On this day in 1780, following a siege that began on April 2 of that year, Americans suffer their worst defeat of the American Revolution, with the unconditional surrender of Major General Benjamin Lincoln to British Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton and his army of 10,000 in Charleston, South Carolina. The British captured more than 3,000 Patriots and a great quantity of munitions and equipment, with 250 of their own killed and wounded in the process. Confident of British control in the South, Lieutenant General Clinton sailed north to British-occupied New York after having learned of an impending French expedition to the northern state. He left General Charles Cornwallis in command of over 8,000 British forces in the South. South Carolina was a bitterly divided state, and the British presence unleashed the full violence of a civil war upon the population. The guerrilla warfare strategies employed by Patriots Thomas Sumter, Nathanael Greene, and Francis Marion throughout the ...

My wife and I are planning a trip to New York City and, as has become customary before every vacation we book, I thought it a good opportunity to dig up some fun facts about the Big Apple. 1. New York is a city of over eight million people, covering 301 square miles. 2. The area was first sighted almost 500 years ago by Giovanni da Verrazano. The Dutch first sent fur traders in 1621, but they lost the colony they dubbed New Amsterdam to the English in 1664. The settlement was re-christened New York, and the name stuck despite the English losing the colony in 1783 at the end of the Revolutionary War. 3. Manhattan was a forested land populated by Alngonquian-speaking Natives when the Dutch West India Company established a fur-trading post called New Amsterdam in 1625. In 1898, Manhattan was joined with the four outer boroughs to form the world's second-largest city. 4. From 1800 to 1900, the population in New York City swelled from almost 80,000 to 3 million people. New Yor...

On this day in 1776, during the American Revolution, General George Washington crosses the Delaware River with over 5,000 troops in hopes of surprising a Hessian force celebrating Christmas at their winter quarters in Trenton, New Jersey. The unorthodox attack followed several months of decisive defeats for Washington’s army that had resulted in the loss of New York City and other strategic points in the region. At about 11 p.m. on Christmas, Washington’s army began its crossing of the half-frozen river at three locations. The 2,400 soldiers led by Washington successfully braved the icy and freezing river and reached the New Jersey side of the Delaware right before dawn. The other two divisions, comprised of approximately 3,000 men and crucial artillery, was unable to reach the meeting point at the designated time. At approximately 8 a.m. on the morning of December 26, Washington’s remaining force, separated into two columns, reached the outskirts of Trenton and descended upon th...

On this day in 1777, John Hancock resigns his position as president of the Continental Congress because of a prolonged illness. He was the first member of the Continental Congress to sign the Declaration of Independence and is arguably best known for his bold signature on the historic document. Having been elected to the Continental Congress in 1774 as a delegate from Massachusetts, Hancock became its president following the resignation of Peyton Randolph in May 1775. During his tenure as president, Hancock presided over some of the most significant moments of the American Revolution, culminating in the signing of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776. After resigning his position as president, Hancock returned to his home state of Massachusetts, where he continued his work in public service. After helping to establish the state’s first constitution, Hancock was elected first governor of the commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1780 and served for five years. He opted not to r...

On this day in 1783, The American Revolution finally comes to a close with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. Involving representatives of the United States, Great Britain, France, and Spain, it cemented America’s status as a free nation, as Britain formally recognized the independence of its 13 former American colonies, and the boundaries of the new republic were established: Florida north to the Great Lakes and the Atlantic coast west to the Mississippi River. The events leading up to the treaty dated back to April 1775, when American colonists in Lexington, Massachusetts responded to King George III’s refusal to grant them economic and political reform with armed revolution. On July 4, 1776, more than a year after the first shots of the war rang out, the Second Continental Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson. Five years later, in October 1781, British General Charles Lord Cornwallis surrendered to American and French forces a...

Few cities (if any) cities in the United States are as charming and rich in history as Boston. The capital and largest city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts boasts everything from Fenway Park, and Copley Square to Faneuil Hall and many of the country's most respected universities. Here are 19 fun facts about the city dubbed the Bay State, many of which: The city proper encompasses 48 square miles with an estimated population of 655,884 in 2014, making it the largest city in New England and the 24th largest city in the United States. The city is the cultural and economic hub of a considerably larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to nearly 5 million people. Boston was founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from England. It was the scene of several pivotal events of the American Revolution, including the Boston Tea Party, Boston Massacre, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston. Boston is home to the United States' old...

Wouldn't it be cool to go back in time and see what it was like to live in an era well before your own? It conjures up images of Marty McFly getting in the Delorean and blasting his way to 1955 in Back to the Future. (It's a classic movie, in case you've never seen it!) Perhaps you'd be interested in visiting the 70s, which was defined by the civil rights movement, the war in Vietnam, women's liberation movement, gay rights movement, and, of course, disco. Or maybe you'd want to immerse yourself in the Roaring 20s, which saw the rise of the automobile, radio, and home refrigeration, catapulting America into the modern age. For the first time, more Americans lived in cities than on farms. The decade was also noteworthy for Prohibition, the soaring popularity of jazz music, and the 19th amendment, which at last granted women the right to vote. If I were to have my pick, it'd undoubtedly be the colonial era. How awesome would it be to live through the A...

On this day in 1773, a group of Massachusetts colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians board three British tea ships and dump over 300 chests of tea valued at some $18,000 into Boston Harbor. This effectively came to be known as The Boston Tea Party, a milestone event in the build up to the American Revolution. The Boston Tea Party was in protest of the British Parliament's Tea Act of 1773, a bill created to save the struggling East India Company by greatly lowering its tea tax and giving it a virtual monopoly on the American tea trade. When three tea ships arrived in Boston, the colonists -- which viewed the tea act as a blatant form of taxation tyranny -- demanded that the tea be returned to England. When Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson failed to budge, Patriot leader Samuel Adams organized the "tea party" with roughly 60 membets of the Sons of Liberty, his underground resistance group. Outraged by what they considered a flagrant destruction of British prope...

Chances are, you or someone you know has been to New York City at least once. But can you say that you've actually visited the oldest residence in the state of New York? Built in 1649 in Southold, New York, the aptly named Old House is just that and represents one of the few surviving examples of English domestic architecture in America. It was originally built by John Budd on land near what came to be known as Budd Pond. Budd's daugher Anna and her husband Benjamin Horton were deeded the house in 1658 as a wedding present. The house was moved in 1661 to its present location at the village of Cutchogue, where it sits alongside a 19th-century schoolhouse and carriage house, as well as an old library and 18th-century farmhouse. Also renowned for once housing a Loyalist politician named Parker Wickham during the American Revolution, the house was restored in 1940 and again in 1968 - seven years after being declared a National Historic Landmark. Would you ever consider visi...