In the fall of 1780, it looked like the Patriots had all but lost the American Revolution.

The British seemed unstoppable. Back in May, an army led by Henry Clinton and Charles, Earl Cornwallis had conquered Charleston and captured over 5,000 American soldiers and sailors – the largest haul of American prisoners in the entire war. Then in August they destroyed the “Grand” Army led by General Horatio “Granny” Gates at the Battle of Camden. The Crown was on a roll. The string of Patriot defeats led to the serious possibility that France would recall its troops and end its crucial funding of the war. Even Russia meddled in our affairs, and, along with Austria, proposed a peace conference to find a “political solution” to hostilities.

“Reconciliationists” in Congress had begun calling for talks with Great Britain. Loyalists, in America during the eighteenth century, turned out in droves to support the British. American morale plummeted to a new low, and many believed the war would come to an end with some sort of accommodation rather than complete independence. British victory seemed certain.

But a certain group of Americans from Appalachia weren’t having it. On a cold day in October 1780, they took matters into their own hands on Kings Mountain in South Carolina… Continue reading →

Language is the tool by which human beings communicate with each other. Without language all music would be instrumental pieces. Without language all films would be silent movies. Without language we wouldn’t have amazing literary pieces to read. Without language history would be lost to the ages.

But language is more than just words; it is grammar too. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the best when it comes to the usage of grammar, but I have gotten better over the course of nearly two decades of writing these commentaries of mine. Continue reading →

Painting by John Trumbull

Years before the Son’s of Liberty would disguise themselves as Native American Indians and dump 342 chests of the British East India’s tea into Boston Harbor, a little known event occurred in New Hampshire that, unfortunately, our schools do not teach about; The Pine Tree Riot. Had I not been such an avid reader of fiction novels, I myself probably would never have heard about it had I not bought Brad Thor’s novel, Hidden Order, where a brief synopsis of what happened is mentioned. However, that brief synopsis was enough to pique my interest, and I went in search of more information regarding this little known event.

One of the reasons Britain was able to maintain and protect its empire was its naval superiority. Yet to build these ships of war required lumber, lots of lumber. Every time a ship set sail it required a minimum of 23 masts of varying lengths; which means lots of trees were cut down to build their fleet. After time, Britain began suffering from deforestation and started looking to other countries to supply their need for lumber; and the Colonies seemed like as good a place as any. Continue reading →

~ Foreword ~
America, at least as we know it today, is a relative newcomer on the stage as it pertains to the history of what we now call the United States of America. During my travels across the globe I have visited countries whose history dates back thousands of years. I’ve been to Italy; home of the capital of the Roman Empire, (100 B.C.-400 A.D.), and Kuwait which at one time was part of the Babylonian Empire and then later, the Persian Empire. I spent years in Spain, home of Cortez and his Conquistadores, and Korea, whose history dates back to 2300 B.C. So when you compare America to these countries, we are still infants on the world stage. Continue reading →

They came as slaves: human cargo transported on British ships bound for the Americas. They were shipped by the hundreds of thousands and included men, women, and even the youngest of children.

Whenever they rebelled or even disobeyed an order, they were punished in the harshest ways. Slave owners would hang their human property by their hands and set their hands or feet on fire as one form of punishment. Some were burned alive and had their heads placed on pikes in the marketplace as a warning to other captives.

We don’t really need to go through all of the gory details, do we? We know all too well the atrocities of the African slave trade. Continue reading →

The day was September 17, 1787 and the delegates to the Philadelphia Convention were to gather together one final time to cast their votes for or against the document they had produced. Some had left the convention earlier; stating they felt the convention had overstepped its just authority, while others had pushed on with their plan to scrap the Articles of Confederation and create an entirely new system of government for America. Continue reading →

In Recent and Pending Contests Against the Sectional Party.

by

Prof. Robert L. Dabney, D.D., of Virginia, Late of The Confederate Army.

Publisher’s NOTE: What you are about to read is the Preface for the book, A DEFENCE OF VIRGINIA written in 1867 by Prof. Robert L. Dabney. This is the first of our true history lessons – as written and told of by those who lived through the various periods of American history – not written by those who came later and ‘surmised’ what life was like, or what post-historical writers interpreted life to have been like.

Read what is published here, and afterwards, there will be a link for a pdf of the complete book. Whether you agree with the author’s standpoint or not – you will LEARN from a viewpoint which you may not have read before… and yes – the book does cover the issue of slavery in a manner, which few have ever read nor understood – but slavery was not the primary reason for what commonly became known as ‘The Civil War.’ Teacher’s – there are many marvelous life lessons – here do not ignore TRUTH! ~ J.B. Continue reading →

Noah Webster

Another defect in our schools, which, since the revolution, is become inexcuseable, is the want of proper books. The collections which are now used consist of essays that respect foreign and ancient nations. The minds of youth are perpetually led to the history of Greece and Rome or to Great Britain; boys are constantly repeating the declamations of Demosthenes and Cicero, or debates upon some political question in the British Parliment. These are excellent specimens of good sense, polished stile and perfect oratory; but they are not interesting to children. They cannot be very useful, except to young gentlemen who want them as models of reasoning and eloquence, in the pulpit or at the bar.

But every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country; he should lisp the praise of liberty, and of those illustrious heroes and statesmen, who have wrought a revolution in her favor. Continue reading →

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I’m used to arguing with people over slavery being the sole cause of the Civil War; it is what they were taught in schools and I can, at least, understand why they are so vehement in their beliefs. However, the other day I read an article that left me flabbergasted; and then the comments following it showed that there were many who supported the claims made by the author.

The basic premise of this article was that if Robert E. Lee had not accepted command of the Confederate Army the Civil War would not have happened and all those people would not have died.

First off, Lee did not immediately accept the position of Commander of the Confederate Army; he was assigned command of the Army of Northern Virginia. Virginia, if you were not aware of this, did not secede from the Union until Abraham Lincoln called out for volunteers to suppress the rebellion in those States which had already seceded. Continue reading →

Aside from parents, those whom we call educators spend the most time with our children, and have the most influence on the things they learn. This is a huge trust and a huge responsibility; to teach our children the things they need to learn before they leave their homes and go out into society on their own.

Our Founding Fathers, those men who lived and participated in establishing America as an independent nation, felt that an educated society was the best defense against the encroachments upon the people’s liberty by their rulers. James Madison stated it thusly, “Learned institutions ought to be favorite objects with every free people. They throw that light over the public mind which is the best security against crafty and dangerous encroachments on the public liberty.”
Continue reading →

100 Amazing Facts About the Negro: You might think you know, but you’re probably wrong.

No. 1: How many Africans were taken to the United States during the entire history of the slave trade?

Perhaps you, like me, were raised essentially to think of the slave experience primarily in terms of our black ancestors here in the United States. In other words, slavery was primarily about us, right, from Crispus Attucks and Phillis Wheatley, Benjamin Banneker and Richard Allen, all the way to Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass. Think of this as an instance of what we might think of as African-American exceptionalism. (In other words, if it’s in “the black Experience,” it’s got to be about black Americans.) Well, think again… Continue reading →

Sylvanus Thayer Award Acceptance Address, May 12, 1962, West Point, NY

General Westmoreland, General Grove, distinguished guests, and gentlemen of the Corps!

As I was leaving the hotel this morning, a doorman asked me, “Where are you bound for, General?” And when I replied, “West Point,” he remarked, “Beautiful place. Have you ever been there before?” Continue reading →

“I maintain that if the issue of this struggle had from the outset been manifest to the whole world, not even then ought Athens to have shrunk from it, if Athens has any regard for her own glory, her past history, or her future reputation.” ~ Demosthenes

It was near the end of our studies of this period of American history, that we were to put on a series if vignettes depicting various moments of that four year period. When it came time to cast the roles of the two Generals who were to meet at Appomattox Court House on that day in April of 1865, I was asked, “Which General would you like to portray Jeff?” My answer instinctively was, “General Lee.”

The point I wish to emphasize it that during that year with Mr. Adair, I was given two gifts; the first being that in the fifth grade – I learned the truth about what I have always called, the ‘War of Northern Aggression,’ and secondly – to never end your quest for the TRUTH – no matter the cost… and now this treasure of a forgotten book by S.A. Steel, which supports so much of my life’s studies. In the year 2015, I was privileged to republish this book. Continue reading →

NOTE: Although we do not agree with the direction that the United States Congress has taken in late 2018 going into 2019 as relates to Muslims “serving” in public office – which does not even include Political offices in various state and other Federal positions… there are many “stories” going around the nation which state that the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 prevented Muslims from holding Public Office. What follows below would seem to be a more reasonable assessment, yet what we are witnessing across the land – would appear to indicate a further erosion of this nation’s sovereignty. ~ Ed.

Patrick McCarran

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 upheld the national origins quota system established by the Immigration Act of 1924, reinforcing this controversial system of immigrant selection.

It also ended Asian exclusion from immigrating to the United States and introduced a system of preferences based on skill sets and family reunification. Situated in the early years of the Cold War, the debate over the revision of U.S. immigration law demonstrated a division between those interested in the relationship between immigration and foreign policy, and those linking immigration to concerns over national security. Continue reading →

~ Foreword ~
On March 15, 1783 the officers under George Washington’s command met to discuss a petition that called for them to mutiny due to Congress’ failure to provide them back pay and pensions for their service during the American Revolution. George Washington addressed the officers with a nine-page speech that sympathized with their demands but denounced their methods by which they proposed to achieve them.

Head Quarters Newburgh 15th of March 1783.

Gentlemen,

By an anonymous summons, an attempt has been made to convene you together—how inconsistent with the rules of propriety! how unmilitary! and how subversive of all order and discipline—let the good sense of the Army decide.

In the moment of this summons, another anonymous production was sent into circulation; addressed more to the feelings & passions, than to the reason & judgment of the Army. The Author of the piece, is entitled to much credit for the goodness of his Pen: and I could wish he had as much credit for the rectitude of his Heart—for, as Men see thro’ different Optics, and are induced by the reflecting faculties of the Mind, to use different means to attain the same end; the Author of the Address, should have had more charity, than to mark for Suspicion, the Man who should recommend Moderation and longer forbearance—or, in other words, who should not think as he thinks, and act as he advises. But he had another plan in view, in which candor and liberality of Sentiment, regard to justice, and love of Country, have no part; and he was right, to insinuate the darkest suspicion, to effect the blackest designs. Continue reading →

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

“Tyrants preserve themselves by sowing fear and mistrust among the citizens by means of spies, by distracting them with foreign wars, by eliminating men of spirit who might lead a revolution, by humbling the people, and making them incapable of decisive action…” – Aristotle

You’d think ole “Ari” might have been peering through some sort of cosmic window into modern day America some 2300 years ago with comments such as those above.

There’s another way to look at it, as well. One can grudgingly admit that the Greeks, of 2300 years ago, were smarter than modern Americans. In my estimation – you’d be right. So, I tend to go with the latter explanation.

See, America is building a head of steam preparing to go to war with itself a second time at this very moment. This is not unusual – not in America. We have already had two revolutions. You may recall the American Revolution against Great Britain and the second – the War for Southern Independence, often erroneously referred to as the American Civil War, or the War Between the States. Continue reading →

The 1964 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States took place in the Cow Palace, Daly City, California, on July 13 to July 16, 1964. Before 1964, there had been only one national Republican convention on the West Coast, the 1956 Republican National Convention, which also took place in the Cow Palace. Many believed that a convention at San Francisco indicated the rising power of the Republican party in the west. Continue reading →

The state rights tone was set in the preamble to the Confederate Constitution in the significant phrase, “each State acting in its sovereign and independent character.”

Secession was based on the idea of state rights (or “states rights,” a variant that came into use after the Civil War). This exalted the powers of the individual states as opposed to those of the Federal government. It generally rested on the theory of state sovereignty– that in the United States the ultimate source of political authority lay in the separate states. Associated with the principle of state rights was a sense of state loyalty that could prevail over a feeling of national patriotism. Before the war, the principle found expression in different ways at different times, in the North as well as in the South. During the war it reappeared in the Confederacy. Continue reading →

“I feel no consciousness of guilt.”

John Brown of Kansas

CHARLES TOWN, Va., November 2, 1859 – What says a man when he has assayed to play the role of liberator outside the law, has finally directed his I handful of followers in combat with uniformed troops of the government, and has lost; when he knows that beyond all appeal he will dangle from a gallows?

John Brown said it here today, in open court, after receiving that sentence which no power on earth could avert. How did he say it? He said it calmly and with great lucidity, as though each syllable were a brick carefully laid in a pillar of argument that was to be his memorial. Continue reading →

I should say that he was an old-fashioned man in respect for the Constitution, and his faith in the permanence of this Union.

Read to the citizens of Concord, Massachusetts

I trust that you will pardon me for being here. I do not wish to force my thoughts upon you, but I feel forced myself. Little as I know of Captain Brown, I would fain do my part to correct the tone and the statements of the newspapers, and of my countrymen generally, respecting his character and actions. It costs us nothing to be just. We can at least express our sympathy with, and admiration of, him and his companions, and that is what I now propose to do.

Henry David Thoreau

First, as to his history. I will endeavor to omit, as much as possible, what you have already read. I need not describe his person to you, for probably most of you have seen and will not soon forget him. I am told that his grandfather, John Brown, was an officer in the Revolution; that he himself was born in Connecticut about the beginning of this century, but early went with his father to Ohio. I heard him say that his father was a contractor who furnished beef to the army there, in the war of 1812; that he accompanied him to the camp, and assisted him in that employment, seeing a good deal of military life, – more, perhaps, than if he had been a soldier; for he was often present at the councils of the officers. Especially, he learned by experience how armies are supplied and maintained in the field, – a work which, he observed, requires at least as much experience and skill as to lead them in battle. Continue reading →