Privateers were an important component of the American war effort. They were something akin to government-sanctioned pirates — armed vessels that chased down and confiscated the cargo of civilian enemy merchant ships. The techniques privateers employed wouldn’t pass muster today. They’d often approach a ship under a false flag and captain and crew would get a large cut of the captured loot.
Ben Swenson
Ben Swenson is a writer, editor and educator who lives in James City County
Posted inCardinal News 250
Historian says key events in Virginia early in the revolution have not gotten the attention they deserve, so he organized an event to address them
Nearly 250 years after Norfolk burned to the ground during the Revolutionary War — the only North American city destroyed at such scale — scholars, historical interpreters and enthusiasts of colonial America gathered in the port city to reflect on the significant role that eastern Virginia played in shaping both the course of the war and of the complex culture that the conflict begot. At the core: Competing notions of freedom.
Posted inCardinal News 250
A woman saved Isle of Wight’s courthouse records during the Revolution; an enslaved man saved them during the Civil War
When British soldiers approached, Elizabeth Bennett Young, the wife of an Isle of Wight County deputy clerk, spirited the county records away and buried them.
Posted inCardinal News 250
The American army in the Revolution was integrated. It would not be again until the Korean War.
Foreign military officers referred to the American military as “speckled,” owing to the diverse racial makeup of its troops.
Posted inCardinal News 250
The ‘other’ Lafayette: An enslaved man who spied for the French general, adopted his surname but then was denied his promised freedom
The Marquis de Lafayette eventually helped secure his freedom. A statue to James Armistead Lafayette will be dedicated this month in New Kent County.
Posted inCardinal News 250
Virginia had its own ‘tea party.’ This year marks the 250th anniversary of the one in Yorktown.
The event was very similar to the one in Boston, just on a smaller scale.
Posted inPolitics
Early voting opened Friday. Local registrars have been working for weeks to make sure that their voting machines are ready.
State law requires local officials to test all voting equipment ahead of each election.
Posted inPolitics
This year’s presidential primaries cost localities about $4 million more than the state will cover
In some places, the state will cover the whole cost. But some localities are finding the state is only covering about one-quarter of the expense.
Posted inCardinal News 250
For Colonists, hemp was both economic security and national security
Colonial Virginians used hemp to make rope, sails and caulking. They also used it to pay taxes.
Posted inCardinal News 250
Virginia’s Native Americans were caught in the crossfire of the revolution
Eastern tribes sided with American patriots while Western tribes backed the British.