Revolutionary War & Colonial History

With a bitterly divided nation plunged into the War of 1812, a fiery young Federalist editor named Alexander Hanson risked his life to defend a newspaper that dared express unpopular views.

His words provoked a violent standoff that crippled the city of Baltimore and left Hanson beaten within an inch of his life. This little-known episode in American history - complete with a midnight jailbreak, bloodthirsty mobs and unspeakable acts of torture - helped shape the course of war, the Federalist Party and the nation’s very notion of the freedom of the press. Josh Cutler’s history of the Mobtown Massacre offers a lesson in liberty that reverberates today.

"It is true, Maryland did not . . . contribute its proportion, but it was, in my opinion, the fault of the Government, and not of the people." ~Benjamin Franklin During the French and Indian War the American colonies contributed to the imperial war effort like never before, Maryland included. Maryland's involvement in the war saw colonial governor Horatio Sharpe and the elected delegates of the Lower House in near constant struggle over Maryland's role. They battled over the deployment of Maryland's militia, over raising troops, and over wartime funding. Meanwhile, frontier settlements burned and Maryland's soldiers joined the effort to defend Great Britain's claims to lands west of the Appalachians. Britain's colonies in North America expanded substantially as a result. Local historian Tim Ware details the political as well as the military conflicts Maryland faced in this unique war.

During the American Revolution, the Eastern Shore was filled with both Patriots and Loyalists. Both sides attacked the other using privateers - pirates to their enemies.

These enterprising locals plundered and pillaged, and motivated by profit, some even fought for both sides. The Chesapeake Bay was the site of one of the last and bloodiest naval battles of the Revolution, and privateers were instrumental in the eventual American victory in the war. Author Leonard Szaltis uses local records to bring these legendary Eastern Shoremen and their exploits to life.

Calls for independence shook the wealthy gentry with their grand mansions in Chestertown and their patchwork of prosperous Kent County plantations and farms. It was in the interest of the upper echelons of Kent County society to remain loyal to the Crown. Yet the Revolutionary spirit did ignite, as Chestertown protested parliament's duty on tea and sent flour to aid the poor in the closed port of Boston. While militia was raised, Kent County's true value to Washington was as a key breadbasket for his Continental army. Still, the revolutionaries found it difficult to gain a firm foothold. Religious and social tensions created a charged atmosphere as Loyalists burned rebel mills to the ground only to be in turn attacked by rebel mobs. Author Theodore Corbett unravels the complexities of a community thrust into war.