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11/28/12
Author Daniel Rolph

For six weeks in the fall of 1777, the British fired upon Fort Mifflin along the Delaware River in an attempt to drive out American troops. This was one of the largest bombardments of the war and a pivotal moment in the American Revolution.

Comments: 3

10/31/12
Author Daniel Rolph

This Halloween the Historical Society of Pennsylvania brings you the story of a haunted mansion and its supernatural occupants. This tale begins in the early 1800s in a mansion in Montgomery County in the town of Cynwyd.

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9/26/12
Author Daniel Rolph

September 17 marked the 225th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution of the United States of America at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Francis Hopkinson, a native of Philadelphia, had previously signed the Declaration of Independence and was very active in the debates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

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8/30/12
Author Daniel Rolph

During the American Civil War, political ideologies differed on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. There were Northern Copperheads who supported the Confederacy and thousands of Southerners who fought for the Federal forces. African Americans also were often divided in their sympathies or loyalties during the Civil War. Many sources attest that African Americans, both enslaved and free, either by force or by choice, served within scattered Confederate units as armed soldiers.

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6/27/12
Author Daniel Rolph

June marked the 200th anniversary of the start of the War of 1812. Here in the Delaware Valley area, many are familiar with some of the more-famous War of 1812 events, such as the bombing of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland; the burning of the Capitol at Washington, D.C.; Francis Scott Key and “The Star-Spangled Banner”; and various maritime battles.  Yet few recall the seminal skirmishes or major battles that occurred within the Old Northwest during the conflict.

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5/24/12
Author Daniel Rolph

Just recently, Penn Treaty Park on Delaware and Columbia Avenue in Kensington was listed officially on the National Register of Historic Places. This is the site where William Penn and the Lenni Lenape or Delaware Indians purportedly gathered under an elm tree and signed or at least worked out a mutual agreement. The Treaty of Friendship or Treaty of Shackamaxon of 1682 created a large amount of debate and controversy regarding its occurrence, date, and exact location.

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4/16/12
Author Daniel Rolph

On May 5, 1829, while digging in the Durham section of the Delaware Canal in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, contractors Porter & Hough uncovered a remarkable burial. Beneath three feet of earth, a “pile of 18 cannon balls was found, and directly underneath, the bones of a human being.” As can be imagined, such a discovery gained a significant amount of public attention, as reported in a number of local newspapers, including an account published in The Ariel, a Philadelphia periodical of the time.

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12/23/11
Author Daniel Rolph

The Christmas holiday season has generated much interest from both a personal and commercial perspective within the United States for many years.

Topics : 19th century
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