Category: Articles

What Are All of Those “f” Characters Doing Where “s” Should Be? —or— When I Read Eighteenth Century Books I Sound Like Sylvester The Cat

By Bob Sullivan As a sutler selling eighteenth century printed material, one of the most asked questions I receive is, “Why did they use “f” instead of “s”? Well, good reader, it is not an “f”. It is an ancient Saxon character called an “eth” character. The eth character made its appearance in printed matter…

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What Really Happened At Rock Ford?

by Jim Newell, German Regt. Thankfully, no battles occurred there during the Revolution—Lancaster was much too important for that. The Borough of Lancaster was home to the Continental Congress in 1777 after the advancing British forced the evacuation of Philadelphia and before they moved on to York, Pennsylvania. Lancaster, some 50 miles west of Philadelphia,…

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Sgt. Leftfoot’s Musing & Maneuvering: Forward,—March!

By Sgt. Addison P. Leftfoot Editor’s Note: Sgt. Leftfoot has served with several re-enactment units and often claims to actually “channel” the spirit of Frederick William Baron von Steuben himself when questions about drill arise. Look for Sgt. Leftfoot’s Musing & Maneuveringas a fairly regular column in The Continental Soldier. Questions or suggested topics for this column can…

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“Sospecting the prisner to be a tory…” A Continental Army Court Martial, July 1777

By John U. Rees Recently the proceedings of a number of British courts martial have been brought to light, providing another window on the day-to-day activities of common soldiers and their retainers (most notably in several articles in The Brigade Dispatch, Journal of the Brigade of the American Revolution). The following document, found in the…

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A Jingling Match

By Don Hagist This article is reprinted, with permission, from “The Brigade Dispatch” A British newspaper carried an announcement for a fair called the Yattendon Revel, to be held on July 10 & 11, 1782. Among the activities was a Jingling Match by eleven blindfolded women, and one unmasked with bells, for a very good…

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Watch Out For Ticks!

By Sue Huesken — 1stNew Jersey Regiment What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You! Ticks are active during the fall as well as spring and summer. The Blacklegged tick (formally called the deer tick) and the LoneStar ticks are the two types of major concern when it comes to transmitting disease to humans. Approximately 50%…

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