Primary Sources

I read and comment on Primary Source readings out of (mostly) American History, so you can hear voices of the people who were there, rather than just historians.

George Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge. The cannonade continued without interruption on the side of the British throughout the day. Our men…
Headquarters, March 14th, 1779. Dear Sir, Colonel Laurens, who will have the honor of delivering you this letter, is on his way to South Carolina on a…
June 1. — Among the many errors America has been guilty of during her contest with Great Britain, few have been greater or attended with more fatal…
Reception of the American Loyalists by Great Britain in the Year 1783. London, July 4 [1775]- Arrived at the New England coffee-house, Threadneedle…
In Congress, Friday June 7, 1776. The delegates from Virginia moved in obedience to instructions from their constituents that the Congress should…
July 30, 1776. Chase. Moves that the word “white” should be inserted in the eleventh Article. The negroes are wealth. Numbers are not a certain rule of…
Artist's depiction of the Great Fire of New York on September 19, 1776. The fire destroyed from 10 to 25 percent of the buildings in the city, while…
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