Month: April 1998

“One of the best in the army” An Overview of the 2nd New Jersey Regiment and General William Maxwell’s Jersey Brigade

By John U. Rees The recreated 2nd New Jersey Regiment portrays the men of the original unit as they would have looked during much of 1778, but the 2nd Regiment, and the Jersey Brigade as a whole, had a long, varied, and distinguished history. General George Washington’s brief but candid comment to Major General William…

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What Are All of Those “f” Characters Doing Where “s” Should Be? —or— When I Read Eighteenth Century Books I Sound Like Sylvester The Cat

By Bob Sullivan As a sutler selling eighteenth century printed material, one of the most asked questions I receive is, “Why did they use “f” instead of “s”? Well, good reader, it is not an “f”. It is an ancient Saxon character called an “eth” character. The eth character made its appearance in printed matter…

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What Really Happened At Rock Ford?

by Jim Newell, German Regt. Thankfully, no battles occurred there during the Revolution—Lancaster was much too important for that. The Borough of Lancaster was home to the Continental Congress in 1777 after the advancing British forced the evacuation of Philadelphia and before they moved on to York, Pennsylvania. Lancaster, some 50 miles west of Philadelphia,…

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Sgt. Leftfoot’s Musing & Maneuvering: Forward,—March!

By Sgt. Addison P. Leftfoot Editor’s Note: Sgt. Leftfoot has served with several re-enactment units and often claims to actually “channel” the spirit of Frederick William Baron von Steuben himself when questions about drill arise. Look for Sgt. Leftfoot’s Musing & Maneuveringas a fairly regular column in The Continental Soldier. Questions or suggested topics for this column can…

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