Battles of the Revolution
- November 5, 2025: Cherry Valley: A Massacre of the Revolution
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Veteran’s Day, once Armistice Day, is this coming Tuesday. But the armistice that ended the Great War is not the only thing that happened on November 11 in our history. Among the most barbaric was the 1778 massacre by English troops at Cherry Valley, a village now in Otsego County, New York.
A Sestercentennial Year
- Battle of Bennington
- Upside Down Yorktown
- Cherry Valley Massacre ⬅︎
- Battle of the Kegs
- Sestercentennial Cookery
- The New Colossus
- Irish potato pie
- Sing of Marion’s Men
- Disney’s Marion
- Monticello Meal
- Riflemen of Bennington
The Cherry Valley massacre is an obscure part of the American Revolution to anyone but the residents of Cherry Valley, who remembered it at least up to the release of The Patriot in 2000.
- August 13, 2025: Our lot is cast in this happy land…
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While researching the origin of The Rifleman’s Song of Bennington I ran across this 1819 speech on the occasion of the Battle of Bennington. It appeared in The Pittsfield Sun of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, November 10, 1819 and was given by Samuel B. Young on August 16 of the same year.
A Sestercentennial Year
- Battle of Bennington ⬅︎
- Upside Down Yorktown
- Cherry Valley Massacre
- Battle of the Kegs
- Sestercentennial Cookery
- The New Colossus
- Irish potato pie
- Sing of Marion’s Men
- Disney’s Marion
- Monticello Meal
- Riflemen of Bennington
Since Saturday is the anniversary of the battle, I thought I’d reproduce it here. It’s a fine argument for commemorating Independence Day as well as the sacrifices made for Independence.
An Oration
Pronounced at Bennington, August 16, 1819, in commemoration of the Battle of Bennington, fought August 16, 1777, by Samuel B. Young.
“Eternal vigilance is the price we pay for liberty.”
“Live free or die;” death is better than slavery.
More American Revolution
- Mock the Wind and Sing of Marion’s Men
- “In Lexington, the center of revolt against the King…” One of the most modern figures of the American Revolution was a slaveholder and Indian fighter with a superhero name.
- The Battle of the Kegs
- The Battle of the Kegs took place on January 5 or 6, 1778. Soon after, Francis Hopkinson wrote this wonderful account of the debacle, including very personal details about the British General in charge!
- Cherry Valley: A Massacre of the Revolution
- Mel Gibson’s The Patriot is disparaged for the ruthlessness it portrays among the British. But such barbarity certainly did exist. One massacre by British troops is still remembered by the residents of Cherry Valley, New York.
- The World Turned Upside Down
- The legend of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis to Washington at Yorktown says that the band played “The World Turned Upside Down”. It probably didn’t. But we’re going to print the legend anyway.
- Songs of the American Revolution
- Various songs, and the history of the songs, that made the Revolution—sometimes decades later.
- One more page with the topic American Revolution, and other related pages