The 8th Virginia Reading List

Here are links to recommended articles, videos, and digitized expired-copyright content about Virginia in the Revolution, listed in rough historical order. All content should be free to access, but some  sites such as JSTOR may require you to create an account. Posts from this site are not included, but a list of "essential posts" can be accessed here. There are also lists of recommend books and menu of links to recommended websites. 

—Gabe Neville

Reference and General

• Bob Ruppert, "The Septennial Act: An Unknown Act that Changed the World," Journal of the American Revolution. How George III and Lord North orchestrated a Tory-dominated Parliament for seven years, which just happened to be the duration of the Revolutionary War.
• William S. Baker, Itinerary of General Washington, June 15, 1775 to December 23, 1783 (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1892). An old book, but if you want to know where Washington and the main army were on a given day, it is a useful reference.
• Travis Shaw, "Cavalry in the American Revolution," American Battlefield Trust.
• Neil L. York, "Pennsylvania Rifle: Revolutionary Weapon in a Convention War?" Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. Rifles were specialized weapons that were almost useless in close combat. Every Virginia regiment had two or more companies of riflemen. The 8th Virginia was all-rifles for the first year.
• Brian Gerring, "La Petite Guerre and American Indian Irregular Warfare: Siblings, but Not Twins," Journal of the American Revolution. Frontier riflemen did not fight "Indian style," but there were similaries.

Colonial Pennsylvania and Virginia

The Shenandoah Valley and backcountry Virginia had close ties to Pennsylvania. The two colonies even overlapped in the territory around Pittsburgh—a dispute that was not settled until 1780. The vast majority of Virginia's western settlers were Protestant Irish and German immigrants who came via Philadelphia on the Great Wagon Road, either immediately or over the course of one or two generations.
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• Walter Allen Knittle, Early Eighteenth Century Palatine Emigration. The start of German emigration to the New World.
• Kenneth W. Keller, "The Origins of Ulster Scots Emigration to America: A Survey of Recent Research," American Presbyterians. A useful overview.
• Richard MacMaster, "Ulster-Scots in Virginia," Discover Ulster-Scots.  A good overview of Protestant Irish settlement with a focus on Virginia.
• Warren R. Hofstra, "Land, Ethnicity, and Community at the Opequon Settlement, Virginia, 1730-1800." Virginia History of History and Biography. A readable academic look at early Scotch-Irish settlement in the lower (northern) Shenandoah Valley.
• Charles E. Kemper, "The Settlement of the Valley," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. More on immigration into western Virginia.
• Steven K. Friesen, "Martin Mylin, Gunsmith: Fact or Fancy?" Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society. The origins of the weapon every 8th Virginia man carried in 1776 and early 1777.
• Lisa Minardi, "Pastors & Patriots: The Muhlenberg Family of Pennsylvania," Incollect Magazine. Background on the family that loomed large in German (Lutheran) life in the colonies and produced the first colonel of the 8th Virginia.
• David L. Preston, "Braddock's Defeat," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video). The story of the failed campaign that changed Virginia, America, and the world forever.
• Edward Ingle, "Justices of the Peace of Colonial Virginia,"Bulletin of the Virginia State Library. A look at county governance in the colonial era, which can be confusing for modern readers. County-level authorities were essential to militia, state, and even Continental recruiting in the early war.

Pre-War Political and Indian Conflict

• ​​Bob Ruppert, "How the Stamp Act Did Not Affect Virginia," Journal of the American Revolution. John Adams said the "revolution" was over before the war ever started. Virginia's reaction to the Stamp Act is part of what he was referring to.
• Michael Cecere, "Take Them at Their Word: Virginia's Opposition to the Townshend Duties," Journal of the American Revolution. Like the Stamp Act, the Townsend Duties further alienated Virginians from Britain.
• James Rife, "'So Calamitous a Situation,' The Causes and Course of Dunmore's War, 1744-1774," master's thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Virginia's 1774 war against the Shawnee was conducted at the same time as the First Continental Congress and served as a dress rehearsal for the much larger war that quickly followed.
• Mark Wilcox, "'Fight and Be Strong,' the Battle of Point Pleasant, October 10, 1774." Emerging Revolutionary War Era.
• Jim Glanville, "The Fincastle Resolutions," Smithfield Review.  The sentiments of Virginia in 1774 and 1775 are best understood from the various resolves and resolutions written by county committees of safety. Despite its title, Glanville's essay surveys all of the surviving country resolutions.
• Donald M. Zweig, "The Virginia Nonimportation Association Broadside of 1770 and Fairfax County: A Study in Local Participation," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. The Virginia Association of 1770 was a precursor to the First Continental Congress's Articles of Association (boycott of British goods).
• Michael Cecere, "A Posture of Defense: Virginia's Journey from Nonimportation to Armed Resistance," Journal of the American Revolution. Virginia crosses the Rubicon.
• Alex Colvin, "Religious Liberty in Virginia: How 'Dissenters' Parlayed Oppression into Freedom," Journal of the American Revolution. Baptists and others were treated poorly in Anglican Virginia before the war. Patrick Henry and others persuaded revolutionary leaders to stop discriminating against religious minorities.

New England and Canada (1775-1776)

The first truly Continental soldier were Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania frontier riflemen who were recruited to support the 1775 siege of Boston. Some, including Daniel Morgan, participated in the invasion of Canada.
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• John Grady, "The Beeline March: The Birth of the American Army." Journal of the American Revolution. The rush to recruit and march to Boston.
• Hugh T. Harrington, "Patriot Riflemen During the Ammunition Crisis at the Siege of Boston, 1775," AmericanRevolution.org. What they did when they got there.

The Ouster of Lord Dunmore (1775-1776)

• Jim Bish, "250 Years Ago: Virginia Starts Down the Road to Revolution." Emerging Revolutionary War Era. When the Crown governor dissolved the House of Burgesses for voicing support for Boston, the legislature's members simply went to a tavern and resumed their business.
• Rob Orrison, "'The Sword is Not Drawn..." The Powder Incident, Lexington and Concord Moves Virginia to Revolution," Emerging Revolutionary War Era. Despite cultural differences and the 600 miles between them, Virginia was strongly supportive of Massachusetts when the war broke out.
• W.F. Dunaway, Jr., ‘The Virginia Conventions of the Revolution,’ Virginia Law Register. The role of the five revolutionary Virginia Conventions gets glossed over in most histories, despite their very important contributions. The Continental Association, the Association's boycott of British goods, the 1st Continental Congress, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence all had their origins in or were made possible by the conventions' actions.
• Andrew Lawler, "Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment," Journal of the American Revolution. The last days of Lord Dunmore and his effort to arm slaves in exchange for freedom.
• Patrick H. Hannum, "Virginia's 1775 Regular Company-Level Military Force Structure," Journal of the American Revolution. A look at early Virginia provincial company organization.
• Eric Sterner, "The Connolly Plot," Journal of the American Revolution. One-fifth of the 8th Virginia's recruits came from the West Augusta District around Pittsburgh, which was then claimed by Virginia. Eric Sterner provides a look at the political intrigue around the frontier's most important fort in 1775.
• Robert Guy, "The Westmoreland Rangers and 'The Suffering Fruntears." Journal of the American Revolution. Events in the West Augusta District from a Pennsylvania perspective.
• Gerald Holland, "The Seizure of the Virginia Gazette, or Norfolk Intelligencer," Journal of the American Revolution.​ The day when the Royal Governor seized a Whig newspapers printing press to suppress criticism.
• Patrick H. Hannum, "Norfolk, Virginia, Sacked by North Carolina and Virginia Troops," Journal of the American Revolution. It was long believed that Lord Dunmore had Norfolk burned to the ground. Who actually did it was not revealed for decades after the war.
• Michael Cecere, "Battle of Gwynn's Island: Lord Dunmore's Last Stand in Virginia," Journal of the American Revolution. The final ouster of the royal governor from the Old Dominion.

The 8th Virginia Regiment

• Gabriel Neville, “A Forty Year Bond: William Darke and George Washington in Politics, Business, and War,” The Magazine of the Jefferson County Historical Society. 8th Virginia captain and major William Darke served in four different conflicts, rising from private to general.
• Michael Cecere, "The Fighting Parson's Farewell Sermon," Journal of the American Revolution. 8th Virginia colonel Peter Muhlenberg's farewell sermon drifted over the decades from history to patriotic romance. While the mythology is not far from the facts, this essay provides an important, objective corrective.
• Joshua Horn, "Peter Muhlenberg: The Pastor Turned Soldier," Journal of the American Revolution. Another look at Colonel Muhlenberg.
• Gabriel Neville, "The Mighty Oaks of the Forest," Journal of the American Revolution. A review of Gwynn Tuell Potts' dual biography of William Croghan and George Rogers Clark.
• Gabriel Neville, "Shenandoah Martyr: Richard Campbell at War," Journal of the American Revolution. Campbell, an 8th Virginia veteran, was the second-highest ranking battlefield casualty of the war.
• George M. Smith, "The Reverend Peter Muhlenberg: A Symbiotic Adventure in Virginia, 1772-1783," The Report: A Journal of German-American History. A substantive and well-researched account of how Lutheran Peter Muhlenberg ended up in Virginia as an Anglican Priest.
• Gabriel Neville and Michael Cecere, "Muhlenberg & the 8th Virginia," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video). A fun conversation about Muhlenberg and the 8th Virginia in the war.
• Scott Stephenson, "Flags of the American Revolution," C-SPAN (video). A look at the regiment's surviving grand division banner.
• Samuel W. Thomas, "William Croghan, Sr. [1752-1822]: A Pioneer Kentucky Gentleman," Filson Club Quarterly. A dated but still mostly accurate look at one of the regiment's captains.

Virginia Continentals

• "Virginia Regiments in the Continental Army" (RevolutionaryWar.US) Basic information on the 15 regiments of the Virginia Continental Line.
• "Regimental History," 1st Virginia Regiment. An overview of the 1st Virginia's service.
• "2nd Virginia History," 2nd Virginia Regiment. An overview of the 2nd Virginia's service.
• John Settle, "The Eastern Shore Battalion: The Story of the 9th Virginia Regiment," Journal of the American Revolution. An overview of the 9th Virginia's service.
• Tucker F. Hentz, "Unit History of the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment (1776-1781): Insights from the Service Record of Capt. Adamson Tannehill." Virginia Historical Society. 
• Jim Gallagher, "Virginia Continental Line Reorganization of 1778 and 1779," 7th Virginia Regiment. — An explanation of the complex and sometimes ad hoc reorganizations of the Virginia Line through the end of the war.
• John Settle, "Scott's Levies: The Virginia Detachments, 1779-1780." Journal of the American Revolution. Another well-researched essay by John Settle that untangles the service and organizaton of the Virginia Continental Line late in the war.
• Richard C. Bush III, Pillar of Liberty's Temple: The Life and Times of Col. Thomas Gaskins. A well-researched book-length biography of Col. Thomas Gaskins, including the service of his late-war provisional regiment that included three companies commanded by 8th Virginia veterans.

The First Southern Campaign (1776)

• Roger Smith, "The Southern Expedition of 1776: The Best Kept Secret of the American Revolution," Journal of the American Revolution. Good context for the 8th Virginia's first year of service.
• Edwin C. Bearss, The Battle of Sullivan's Island (National Park Service). A dated but very detailed account of south's most important early battle, written by a legendary Park Service historian.
• Doug MacIntyre, "Danger at the Breach," Journal of the American Revolution. The 8th Virginia's first serious action was in Charleston in 1776 at the Battle of Sullivan's Island. Though this excellent essay does not deal with the specifics of the 8th Virginia's participation, it is the first fully-researched account of the combat on the north end of the island and an important corrective to two centuries of incomplete and sometimes incorrect history.

The Mid-Atlantic Campaign (1776-1777)

• Charles Dewey, "Forts Washington and Lee," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video). The twin forts that welcomed Captain Croghan's large detachment of 8th Virginia men into Washington's northern army.
• Rob Orrison, Dan Welch, and Mark Maloy, "The New York Campaign," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video). Captain Croghan's men joined the northern army half way through the New York campaign.
• John Diaconis, Libby del Greco, and Lynn Briggs, "With Washington at White Plains" Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video). The first battle for Captain Croghan's detachment.
• Mark Maloy, Larry Kidder, Roger Williams, and David Price, "The Ten Crucial Days," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video). The grueling campaign that whittled Croghan's Detachment down to just six men.
• Robert A. Selig, Matthew Harris, and Wade P. Catts, "Battle of Princeton Mapping Project: Report of Military Terrain Analysis and Battle Narrative," John Milner Associates. The report of an important project that changed our understanding of what happened in this battle that saved the Revolution.
• Mark Maloy and Will Krakow, "The Battle of Princeton," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video). An overview and discussion of the battle.

The Philadelphia Campaign (1777)

• ​Brooke Blades and Wade Catts, "The Short Hills Battlefield Study," John Milner Associates. A careful look at this poorly understood battle.
• Adam Zielinski, "A Phanton at Middle Brook: Washington in the New Jersey Short Hills," Journal of the American Revolution. The Battle of Short Hills was fought soon after all active companies of the 8th Virginia finally united in New Jersey in the spring of 1777.
• Gabriel Neville, "The Last Vestige of the Clove Road," Journal of the American Revolution. When the British sailed away from New Jersey in the summer of 1777, the Americans had no idea where they were headed.
• Gabriel Neville, "The 'B Team' of 1777: Maxwell's Light Infantry," Journal of the American Revolution. About 40 8th Virginia men were detached under Capt. William Darke to this provisional corps of skirmishers for one critical month that included the Battle of Cooch's Bridge, the Battle of the Clouds, and the Battle of Brandywine.
• Wade Catts, et al. "The Army March'd at Daybreak in Two Columns," Brandywine Terrain Analysis for Chester County Planning Commission. A careful look at the terrain in support of local historic preservation.
• Gary Ecelbarger, "The Feint That Never Happened: Unheralded Turning Point of the Philadelphia Campaign,"Journal of the American Revolution. An explanation of Washington's decision to let the British take Philadelphia.
• Michael Harris, "Brandywine," Emerging Revolutionary War  Era (video). An interview with historian Mike Harris.
• Gary Ecelbarger, "Clement Biddle Partially Clears the Battle of the Clouds," Journal of the American Revolution. A careful reading of one letter changes our understanding of this battle.
• Michael Harris, "Germantown," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video). An interview with historian Mike Harris.
• Phill Greenwalt, "The Winter the Won the War, Valley Forge," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video). An overview of Valley Forge.
• Gary Ecelbarger, “The First Four Days at Valley Forge,” Journal of the American Revolution. Most of us have a romantic and two-dimensional view of the Valley Forge encampment. Gary Ecelberger tells us what really happened during the first days of the Army's time there.

The Saratoga Campaign (1777)

About 400 Virginia and Pennsylvania marksmen reinforced the northern army late in the summer of 1777 and participated in the battles at Freeman's Farm and Bemis Heights leading to the surrender of British Gen. John Burgoyne.
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• Eric Schnitzer, "The Battle of Freeman's Farm," National Park Service (Video).
• Mark Maloy, "The Battle of Bemis Heights," American Battlefield Trust.

The Western War

• David P. Ervin, "A Choice Body of Men: The Continental Army on the Upper Ohio." Journal of the American Revolution.
  
• Gabriel Neville, "Virginia's Independent Frontier Companies, Part One," Journal of the American Revolution. Virginia created five companies of state regulars to protect the frontier in 1775. Many of these men continued on into the 8th Virginia.
• Gabriel Neville, "Virginia's Independent Frontier Companies, Part Two," Journal of the American Revolution. Virginia's second authorization of independent companies for the frontier. Some of these men continued on into the 12th and 13th Virginia regiments.
• Thomas Thorliefur Sobol, "Virginia Looking Westward: From Lord Dunmore's War Through the Revolution," Journal of the American Revolution. An overview of war warfare in the west, with a focus on Fort Pitt.
• Nadia Dean, "A Demand for Blood: The Cherokee War of 1776." American Indian.
• Jordan Baker, "The Cherokee-American War From the Cherokee Perspective," Journal of the American Revolution.
• Joe Herron, Gabe Neville, and Eric Sterner, "Rev War in the West," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video).
• Mark Wilcox, "Simon Kenton: Frontiersman, Soldier, Spy,"Emerging Revolutionary War Era.
• Phill Greenwalt, "McColloch's Leap," Emerging Revolutionary War Era.
• Eric Sterner, "General Edward Hand: The Squaw Campaign," Emerging Revolutionary War Era.
• Eric Sterner, "The Treaty of Fort Pitt, 1778: The First U.S.-American Indian Treaty," Journal of the American Revolution. Many 8th Virginia soldiers returned home to Pittsburgh in time to witness the first of many treaties between Indian tribes and the United States. This treaty with the Delaware was short-lived, but the signatories were good allies while it lasted.
• Gabriel Neville, "A Portrait of John Cuppy," Emerging Revolutionary War Era.
• Eric Sterner, "The Siege of Fort Laurens, 1778-1779,"Journal of the American Revolution.
• Timothy C. Hemmis, "Under the Banner of War: Frontier Militia and Uncontrolled Violence," Journal of the American Revolution.
• Eric Sterner, "George Rogers Clark Recaptures Fort Sackville, Part One," Emerging Revolutionary War Era.
• Eric Sterner, "George Rogers Clark Recaptures Fort Sackville, Part Two," Emerging Revolutionary War Era.
• Eric Sterner, "Moravians in the Middle: The Gnadenhutten Massacre," Journal of the American Revolution.
• Eric Sterner, "The Battle of Upper Sandusky," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video).
• Eric Sterner, "Betty Zane and the Siege of Fort Henry, September 1782," Journal of the American Revolution.

The Second Southern Campaign (1780-1781)

• Mark Maloy, "The Virgians' 800-Mile March to Save Charleston," Emerging Revolutionary War Era.
• Jim Piecuch, "The Battle of Waxhaws (or Buford's Massacre)," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video).
• Michael Cecere, "Picking Up the Pieces: Virginia's 'Eighteen-Months Men' of 1780-81," Journal of the American Revolution.​
• John Settle, "Abraham Buford's Virginia Battalion, 1780-1781," Journal of the American Revolution.
• Travis Shaw and Nathan Stalvey, "Daniel Morgan," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video).
• Daniel Davis and Kristopher White, "The Battle of Cowpens," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video).
• Andrew Waters on the "Race to the Dan," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video).
• Vanessa Smiley and Kristopher White, "The Battle of Guilford Courthouse," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video).

The Yorktown Campaign (1781)

• Mark Wilcox and John Pagano, "Arnold Along the James," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video).
• Klaus Wust, "Disaffection in the Rear: German Tories in the West Virginia Mountains," The Report: A Journal of German-American History.
• Drummond Ball and Michael Cecere, "Virginia's Swamp Fox: Captain Amos Weeks of Princess Anne County,"Journal of the American Revolution.
• Mark Maloy, "'Madness!' The Battle of Green Spring, 1781," Emerging Revolutionary War Era.
• Conor Robison, "The Battle of Green Spring: A Footnote on the Road to Yorktown," Journal of the American Revolution.

The Late War (1782-1783)

• Michael Cecere, "The French Army in Williamsburg, Virginia, 1781-1782," Journal of the American Revolution.
• John Settle, "The Winter Encampment at Cumberland Old Courthouse," Journal of the American Revolution. — A look at the Virginia line late in the war, with mentions of 8th Virginia veterans captains Reuben Field, William Lewis Lovely, and Abraham Kirkpatrick.

The Constitution and Western Settlement

• Neal O. Hammon, "Kentucky Pioneer Forts and Stations." Filson History Quarterly.
  
• Neal O. Hammon, "Land Acquisition on the Kentucky Frontier," Register of the Kentucky Historical Society.
• Richard J. Werther, "The Articles of Confederation and Western Expansion," Journal of the American Revolution.
• Jonathan Curran, "Examining Public Opinion During the Whiskey Rebellion," Journal of the American Revolution.
• Brady J. Crytzer, "How the (First) West Was Won: Federalist Treaties That Reshaped the Frontier," Journal of the American Revolution. Many 8th Virginia soldiers were far more interested in western settlement than trans-Atlantic politics. The Indian wars and the treaties that followed created the opportunities in the west they really cared about.
• Brian Howard, "Preserving Lafayette's Carriage," C-SPAN. A conservator provides a close look at the barouche (carriage) that Col. Abraham Bowman rode in with the Marquis de Lafayette to Lexington, Ky. in 1825.