The History Channel has an excellent series on George Washington and the Revolutionary War. It has been playing this holiday weekend. Narrated by Edward Herrman, the part that covers the later years of the war depicts the near disintegration of the American Army in 1781.
- Lack of funds appropriated by the Continental Congress
- Tainted meat, beweevolled grain, and spoiled veggies from inept and dishonest suppliers
- Diminished ordnance–both weapons and ammunition
- Tattered clothing inadequate for the winter or summer
- Longer campaigns and more difficult terrain and weather
- Mutiny in the ranks requiring a death squad from the soldiers themselves
- Challenges the fledgling country and its now experienced and seasoned supreme commander could hardly manage
1781-82, a time in the War for American Independence that looked dark indeed. A time usually not studied to any great degree, especially by genealogists.
And out of these dregs, the American government enhanced the grants for bounty land, punishments for self-serving greed, awards of pensions for military service, provisions for wives and children of officers first and then the ranks themselves, including men who served from state and local militias. Creating for us a veritable mass of records with genealogical details.
Records that chronicle the fighting men and their supply system from battlefield to battlefield. And when hostilities were done and weapons put away, describe your ancestors and mine as they rebuild their lives and their land to a new and greater prosperity than ever before.
In the next few episodes of this blog, you can rediscover the wealth of this information stored for your genealogy. Sources that you probably have not yet considered for your hard-to-find ancestors.
Stay tuned. My internet is back. I’m home for a change and able to concentrate on what is important for a while. Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle
PS Churning out genealogy research work and reports by the dozens; mailing handouts promised at conferences and Expos; and shipping book orders, including our NEW Tennessee Research by Afton Reintjes. Watch your mailbox.
PPS And if you live at the end of the world like I do, and I know there are many of you who do, please store your genealogy with its back-up documentation in more than one place, on more than one media. Internet appears to be a secure storage medium. Access to it is another thing entirely!