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Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Shrapnel


I learned something today, which is always a good thing. I find it inherently thrilling to find the historical meaning behind an everyday phrase. Today I discovered the origin of the term “shrapnel”. The dictionary definition of shrapnel is “fragments of a bomb, shell, or other object thrown out by an explosion.” It’s a word everyone knows, but few ever ponder how bomb fragments came to be called shrapnel. The answer to the origin of this puzzling term comes from the name of its inventor Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Shrapnel.

Henry Shrapnel was born in 1761 in Wiltshire, England. Wiltshire County is in the southwest part of England, and home of Stonehenge. Henry was the youngest of several brothers, all of whom died relatively young. At the age of eighteen, Henry began his military career with the Royal Artillery as a Second-Lieutenant. He served abroad in Newfoundland, Gibraltar, and the West Indies, but did not see any action in the American Revolution. Over the course of his career as a gunner, Shrapnel began to experiment with the hollow spherical cannon projectiles that were designed to explode sending out small shot, usually musket balls. Up through the late 18th century, these explosives were crudely designed and imprecise. Grape Shot was the most common type of exploding projectiles used at the time. It was nothing more than musket balls tied up in a canvas bag and fastened to a wooden plug for firing out of a cannon. As the canvas bag ripped open after being shot from the cannon, it would spew its projectiles in a deadly swath, but with a relatively short range. Grape Shot got its name because it looks like a bag full of grapes.


Various sizes of Grape Shot

Case or Canister Shot was a bit more complex with a thin metal cylinder filled with musket or iron balls. When fired, the thin cylinder would be peeled back by the force of the explosion, sending shards of the casing and balls with a killing range of about two hundred yards.

Canister Shot

Canister Shot

Henry Shrapnel realized that Grape and Canister Shot was lethal but imprecise. He wanted a shell that would explode at some point after being fired. He therefore came up with the idea for a timed fuse that would light a small charge of gun powder inside the hollow case with enough force to open the case and send the smaller musket balls out in the same trajectory as the exploded casing. His idea increased the scattered projectile range from 300 yards to 1000 yards. A significant and deadly improvement.


Shrapnel’s design was embraced by the British Army and used extensively in the Napoleonic Wars between England and France in the early 19th century. The only issue with Shrapnel’s design was the occasional premature lighting of the charge inside the spherical case which would ignite from the friction created as the casing traveled down the cannon barrel on discharge. Over the years, Henry Shrapnel’s design was improved upon but the basic design remained the same all the way through World War I.


Henry’s weapon was so revered by the British Army, and in particular General Arthur Wellesley – Duke of Wellington, that after Henry’s death in 1842, the British Board of War issued an order that the “spherical case shot” be called “shrapnel shells”. So the next time you’re watching that bloody war-time movie and someone says, “I caught a piece of shrapnel” you can know it’s all thanks to Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Shrapnel and his amazing and deadly invention.


Back to School, Colonial Style


It was back to school this week for the Stevenson boys. In colonial times, boys would generally not return to school until after harvest, mainly during the winter months. While most kids today would savor a few more months of summer break, few understand the hard work that colonial kids would have to do in preparation for winter. Summer break wasn’t much of a “break” for 18th century kids. While boys stayed home to help with farm labor, most girls would return to school sooner than boys. Girls were generally not expected to help with the hard labor of harvest.

In the more densely populated areas of New England, primary schools, usually one room buildings, were open for children to attend. School was not mandatory. However, most early colonists valued education, particularly Puritans, who wanted to their children to learn to read. The three most common school books were, the Bible, the New England Primer, and a Hornbook. One of the primary purposes for school, was to teach kids how to read the Bible. Most Colonial families had one Bible.

New-England_Primer_Enlarged_printed_and_sold_by_Benjamin_Franklin (1)

While the Bible was central to schooling, The New England Primer became the most read 18th century textbook. The New England Primer also had Biblical lessons including the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostle’s Creed. Most school lessons centered on recitation of text, with wrote memorization a key teaching tool. The third type of colonial text book wasn’t really a book. Hornbooks were sheets of wood with a parchment attached. A hornbook got its name because it was covered with a thin transparent piece of cow’s horn used to protect the parchment. The parchment was mounted on a wooden paddle and usually listed the alphabet and a Biblical verse. The paddle had a handle with a small hole so that children could tie it to their belts so that they were less likely to get lost.


Colonial Hornbook

In the rural areas of southern colonies, including Virginia, there simply were no schools. Most plantation children were educated through tutors that would come to the childrens’ homes. Even for plantation owners finding good tutors was difficult. For example, George Washington’s schooling was sporadic, at best. Very little is known about Washington’s early education. He may have been taught by a tenant on one of his father’s farms. It’s also thought that he attended the Rev. Marye’s school in Fredericksburg. At some point, Washington learned some math and surveying skills, which he used to his advantage later in life. As with many early American icons, Washington had a burning ambition to learn things on his own initiative. Despite his efforts, Washington always felt his education was inadequate. While his brother Lawrence was sent to England for schooling, Washington was given no such opportunity. After the death of his father, when Washington was only eleven-years-old, Washington had to help manage the family farms. There was little time for any schooling. Thus, unlike other founders, Jefferson, Adams, and Hamilton, George Washington never went to college. Washington’s schooling ended when he reached age fifteen. Washington lamented the fact that he did not know Latin, Greek or French, all languages of well educated colonists.

The Founding Fathers recognized the importance of public education. Washington and Benjamin Franklin, among others, were key figures in establishing a framework for the existence of public schools. Eventually schools became more common throughout the States. By the early 20th century school would become mandatory for all children, which is a good thing, despite my own kids’ moans and groans about returning to school. If I told them they could stay home to thresh wheat, shuck corn, churn butter, butcher hogs, and mend fences, I’m guessing they would pick school!

Lafayette’s Life: Decide What To Be And Go Be It






Lafayette’s introduction to Silas Deane


Marie Adrienne Francoise de Noailles

Lafayette’s wife, Marie Adrienne Francoise de Noailles



Lafayette’s ship, La Victoire




The True La Fayetteby George Morgan

Lafayette, by Harlow Giles Unger


Home Makeover: Loyalist Estate Turned Patriot Headquarters




Cambridge Map

Map of Cambridge showing Col. Vassall’s home along Watertown road



John Vassall’s Uncle William (seated) and Nephew Leonard Vassall










Did Colonial Americans Eat Their Veggies?


While the Stevenson boys eat their veggies with varying degrees of enthusiasm, most early American parents didn’t have the struggle of getting kids to eat veggies. Colonial kids weren’t saints, but rather vegetables simply weren’t readily available. We often picture Colonial homes having a large and lush garden filled with all types of vegetables which would be preserved for the long winter months. There were some large kitchen gardens primarily on wealthy plantations, but for the most part, it was much easier to raise a hog for eating than it was to grow a head of lettuce. This is why the Early American diet consisted mainly of meat and grain.


The Stevenson garden is shaping up nicely this year

Today when it gets dry and the garden needs water we simply hook up the garden hose to the sprinkler. In Colonial America, moms and kids would grab the buckets, head to the well or nearby creek and start hauling water. An enormous amount of work could be spent trying to tend a kitchen garden for a relatively small rate of return when it came to harvestable food. Most of this work fell on the women and children of the household because men were off doing other work, with usually even harder labor involved. Plantations where slave labor was used were the few places where large vegetable gardens thrived.

kitchen garden

Kitchen Garden at Colonial Williamsburg

Though kitchen gardens were not as common as many think, there were still some colonists who took gardening very seriously. John Randolph, a Royal Attorney General of Virginia wrote A Treatise on Gardening probably around 1760. He describes many different types of vegetables that would have been grown in Colonial gardens. Most of these are common to present day gardens, but there are some herbs that aren’t widely grown today including chamomile,celandine and hyssop. Most herbs grown in the colonies were used for medicinal purposes.







In colonial times it was a statement of one’s wealth and social status if vegetables such as cauliflower, carrots, or lettuce were set out on the dinner table. So the next time your kids tell you that they don’t want to eat their veggies remind them that it once was a sign of wealth and privilege to eat vegetables. Maybe it will help make vegetables seem a bit more special.

Death by Duel – The Irony of Hamilton’s Death


The duel that left Alexander Hamilton dead happened on this day, July 11, 1804. Aaron Burr killed Hamilton with a shot to the lower abdomen just above the right hip. Hamilton shot high into the air over Burr’s head, likely on purpose, although there is some debate among historians as to whether Hamilton intentionally aimed high. Regardless of Hamilton’s intentions, the best way to survive a duel is to not get into one in the first place. Hamilton died to protect his honor. While our modern sensibilities tend to think of honor as synonymous with integrity and good character, historically speaking, duels involved a very different type of honor.


The honor of the duel was tied to nobility. Only nobles had honor. Honor was given at birth. A person couldn’t earn honor, you could only lose it. The worst way for a noble to lose honor was to be considered a coward. The best way to show one’s self brave was to challenge the offending party to a duel and hope you didn’t die in the process. Make’s perfect sense, right?


It is ironic that Hamilton died as a participant in a system based on monarchical principles, when he had spent all of his life fighting against this noble/class based society. Hamilton’s death brought to light the senselessness that surrounded the duel and it’s list of rules that must be followed. The Code Duello laid out twenty-five rules for dueling. The Code involved the use of “Seconds”, usually friends of the dueling participants, to try to negotiate a resolution to the dispute. The Code also set out rules on when an apology could be accepted and when a duel must proceed. Many challenges to duel were just for show with no shots ever being fired. The Seconds would work things out. However, one could not back down from a duel without losing honor, case in point Hamilton and Burr. Thus, some duels ended in bloodshed and death. The Hamilton-Burr duel left many realizing that as an “enlightened” people duels were archaic forms of brutality that should be cast off just like the monarchical forms of government that had inspired them. The practice of dueling nevertheless lingered on throughout the Civil War and into the western frontier.


Hamilton was a brilliant man, yet he failed to see the sheer stupidity of throwing his life away in the class-based and unenlightened practice of dueling. It is a true loss that he was not able to continue to shape the Republic that he had worked so hard to establish.


What I Love About The Guy Who Didn’t Write The Declaration of Independence


John Adams was a member of the Congressional committee assigned to write the Declaration of Independence. All the members of the committee, including Thomas Jefferson, thought Adams should write the first draft. Needless to say, the author of a document declaring independence from the British Empire would have instant worldwide fame. Adams could have easily seized this opportunity to solidify a position of power in Congress and around the world. Adams, however, refused to write the first draft. He insisted that Jefferson write it.


John Adams

Adams gave three reasons why Jefferson should write the Declaration. Each reason shows how Adams put his love of country above his own self-interests. If only more of our current governmental leaders could follow in Adams’ footsteps.

Reason 1:  Jefferson was a Virginian. Adams recognized that for all the colonies to support such a declaration the words must come from the pen of a Virginian. Virginia was the largest, wealthiest, and most influential colony. If Adams, a New Englander, was to write the declaration, it might not get the support needed from the southern colonies. Adams told Jefferson “you are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business.”

Reason 2: Jefferson was more popular than Adams. John Adams had a way of stirring up conflict. As a result, many fellow congressmen didn’t like him. Adams knew this. Rather than trying to use the Declaration as a tool to gain some popularity among his peers, he instead told Jefferson that he must write it because Jefferson was more popular. Adams gave up an opportunity for self-advancement because again, above all else, he wanted all the colonies to support the Declaration of Independence. Adams told Jefferson, “I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise.”

Reason 3: Jefferson was a better writer that AdamsThomas Jefferson was an amazing writer. Adams was not. Adams knew that the document which was about to be drafted had to be able to convince the colonies, and the entire world, that these colonies were now independent from the British Empire. Not only that, but it had to explain why these colonies must declare their independence. The declaration had to succinctly and eloquently send a message to King George III that the colonies were serious about breaking away from his empire. Adams told Jefferson, “you can write ten times better than I.”


Thomas Jefferson

From Adams’ three reasons it’s clear that he held the advancement of his country above the advancement of his own political career. Jefferson and Adams would later become political enemies. While not enemies at the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson and Adams had many opposing ideologies. Slavery being one of the most contentious differences. Adams abhorred slavery. Jefferson was a slave owner. These differences didn’t prevent Adams from recognizing that Jefferson was the better man when it came to drafting one of the most important documents ever written, The Declaration of Independence. Adams willingly put his own self-interest aside, and in an act of astonishing humility, told Jefferson to draft what would become the document that set democracy in motion. For this, I love the guy that didn’t write the Declaration of Independence.

You can read Adams’ letter to Timothy Pickering where he recounts the drafting of the Declaration of Independence here.

The Battle of Bunker Hill


On this day June 17, 1775, the patriot militia battled the British atop Breed’s Hill and Bunker Hill. These two hills are part of the Charlestown Peninsula just to the north of Boston. While the militia eventually lost the ground, retreating to Cambridge, they inflicted heavy casualties on the British Regulars. The British killed and wounded totaled just over 1,000, while the Patriot’s lost only 400 men to death or wounds.


Breeds Hill and Bunker Hill were the high hills rising up on the Charlestown Peninsula


The Charlestown Peninsula gave the patriot soldiers and cannon the high ground just north Boston

In the weeks leading up to the battle, the patriot militia surrounding Boston feared that the Regulars would mount another march out of the city just as they had done at Lexington and Concord. To keep the British from leaving the city by the narrow stretch of water to the north of Boston, the militia decided to secretly move part of their army to the hills on the Charlestown Peninsula. On the night of June 16th, the patriot army began their secret maneuver. William Prescott led the men along with Israel Putnam. The original plan had been to set up a small fort atop Bunker Hill. However, in the dark night Prescott led his men further out onto the peninsula and mistook Breed’s Hill for Bunker Hill. He didn’t realize his mistake until light began to dawn. By then it was too late as the men had already thrown up earthen walls and redoubts atop Breeds Hill. As the morning dawned, Prescott would have looked out and realized that his decision to fortify Breed’s Hill would be sure to draw the British out of Boston. Since the patriot’s cannon, few as they were, could now hurl balls down on Boston from Breed’s Hill, the British had to remove the militia from the hill.


Joshua stands beside Prescott’s statue at the Bunker Hill Memorial


Prescott’s view of Boston to the south of Breed’s Hill has changed a little.  

Led mainly by General William Howe, the British believed that the patriots would turn and run when faced with the might of the British army. Without a clear leader (George Washington had not yet joined the army at Cambridge), confusion and disorder was a problem as many patriot soldiers had no idea what they were to do. Some stayed on Bunker Hill, while others made their way to Breed’s Hill. While there was no one clear leader, the men were ready to fight. Many were still angered over the loss of loved ones at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The men’s resolve to fight was strengthened when the British began their assault by setting fire to the village of Charlestown.


The Battle of Bunker Hill, by Howard Pyle 1897

The British army made three assaults on Breed’s Hill. With each assault, Prescott and Putnam instructed their men to not fire “until you see the whites of their eyes.” With muskets only having an effective range of 50 to 100 yards, the militia had to wait for the Regulars to get close before firing. The patriots were deadly marksmen, purposefully picking off British officers and sending devastating musket volleys into the British ranks. At one point in the battle, General Howe, having just led a group of men up the hill, found himself standing nearly alone within yards of the patriot fort. All of the men surrounding him had been cut down by musket fire. Howe miraculously escaped harm as he retreated back down the hill. On the third assault, the patriot’s began to run out of gun powder. The British, with bayonets fixed, stormed over the earthen walls. Patriots were forced to either flee or fight with their bare hands. Many used their musket stocks as clubs attempting to beat away the British. The carnage as the British stormed the walls atop Breed’s Hill is difficult to imagine.

Today, a memorial sits atop Bunker Hill to commemorate the battle. Visitors can climb the 294 steps of the spiral staircase to reach the top of the monument and catch some amazing views. To learn much more about this battle where the fledgling patriot army found the courage to stand up to the might of the British Regulars, check out Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution, by Nathaniel Philbrick.


View of the Bunker Hill Monument from the Charlestown ferry boat.

Colonial Post Riders


Sitting on the back of a horse, meandering through a wooded trail, has a way of soothing the soul. The bits of nature that go unnoticed in our fast paced world come to life when riding a horse. I often find myself wondering if some of the giant oaks I pass by are old enough to remember life without cars, planes, and trains. What was it like when horses were the only way to get to town, to go the neighbors, or to plow a field?


Debbie and I enjoying a trail ride near our home

New England colonists lived in a vast wilderness with towns connected only by narrow Indian trails. Walking was the primary means of travel as there were very few horses in the colonies up until the mid-1600s. Horse breeding became a more important focus as colonial economics developed. Trade to the West Indies brought the need for more and better horses to haul goods to and from docks. In 1687, William Penn decreed that any horse more than eighteen months old and less than thirteen hands high had to be gelded. This was to promote a larger, stouter horse population. As horses became more common the need for better roads began to emerge.

It became apparent that a road was desperately needed between New York and Boston. In 1673, New York Governor, Francis Lovelace, began work on developing what would later be called the Boston Post Road. Francis was appointed Royal Governor of New York by the Duke of York.


After England’s King Charles II seized the land from the Dutch he gave it to his brother, the Duke of York, who promptly changed the name from New Amsterdam to New York. Royal Governor Francis was to encourage colonial development, but at the same time ensure the Dutch did not retake the area. Governor Francis proposed that a post road be established that would allow for post riders on horseback to deliver mail once a month between New York and Boston.  The post rider would leave New York the first Monday of every month and, stopping at villages along the route, would return from Boston within the month.

While Francis succeeded in advancing new and better roads for travel between New York and Boston, he did not fair as well in protecting the small settlement of New York from the Dutch. While Governor Francis was visiting John Winthrop the Younger, Governor of Connecticut, to discuss his idea for a postal service, the Dutch sent war ships to New York and recaptured the settlement. The Duke of York was not happy with Francis. Francis Lovelace was ordered back to England and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He died not long after his imprisonment.

Francis Lovelace never got to see the fruits of his work. New York was eventually retaken by the English, and the Boston Post Road became the first primary road with post riders in the colonies. Gabriel Cooper, in my book The Drum of Destiny, walked the Boston Post Road to reach Cambridge where the patriot army was headquartered at the beginning of the American Revolution. While the landscape has changed since Gabriel’s travels, the Boston Post Road still exists.

Pages from Drum_interior

Of course the Boston Post Road is not the only landscape to have drastically changed through the years. Our horseback rides through the Indiana countryside include paved roads and electric poles. Still, it is fun to think back to what the early post riders of New England would have experienced. In my view, one of the best ways to look back is from the back of a horse.


Levi enjoying a ride with me on George

For more information on the Boston Post Road, check out The King’s Best Highway, by Eric Jaffe.

Boston’s Granary Burying Ground







Hancock’s grave marker dedicated in 1896










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