Prized Possession
I was honored to have my piece on the Reverend James Maury and Patrick Henry published in this year's Journal of the American Revolution. It was a landmark case -- even in Virginia colonial law -- that laid the groundwork…
The Birth of an American Army — June 14, 1775
After the bloodletting at Lexington and Concord, and the capture at gunpoint of Ticonderoga and Crown Point in the wilds of New England, in Philadelphia, the second Continental Congress struggled to find "the ways and means of raising money" to…
Patrick Henry and Freedom of Religion — Colonial Treason in a Courthouse
Spent a wonderful afternoon at Huguenot Society of Virginia's annual meeting Saturday. This year's event was held in historic Walkerton Tavern in Glen Allen, outside of Richmond. Talked about the origin of the First Amendment through the "Parson's Cause" case…
The “Parson’s Cause” and Religious Freedom
Mix together the failed at almost every career but gifted speaker and tavern bon vivant Patrick Henry; his father -- the judge, who like all smart Virginians married up and to a widow (think George Washington); an uncle -- the…
Rediscovering The Man Who Was The Stuff of Legend
Years before there was David Crockett but about the same time as Daniel Boone [both played by Fess Parker on TV and whom I met in the lobby of Tribune Tower as a high schooler], there was George Rogers Clark. …