now it was war!

The Declaration of Independence justified independence from England and listed 27 grievances that the colonists had with their mother country. These were preceded by the founding statement: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” London and all of England was shocked.

The King, as they say, was not amused!

08/08/2025

1775 - August 8 - DANIEL MORGAN JOINS WASHINGTON IN BOSTON

On August 8, 1775, Captain Daniel Morgan and his Virginia riflemen arrive in Cambridge, MA to join General George Washington and the Continental Army which was laying siege to British-held Boston following the Battles at Lexington and Concord. Morgan had served with Washington during the "Seven Years War" in 1755 on the side of the British against the French.
Morgan’s men’s extraordinary skill as snipers earned them the nickname “Morgan’s Sharpshooters.” They participated in the Battles of Montreal, Saratoga, Cowpens, Guilford Courthouse, and Yorktown, tipping the battles in favor of the Americans with their rifle skills.

08/07/2025

1782 - August 7 - WASHINGTON CREATES "PURPLE HEART" AWARD

On August 7, 1782, in Newburgh, New York, General George Washington, the commander in chief of the Continental Army, created the “Badge for Military Merit,” a decoration consisting of a purple, heart-shaped piece of silk, edged with a narrow binding of silver, with the word Merit stitched across the face in silver. The badge was to be presented to soldiers for “any singularly meritorious action” and permitted its wearer to pass guards and sentinels without challenge. The honoree’s name and regiment were also to be inscribed in a “Book of Merit.”
Washington’s “Purple Heart” was awarded to only three known soldiers during the Revolutionary War: Elijah Churchill, William Brown and Daniel Bissell, Jr.

The “Book of Merit” was lost, and the decoration was largely forgotten until 1927, when General Charles P. Summerall, the U.S. Army chief of staff, sent an unsuccessful draft bill to Congress to “revive the Badge of Military Merit.” In 1931, Summerall’s successor, General Douglas MacArthur, took up the cause, hoping to reinstate the medal in time for the bicentennial of George Washington’s birth. On February 22, 1932, Washington’s 200th birthday, the U.S. War Department announced the creation of the “Order of the Purple Heart.”

In addition to aspects of Washington’s original design, the new Purple Heart also displays a bust of Washington and his coat of arms. The Order of the Purple Heart, the oldest American military decoration for military merit, is awarded to members of the U.S. armed forces who have been killed or wounded in action against an enemy. It is also awarded to soldiers who have suffered maltreatment as prisoners of war.

08/02/2025

1776 - August 2 - FORMAL SIGNING OF DECLARATION

On August 2, 1776, 56 members of the Continental Congress formally signed their names on an enlarged copy of the Declaration of Independence. (shown in this painting by John Trumbull)

On July 2nd, they had approved a resolution to declare independence. On July 4th, they approved the Declaration written by Thomas Jefferson and the committee of five. This Declaration was signed only by the President of the Congress, John Hancock, and the Secretary of the Congress, Charles Thompson, and was immediately rushed to printers.
On July 19th, it was decided to produce a handwritten copy of the Declaration which all the members would sign, which they did on August 2, 1776.

07/31/2025

1777 - July 31 - LAFAYETTE JOINS THE REVOLUTION

On July 31, 1777, French aristocrat, Marquis de Lafayette, joined the American Revolution and received a commission as a major-general in the Continental Army—without pay.

Lafayette and French Baron Johann DeKalb had offered their military knowledge and experience to the American cause to Silas Deane, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, who were envoys of the Continental Congress to France.
Lafayette outfitted a ship at his own expense and sailed to South Carolina, then traveled to Philadelphia by land, and joined General Washington's command.

Lafayette served at the Battle of Brandywine in 1777, wintered with the Americans at Valley Forge, fought at Monmouth, NJ, and then in Rhode Island in 1778. After France agreed to help the new United States in their war with Britain, Lafayette returned to France to encourage the King to send more aid. He returned to the American Army in Virginia, six months later, where he participated in several engagements, including the successful siege of Yorktown in 1781. He led troops in the capture of a British redoubt that turned the course of that battle. The British General Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown effectively ending the War.

Lafayette became a protege of George Washington, who saw him as a son, and they continued a close friendship during their remaining years.

07/29/2025

1775 - July 29 -- ARMY CHAPLAIN CORPS FOUNDED

On July 29, 1775, the Army Chaplain Corps was organized by the Continental Congress. Numerous famous leaders have served as military chaplains, including Robert Treat Paine, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Read more about it at Wallbuilders:

With the recent hostility against military chaplains, it is worth recalling the distinguished history of the chaplain corps as it celebrates its 240th birthday...

07/27/2025

1789 - July 27 -- STATE DEPARTMENT CREATED

On July 27, 1789, President George Washington signed legislation creating the Department of Foreign Affairs, known today as the Department of State. It was the first federal agency created under the new Constitution and the first Cabinet Post of the Washington administration.

On September 29, 1789, President Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, then Minister to France, to be the first United States Secretary of State. John Jay had been serving as Secretary of Foreign Affairs as a holdover from the Confederation of States and continued in that capacity until Jefferson returned from Europe many months later. Jefferson had a total staff of 6 people.

07/26/2025

1775 - July 26 -- U.S. POSTAL SYSTEM ESTABLISHED

The 13 British Colonies on the North American Continent were able to unite due to the establishment of Committees of Correspondence, which spread information among the colonies by express riders and through the existing mail system. They knew the importance of a good communications system.

On July 26, 1775, the Second Continental Congress established the U.S. POSTAL SYSTEM -- almost a full year before they declared Independence! Ben Franklin was appointed the first Postmaster General. Franklin had already served as Postmaster in Philadelphia in the 1750's, and in 1754, the British Parliament appointed him one of two postmaster generals for the colonies. He served in that position for twenty years, although he was living most of the time in London.

In 1774 Franklin was fired from the post because of his support of the rebellious activities occurring in Boston and elsewhere in the colonies. He returned to Philadelphia in 1775 and became a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. Late in 1776, Franklin was appointed as Ambassador to France, and his son-in-law, Richard Bache, became postmaster.