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 readers to create accounts. Posts from this site are not included, but a list of "essential posts" can be accessed here. There are also list 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, almost the exact duration of the Revolutionary War.
• William S. Baker, Itinerary of General Washington, June 15, 1775 to December 23, 1783 (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1892). 
• Travis Shaw, "Cavalry in the American Revolution," American Battlefield Trust.

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 from Philadelphia via 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 the German emigration to the New World.
• Kennth W. Keller, "The Origins of Ulster Scots Emigration to America: A Survey of Recent Research," American Presbyterians.
• Richard MacMaster, "Ulster-Scots in Virginia," Discover Ulster-Scots.  A good overview of Protestant Irish settlement in 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.
• Steven K. Friesen, "Martin Mylin, Gunsmith: Fact or Fancy?" Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society. The origins of Pennsylvania Rifle.
• Charles E. Kemper, "The Settlement of the Valley," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.
• Lisa Minardi, "Pastors & Patriots: The Muhlenberg Family of Pennsylvania," Incollect Magazine.
• David L. Preston, "Braddock's Defeat," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video).
• 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).

Pre-War Political and Indian Conflict

• ​​Bob Ruppert, "How the Stamp Act Did Not Affect Virginia," Journal of the American Revolution.
• Michael Cecere, "Take Them at Their Word: Virginia's Opposition to the Townshend Duties," Journal of the American Revolution.
• 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.
• Brian Gerring, "La Petite Guerre and American Indian Irregular Warfare: Siblings, but Not Twins," Journal of the American Revolution.
• 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.
• Michael Cecere, "A Posture of Defense: Virginia's Journey from Nonimportation to Armed Resistance," Journal of the American Revolution.
• Alex Colvin, "Religious Liberty in Virginia: How 'Dissenters' Parlayed Oppression into Freedom," Journal of the American Revolution.

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.
  
• Hugh T. Harrington, "Patriot Riflemen During the Ammunition Crisis at the Siege of Boston, 1775," AmericanRevolution.org.

The Ouster of Lord Dunmore (1775-1776)

• Rob Orrison, "'The Sword is Not Drawn..." The Powder Incident, Lexington and Concord Moves Virginia to Revolution," Emerging Revolutionary War Era.
• 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.
• Patrick H. Hannum, "Virginia's 1775 Regular Company-Level Military Force Structure," Journal of the American Revolution.
• Kyle Willard, "Officers and Enlisted Men in the Culpeper Minutemen. - A list of men who may have served in the Culpeper Minute Battalion.
• 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.​
• Patrick H. Hannum, "Norfolk, Virginia, Sacked by North Carolina and Virginia Troops," Journal of the American Revolution.
• Michael Cecere, "Battle of Gwynn's Island: Lord Dunmore's Last Stand in Virginia," Journal of the American Revolution.

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.
• Gabriel Neville, "A Forty Year Bond: William Darke and George Washington in Politics, Business, and War", Magazine of the Jefferson County Historical Society.
• 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.
• George M. Smith, "The Reverend Peter Muhlenberg: A Symbiotic Adventure in Virginia, 1772-1783," The Report: A Journal of German-American History.
• Gabriel Neville and Michael Cecere, "Muhlenberg & the 8th Virginia," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video).
• 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.

Virginia Continentals

• "Virginia Regiments in the Continental Army" (RevolutionaryWar.US)
• "Regimental History," 1st Virginia Regiment.
• "2nd Virginia History," 2nd Virginia Regiment.
• John Settle, "The Eastern Shore Battalion: The Story of the 9th Virginia Regiment," Journal of the American Revolution.
• 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.
• Richard C. Bush III, Pillar of Liberty's Temple: The Life and Times of Col. Thomas Gaskins 

The First Southern Campaign (1776)

• Edwin C. Bearss, The Battle of Sullivan's Island (National Park Service).
• 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).
• Rob Orrison, Dan Welch, and Mark Maloy, "The New York Campaign," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video).
• John Diaconis, Libby del Greco, and Lynn Briggs, "With Washington at White Plains" Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video).
• Mark Maloy, Larry Kidder, Roger Williams, and David Price, "The Ten Crucial Days," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video).
• 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.
• Mark Maloy and Will Krakow, "The Battle of Princeton," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video).

The Philadelphia Campaign (1777)

• ​Brooke Blades and Wade Catts, "The Short Hills Battlefield Study," John Milner Associates.
• 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.
• Gary Ecelbarger, "The Feint That Never Happened: Unheralded Turning Point of the Philadelphia Campaign,"Journal of the American Revolution.
• Michael Harris, "Brandywine," Emerging Revolutionary War  Era (video).
• Gary Ecelbarger, "Clement Biddle Partially Clears the Battle of the Clouds," Journal of the American Revolution.
• Michael Harris, "Germantown," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video).
• Phill Greenwalt, "The Winter the Won the War, Valley Forge," Emerging Revolutionary War Era (video).
• 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, "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.