General Sir John Burgoyne

Revolutionary War Weapons: The American Long Rifle

By David Alan Johnson

By the mid-1700’s, the American long rifle had acquired an almost supernatural reputation. To the British troops who were unfortunate enough to come up against it in combat during the Revolutionary War, the rifle was more an affliction than a weapon. Read more

Under General Benedict Arnold, Patriot forces drive off Hessian mercenaries at Breyman’s Redoubt during the Battle of Saratoga.

General Sir John Burgoyne

The Hessians Are Coming!

By Joseph C. Salamida

­“He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny,” Thomas Jefferson said of King George III in the Declaration of Independence. Read more

General Sir John Burgoyne

The Short-range Shotgun

By Christopher Miskimon

Coming upon the enemy’s rear guard outside the western Kentucky village of Sacramento, four days after Christmas 1861, Confederate Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest ordered his cavalry to advance. Read more

General Sir John Burgoyne

Justus Sherwood: Loyalist Frontiersman

by Mike Phifer

Born in Connecticut in 1747, Justus Sherwood moved west into the rugged New Hampshire Grants (later to become the state of Vermont) in 1766 where he took up trading, surveying and making potash. Read more