Fall 2019 Lecture Series
The Old Barracks is pleased to host lectures and discussions
by leading historians and authors on a variety of subjects
sponsored by the Society of Sons of the Revolution in the State of New Jersey.
Lectures are free to attend, and pre-orders for books are encouraged.
Please pre-order online here.
by leading historians and authors on a variety of subjects
sponsored by the Society of Sons of the Revolution in the State of New Jersey.
Lectures are free to attend, and pre-orders for books are encouraged.
Please pre-order online here.
Book quantities are limited -
pre-order your books here to ensure you have a copy!
The Road to Assunpink Creek: Liberty's Desperate Hour and the Ten Crucial Days of the American Revolution
David Price
Tuesday, October 15 | 7 PM
Doors Open at 6:30 PM
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The Road to Assunpink Creek puts a spotlight on what may be the most unappreciated moment of a young nation’s revolutionary struggle when George Washington’s army narrowly escaped destruction to keep alive its fight for American independence
Perhaps no military action in our country’s history is more paradoxical than the one on the road to Assunpink Creek, and at the bridge that crossed it, in the sense that its obscurity in the public mind and neglect by many historians is so disproportionate to its impact on the course of a conflict with global implications. The Battle of Assunpink Creek on January 2, 1777 was the second in a sequence of three victories by George Washington’s army during the “Ten Crucial Days” of the American Revolution—the period from December 25, 1776 through January 3, 1777. Those rapid-fire triumphs, the first significant successes by the Continental Army, reversed the momentum of the war when it appeared that America’s quest for independence from Great Britain was on the verge of total defeat. In this deftly crafted narrative, the author explains how Washington’s desperate gamble paid off when the Continental Army fought a daylong running battle against a militarily superior foe and made a successful stand with its back to the Delaware River, avoiding the very real threat of total defeat and setting the stage for a dramatic counterattack against a surprised enemy. Price weaves what we know about these events into an exciting and unforgettable story and illuminates what most historians treat as an afterthought. |
Quarters: The Accommodation of the British Army and the Coming of the American Revolution
John Gilbert McCurdy
Thursday, October 24 | 7 PM
Doors Open at 6:30 PM
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When Americans declared independence in 1776, they cited King George III "for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us." In Quarters, John Gilbert McCurdy explores the social and political history behind the charge, offering an authoritative account of the housing of British soldiers in America. Providing new interpretations and analysis of the Quartering Act of 1765, McCurdy sheds light on a misunderstood aspect of the American Revolution.
Quarters unearths the vivid debate in eighteenth-century America over the meaning of place. It asks why the previously uncontroversial act of accommodating soldiers in one's house became an unconstitutional act. In so doing, Quarters reveals new dimensions of the origins of Americans' right to privacy. It also traces the transformation of military geography in the lead up to independence, asking how barracks changed cities and how attempts to reorder the empire and the borderland led the colonists to imagine a new nation. Quarters emphatically refutes the idea that the Quartering Act forced British soldiers in colonial houses, demonstrates the effectiveness of the Quartering Act at generating revenue, and examines aspects of the law long ignored, such as its application in the backcountry and its role in shaping Canadian provinces. Above all, Quarters argues that the lessons of accommodating British troops outlasted the Revolutionary War, profoundly affecting American notions of place. McCurdy shows that the Quartering Act had significant ramifications, codified in the Third Amendment, for contemporary ideas of the home as a place of domestic privacy, the city as a place without troops, and a nation with a civilian-led military. |
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Before Penn: An Illustrated History of The Delaware River Colonies 1609 - 1682
Hal Taylor
Tuesday, October 29 | 7 PM
Doors Open at 6:30 PM
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Before Penn provides the little known but fascinating history of the European settlement of the Delaware River Valley prior to the founding of Philadelphia by William Penn. The background tells of a legendary visit to North America by Irish monk St. Brendan in the seventh century and continues with a litany of European explorers searching for a short cut through the North American continent that will lead to the treasures of the Far East. During the process, abundant natural resources are discovered, leading to competition among major powers.
Punctuated by over eighty original color and black & white illustrations, Before Penn is a comprehensive overview of an important region of the U.S. whose history has been largely underserved. |
Thalers and Pence: Foreign Coins in the American Colonies 1607-1857
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Young Washington: How Wilderness and War Forged America's Founding Father
Peter Stark
Thursday, November 14 | 7 PM
Doors Open at 6:30 PM
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Finalist, 2019 George Washington Book Prize
A new, brash, and unexpected view of the president we thought we knew, from the bestselling author of Astoria Two decades before he led America to independence, George Washington was a flailing young soldier serving the British Empire in the vast wilderness of the Ohio Valley. Naïve and self-absorbed, the twenty-two-year-old officer accidentally ignited the French and Indian War—a conflict that opened colonists to the possibility of an American Revolution. With powerful narrative drive and vivid writing, Young Washington recounts the wilderness trials, controversial battles, and emotional entanglements that transformed Washington from a temperamental striver into a mature leader. Enduring terrifying summer storms and subzero winters imparted resilience and self-reliance, helping prepare him for what he would one day face at Valley Forge. Leading the Virginia troops into battle taught him to set aside his own relentless ambitions and stand in solidarity with those who looked to him for leadership. Negotiating military strategy with British and colonial allies honed his diplomatic skills. And thwarted in his obsessive, youthful love for one woman, he grew to cultivate deeper, enduring relationships. By weaving together Washington’s harrowing wilderness adventures and a broader historical context, Young Washington offers new insights into the dramatic years that shaped the man who shaped a nation. |
The Tragedy of Benedict Arnold: An American Life
Joyce Malcolm
Thursday, November 21 | 7 PM
Doors Open at 6:30 PM
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Finalist, 2019 George Washington Book Prize
A vivid and timely re-examination of one of young America’s most complicated figures: the war hero turned infamous traitor, Benedict Arnold. Proud and talented, history now remembers this conflicted man solely through the lens of his last desperate act of treason. Yet the fall of Benedict Arnold remains one of the Revolutionary period’s great puzzles. Why did a brilliant military commander, who repeatedly risked his life fighting the British, who was grievously injured in the line of duty, and fell into debt personally funding his own troops, ultimately became a traitor to the patriot cause? Historian Joyce Lee Malcolm skillfully unravels the man behind the myth and gives us a portrait of the true Arnold and his world. There was his dramatic victory against the British at Saratoga in 1777 and his troubled childhood in a pre-revolutionary America beset with class tension and economic instability. We witness his brilliant wartime military exploits and learn of his contentious relationship with a newly formed and fractious Congress, fearful of powerful military leaders, like Arnold, who could threaten the nation’s fragile democracy. Throughout, Malcolm weaves in portraits of Arnold’s great allies―George Washington, General Schuyler, his beautiful and beloved wife Peggy Shippen, and others―as well as his unrelenting enemy John Adams, British General Clinton, and master spy John Andre. Thrilling and thought-provoking, The Tragedy of Benedict Arnold sheds new light on a man―as well on the nuanced and complicated time in which he lived. |
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