Next Meeting: January 21, 2026 (ZOOM Meeting)

 

Woody Holton, "Abigail Adams"

Woody is currently the Peter and Bonnie McCausland Professor of History at the University of South Carolina. After receiving his B.A. in English from the University of Virginia and his PhD in History from Duke University, Woody was an Assistant Professor then full Professor of History at the University of Richmond. He is the author of numerous books about the American Revolution period, including Abigail Adams; Black Americans in the Revolutionary Era: A Brief History with documents; Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution; and Forced Founders: Indians, debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia. Woody's most recent book, Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution, has become a nationwide best-seller.

*** NOTE: THIS IS A ZOOM MEETING ONLY ***

The Revolution's First Battle Outside the Northeast was in Virginia

Art Ritter shared the following link from the "Cardinal News." An interesting story that I'm sure not many are familiar with.

The revolution's first battle outside Northeast was in Virginia. It started with a dispute over a runaway slave. - Cardinal News

Chesterfield County Revolutionary War 250 Commemorative Brick Project

Chesterfield Historical Society is sponsoring a 250 Commemorative project to honor the brave men and boys who trained at the Chesterfield Camp in the bitter cold winter of 1780-81.  These Patriots were from multiple counties throughout the State of Virginia and other states.

Attached is information on the Chesterfield County, Virginia Revolutionary War 250 Commemorative Brick Project honoring the Patriots and a list of soldiers who trained at the Chesterfield Camp.

Click here to see the brochure

Click here to see a listing of soldiers who trained at the Chesterfield Camp

Click here for additional information on the proposed site

Next Meeting: November 19, 2025 **Location Change**

Elizabeth Reese is a public historian and writer living in the Washington, D.C. area. She has previously worked at a variety of museums and historic sites, including Hamilton Grange National Memorial and the United States Capitol Visitor Center. She has developed interpretive programs on civil rights, women’s history and Founding America and was a Scott Hartwig Public History Fellow at the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg. She currently serves as the chair for the American Friends of Lafayette Bicentennial Committee for Washington, D.C. She will speak on her book, Marquis de Lafayette Returns: A Tour of America's National Capital Region.

This in-person meeting will be in the Gottwald Science Center in the lower lecture hall (we've met there previously) at the University of Richmond. You may still have dinner at the dining hall but must eat in the main room with everyone else. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m.

Meeting Notes: September 17, 2025

The September meeting of the American Revolution Round Table of Richmond was held on September 17, 2025, in the Heilman Dining Center, at the University of Richmond.

The evening’s presentation was made by Robert F. Smith, author of Manufacturing Independence: Industrial Innovation in the American Revolution, Westholme Publishing, 2021. Dr. Smith is Provost of the Valley Forge Military College in Wayne, Pennsylvania. He received an MA in American History from Villanova University and a PhD in Early American History and Technology from Lehigh University. He is the author of numerous articles on military history and the history of technology. Manufacturing relies heavily on the documents of the Department of the Commissary General of Military Stores, a resource not extensively used by previous historians on the topic of manufacturing and is consequently rich with historical information.

“The nation had embarked on a war for independence without the domestic availability of weapons, the productive design to make weapons, or the trade connections to import well-made weapons.” [Manufacturing, p. xii]

America did not have the capacity to manufacture weapons to wage war against the world’s most powerful military force; guns, ammunition, bayonets, cartridge boxes, gunpowder, wagons, and every other accoutrement of war. The range of fighting equipment was vast. It is estimated that there were 350 gunsmiths in the colonies when war was declared against the British. They were craftsmen in the art of making rifles and were mostly located on the western frontier. There were no centralized manufactories for creating all the products necessary to support the fight for independence. There had been no need to mass produce the products necessary for warfare.

“When the revolution began, the family was the production team, with wife and children assisting the artisan in a shop either in or attached to his house. A master craftsman took on an apprentice or two if finances allowed. Yet a craftsman and his workers could make no more than a handful of items per week, depending on the nature of the craft. It took a gunsmith three days to make one weapon from scratch with some of the more intricate parts premade. Building an entire musket could take up to a week and required the gunsmith to have the ironworking skills of a blacksmith, the woodworking skills of a carpenter, and the crafting skills of a clockmaker and engraver. There was little division of labor in gunsmithing in particular and craftsmanship in general in America. An artisan worked on all aspects of a single product, because colonial markets were not large enough to call forth the development of large-scale production, general craftsmen were specialty producers. Thus, most gunsmiths were also blacksmiths and often produced rifles as well as muskets. With no requirement from the market to produce on a large scale, craftsmen never developed the means to do so. And, as will be seen in chapter 6, large-scale producers that did exist, like ironmongers, had no experience in making military stores. The American Revolution changed the nature of craft production, but in 1776, craftsmen were in no position to serve the military market on their own. And the nation's need for craftsmen skilled in military stores production exacerbated the limits of craft production in that particular industry.” [Manufacturing, p. 12]

Trade networks were destroyed, inflation undermined the economy, and American artisans could not produce or repair enough weapons to keep the Continental Army in the field. The Continental Congress responded to this crisis by mobilizing the nation’s manufacturing resources for war. The Continental Congress became familiar with the latest manufacturing techniques and processes of the expanding European industrial revolution. The Congress, therefore, initiated a program of munitions manufacturing under the newly created Department of the Commissary General of Military Stores. The department gathered craftsmen and workers into three national arsenals located in Philadelphia, Carlisle, and Springfield. They were trained in the large-scale production of weapons using groups of workers who were organized on their individualized skills and made components. For example, a gunsmith is not needed to produce a gun stock when a carpenter can be used to do that. A barrel can be made by a blacksmith. It is the gunsmith’s highly-skilled talent that is required for putting all the pieces together. The department also engaged private manufacturers, providing them with materials through bartering, cross-training their workers in marketable skills, and instituting programs of inspecting finished products to ensure consistent quality and uniformity.

Dr. Smith spoke about how the colonies were able to provide their military with the arms and accoutrements needed to fight, survive, and outlast the enemy—supplying weapons for the victory at Saratoga, rearming their armies in the South on three different occasions, and providing munitions to sustain the siege at Yorktown. These actions dispelled the general opinion that Americans and their Continental government did very little to manufacture stores for their own army. [Manufacturing, p. xvi] But this manufacturing system not only successfully supported the Continental Army, it also demonstrated new production ideas to the nation as implemented by the Department of the Commissary General. Through this system, the government went on to promote domestic manufacturing after the war, becoming a model for how the nation could produce goods for its own needs. “Americans imported the Industrial Revolution to mobilize the resources they had available. The short-term result was the effective arming of the nation, but the long-term implications involved placing the government at the forefront of industrialization in the United States.” [Manufacturing, p. xv] The War for Independence was not just a political revolution; it was an integral part of the Industrial Revolution in America.

--Fred Sorrell

Meeting Notes: July 16, 2025

The July meeting of the American Revolution Round Table of Richmond was held on July 16, 2025, in the Heilman Dining Center, at the University of Richmond.

The evening’s presentation was made by Jennifer Epstein Rudnick, author of Search for the Signers: Visiting the Graves of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, published by ‎ Mascot Books, 2021. Jennifer knew she wanted a career in history after being inspired by her fifth-grade teacher. She grew up in northwestern Connecticut and earned a Bachelor of Arts from Gettysburg College. She has worked for the National Park Service at several sites, for more than 20 years and has been on the National Mall in Washington, DC, hoping to inspire the next generation of historians like her teacher did for her.

What started out as an interest when she saw the musical 1776 soon became an obsession. During a road trip with friends to Boston, in a cemetery which had three Declaration signers’ graves, a project was conceived of traveling to and photographing the graves of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. It seemed an easy task. As photos were taken and names checked off the list, But questions arose. Is this where the signer was first buried? Was he moved from an original burial spot? Why did that move happen? Is the actual grave location known? Along the quest, it turns out that a number of Declaration signers, prominent men in their colonies, are not interred in their original burial locations. Jennifer shared stories of lesser-known facts and fictions about her signer discoveries and how some signers are not really buried where their burial marker sits.

She spoke about the stories she heard of the signers and her adventures attempting to locate the actual resting sites and markers of signers. Thomas Jefferson’s original headstone was moved to Columbia, Missouri to protect it from chippers at Monticello. A nephew poisoned George Wythe which caused him to have a lingering death and Wythe had time to disinherit the nephew by revising his will before he died. Roger Sherman died in 1793 but was buried in a cemetery created in 1797. The difficulty in locating the cemetery in which Richard Henry Lee is buried required multiple sleuthing trips due to a confusing state highway marker. Francis Lightfoot Lee (one of the only pair of brothers to sign the Declaration of Independence) was given as another example of a signer’s reburial as he was originally buried at "Menokin," his home, but was subsequently moved to Tayloe Cemetery, on “Mount Airy” plantation near Warsaw, Richmond County, Virginia. Thomas Nelson, who served in the war, but died with no money and was buried in an unmarked grave near to his father out of fear his creditors might use his body as collateral for getting paid and a subsequently placed headstone had his dates of birth and death incorrect. And lastly, the legend that the remains of Ceasar Rodney did not lay in the Christ Episcopal Church Yard in Dover, Delaware because remains had been moved from his plantation property when, years later, midnight movers were not sure they had the right remains (perhaps those of a woman) and being told his remains may now be under what is Runway Seven of the Dover Air Force Base or a field of potatoes.

While signer William Ellery does not make it into the musical 1776, one of his actions does which is combined into the character of signer Stephen Hopkins. In the play’s final scene, signer John Hancock askes Hopkins to sit down to sign. Hopkins says no, that he wants to remember the face of each man gathered around, saying “I was determined to see how they all looked as they signed what might be their death warrant.”

John Adams wrote about signer Stephen Hopkins, “His Custom was to drink nothing all day nor till Eight O Clock, in the evening, and then his Beveredge was Jamaica Spirit and Water. It gave him Wit, Humour, Anecdotes, Science and Learning…He never drank to excess, but all he drank was immediately not only converted into Wit, Sense, Knowledge, and good humour, but inspired Us all with similar qualities.”

Most importantly, Mrs. Rudnick believes, as was stated at the memorial dedication for Matthew Thornton in 1892, “There may be danger that lapse of time and subsequent important events in the history of our nation may tend to obscure the glory of their achievements, and to diminish that due sense of gratitude that ought to exist in the hearts of all succeeding generations as long as our nation shall endure. Monuments and statues illustrate, emphasize, and keep in remembrance great facts and characters in history.”

The Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence is in the Constitution Gardens on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

 

 

Signers of the Declaration of Independence [56]

 

New Hampshire	New York	Pennsylvannia	North Carolina
BARTLETT, Josiah	FLOYD, William	CLYMER, George	HEWES, Joseph
THORNTON, Matthew	LEWIS, Francis	FRANKLIN, Benjamin	HOOPER, William
WHIPPLE, William	LIVINGSTON, Robert	MORRIS, Robert	PENN, John
	MORRIS, Lewis	MORTON, John
Massachusetts		ROSS, George	South Carolina
ADAMS, John	New Jersey	RUSH, Benjamin	HEYWARD JR, Thomas
ADAMS, Samuel	CLARK, Abraham	SMITH, James	LYNCH JR., Thomas
GERRY, Elbridge	HART, John	TAYLOR, George	MIDDLETON, Arthur
HANCOCK, John	HOPKINSON Francis	WILSON, James	RUTLEDGE, Edward
PAINE, Robert Treat	STOCKTON, Richard
	WITHERSPOON, John	Virginia	Georgia
Connecticut		BRAXTON, Carter	GWINNETT, Button
HUNTINGTON, Samuel	Maryland	HARRISON, Benjamin	HALL, Lyman
SHERMAN, Roger	CARROLL, Charles	JEFFERSON, Thomas	WALTON, George
WILLIAMS, William	CHASE, Samuel	LEE, Francis Lightfoot
WOLCOTT, Oliver	PACA, William	LEE, Richard Henry
	STONE, Thomas	NELSON, JR., Thomas
Rhode Island		WYTHE, George
ELLERY, William	Delaware
HOPKINS, Stephens	McKEAN, Thomas
	READ, George
	RODNEY, Caesar

 

 

Fred Sorrell

Secretary

Run to Revolution 5k, October 4, 2025

Attention runners and ambitious walkers. Registration is now open for the second annual Run to Revolution 5k to be held on Saturday, October 4 at Elk Hill in western Goochland.

The historic Elk Hill property (https://goochlandhistory.wordpress.com/2016/01/31/thomas-jeffersons-elk-hill/  is now home to a facility that helps troubled youth get their lives back on track (https://www.elkhill.org/).  

Go to https://runsignup.com/Race/VA/Goochland/RuntotheRevolution for sign up information.

Run to Revolution is sponsored by the Goochland 250 Commission, which was created by the Board of Supervisors in 2022 to commemorate the founding of our great nation and remind Americans how our country came to be.

Next Meeting: September 17, 2025

 

"Manufacturing Independence: Industrial Innovation in the American Revolution"

Our speaker will be Dr Robert F. Smith.

Bob Smith is Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Valley Forge Military College. He received his PhD in Early American History and Technology from Lehigh University and his MA in American History from Villanova University. He is the author of numerous articles on military history and the history of technology.  His presentation is based on his book of the same title, of which he will have copies available.

This in person regular meeting will be in the Heilman Dining Center, with dinner beginning at 5:30 and the meeting starting at 6:30. 

 

American Revolution Round Table of Richmond has been selected by FeedSpot as one of the Top 30 American Revolution Blogs on the web. Thank you to all of our contributors who have made this happen!

Here is a link to the full list of thirty blogs. We're certainly in good company.

Next Meeting: July 16, 2025

"BURIAL SITES OF THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE"

[Benjamin Franklin's Grave]

Our speaker will be Jen Epstein 

Jennifer Epstein Rudnick knew she wanted a career in history after being inspired by her fifth-grade teacher. She grew up in northwestern Connecticut and earned a Bachelor of Arts from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. Jen has worked for the National Park Service at several sites, and for more than 25 years, has been at the National Mall in Washington, DC, hoping to inspire the next generation of historians as her teacher did for her. Jen lives in Northern Virginia with her husband Rich, and enjoys reading, traveling, baseball, and spending time with her niece and nephew. 

This in person regular meeting will be in the Heilman Dining Center, with dinner beginning at 5:30 and the meeting starting at 6:30. 

Meeting Notes: May 28, 2025

The May meeting of the American Revolution Round Table of Richmond was deferred from the third Wednesday until the 28^th due to a scheduling conflict with the University’s graduation ceremonies. It was held in the Heilman Dining Center, at the University of Richmond.

In May of 1781, Colonel Robert Goode's militia, with around 150 men, camped at old Ezekiel Sudbury’s farm in eastern Chesterfield County, establishing outposts towards Petersburg, Virginia.  A major skirmish with Cornwallis' foragers, known as the Battle of Sudbury's Farm, occurred on May 23, 1781, resulting in significant militia casualties. This event is considered Chesterfield County's bloodiest day of the war and was the subject for the evening’s presentation “Defeat at Sudbury” by John Pagano.

John has worked extensively in public history at various museums and sites and is now Chesterfield County’s Division of Historic Sites Interpretation Supervisor. He is an advisor for Chesterfield County’s 250th Anniversary Committee and is an assisting advisor to Henrico County’s 250th Committee. John has written, advised, and consulted on approximately twenty historical documentaries, including a Revolutionary War documentary video, “Von Steuben’s Continentals” that focuses on how Steuben’s tactics transformed the Continental Army at Valley Forge. He is also founder and an officer of a local living history organization, the “Virginia Line”, which does programs portraying Virginia militia and Continental soldiers in the American Revolution.

On May 20, 1781, Lieutenant General Charles Earl Cornwallis’ forces arrived at the City of Petersburg. Virginia was the hub for most materials and supplies that went south to support America’s war effort there. Britain’s objective was to move northward through North Carolina to reach Virginia and destroy all products that financed America’s fight, and capture Virginia’s leadership. As the British advanced towards Richmond, the Virginia government withdrew to Charlottesville. The Marquis de Lafayette moved his army around Richmond and eastern Henrico, mostly at Wilton, keeping the James River between his army and Cornwallis. Colonel Robert Goode, who led the Chesterfield Battalion, moved his local militia across the James River into Chesterfield County. The battalion consisted of 120 men and very few calvary troops.

Lafayette was leading Virginia’s Continental Army troops. Brigadier General John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg was leading the Virginia militia. Lafayette was camped at Wilton on the northern side of the James River. Colonel Goode’s orders were to scout the British movements in advance of Lafayette’s main force, which was moving southward, and to provide early warning and reconnaissance, as a defensive measure, about the British forces moving northward from North Carolina. Colonel Goode quartered his men near Chesterfield Courthouse. Tarleton and his troop received intelligence about Goode’s camp and attacked in the morning on May 23^rd.

 

 

Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton led the British dragoons, called “Tarleton’s Legion”, on a raid of Goode’s troops which were bivouacked near Chesterfield Courthouse. Tarleton surprised the militia. They arrived on horseback swinging their swords. It was raining and most of the militias’ muskets could not fire. The “Battle of Sudbury’s Farm” was a skirmish of epic significance as it allowed Lafayette’s army to retreat from Cornwallis’s army and remain in the fight. It was Chesterfield’s bloodiest day of the war with 6 killed and 40 prisoners taken. Lafayette wrote [edited for clarity], “…profiting by the heavy rain which rendered the sentinels arms unfit to fire, and having intercepted the videttes, surprising a party of militia in Chesterfield about 2 Miles SW of Colonel Cary’s Mill.” One militiaman wrote [edited for clarity], “…we were kept between the enemy and our army (a forlorn hope indeed) until Colonel Tarleton came…” Militiaman John Johnston wrote [edited for clarity], “one hundred sixty men went to the British lines, and were attacked by Colonel Tarleton’s Troop of Horse, a severe battle was fought in which we lost sixty men taken as prisoners and killed altogether, I myself escaped by charging with bayonets and together with my fellow soldiers breaking through the British horse and running for our lives…” This action marks the last Revolutionary War combat in Chesterfield County.

Because of the Chesterfield Militia’s actions, of putting themselves in harm’s way and doing their job, Lafayette received warning in time to retreat his army at Wilton northward to the North Anna River, keeping out of Cornwallis’ reach while awaiting the arrival of General Anthony Wayne with 800 Pennsylvania Continental Line troops. He would resume his campaign towards Cornwallis’ army and participate in the Virginia Campaign against General Cornwallis after joining General George Washington’s engagement of Cornwallis at Yorktown in the most important battle of the Revolutionary War and the surrender of General Cornwallis’ British Army. The defeat was, indeed, signaled at Sudbury’s farm.

Fred Sorrell

Secretary