Handlebar_Historian

John and Abigail Adams exchanged over 1,100 letters across more than three decades. The correspondence is largely preserved at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

NEW — The Virginia Court of Appeals has rejected the rezonings approving the world’s largest data center complex alongside Manassas National Battlefield Park, upholding a lower court ruling that found Prince William County had improperly fast-tracked the votes without properly advertising the proposal or making its text available to the public. We won a battle, but the war is far from over. Even though the Appeals Court sided with us today, we fully expect the deep-pocketed developers to appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court -- and we'll be ready when they do. Just as we are ready to keep up the fight at Wilderness Crossing. battlefields.org/news/virginia-…

@TheCinesthetic Why? We’ve already had one. And it was not as good as the OG

First trailer for CAPE FEAR remake series. Executive produced by Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.

This makes sense: given the different peoples and reasons for settlement, the resulting cultures produced different forms of societal organization. The Scots-Irish, who poured over the Appalachians starting in the early 18th century, had their homelands devastated and dismantled. They were then shipped across the ocean, often to serve as little better than indentured laborers on the early plantation systems taking shape. After Bacon’s Rebellion and the wider availability of imported African enslaved labor, many of these settlers moved inland, away from the grip of coastal centralized government. They sought homesteads and fiercely defended their claims against all interlopers. These communities produced Regulators in places like western North Carolina and fueled rent rebellions in the Hudson Valley. They scoffed at the Proclamation of 1763, supported the Revolution, and later resisted federal tax collectors at the barrel of a gun. German migration was both earlier and more centered in Pennsylvania, though many later moved west and congregated in river cities throughout the Midwest. New York also served as a conduit for migration through the western tier and along the Great Lakes. The colony received large-scale Palatine Germans migration, initially intended to staff the patroonship estates of the Hudson Valley. Many became organized around their faith communities, Quakers and other dissenting sects that flourished in colonial Pennsylvania and eventually moved westward along the Great Lakes corridor. Scandinavian farmers who later organized the Midwest into tidy, orderly plots were often driven by foreign wars and land scarcity in their homelands. They tended to transplant entire village structures, along with familiar civic institutions, to anchor communities in the upper Midwest facilitated first by the Erie Canal and later by rail connections from the East Coast to Chicago. Colin Woodard reminds me of Jared Diamond in that the real value lies in the broad interpretive lens he introduces. Neither work is a perfect piece of scholarship, but both offer a compelling framework for understanding causation. Scholars like Alan Taylor have taken Woodard’s concept of fractious “nations” and elevated it to a much higher level of rigor and nuance.

Booknotes: "A Little Piece of Hell at Gettysburg: The Attack and Defense of the Rose Farm, July 2-3, 1863" cwba.blogspot.com/2026/03/bookno… @SavasBeatie

In this article, Richard Longfoot examines the influential role of Captain Alexander Clunie in the conversion of John Newton from a slave captain to a Christian minister and later supporter of abolition. The author explains how a painting prompted research into Clunie’s life and Newton’s spiritual journey in the 1750s, and discusses Newton’s friendships, letters, and correspondence with Clunie. Read the full article here: historyreclaimed.co.uk/john-newton-co… #History #JohnNewton #AlexanderClunie #Conversion #ChristianHistory #Abolition #SlaveryHistory #HistoricalResearch #FaithAndHistory #HistoryReclaimed #RichardLongfoot

Pues llegó la siguiente lectura!

⭐ Park Day Spotlight: Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site ⭐ Have you picked a site to volunteer at for #ParkDay2026? If not, see if the Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site is right for you! When: Saturday, April 25, 2026 @ 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM EDT Where: 2620 S. Roan St., Johnson City, TN 37601 What: Trail Maintenance, site cleanup, fence mending, Visitor Center assistance, etc. Check out more details here: bit.ly/47Xiv0M Want to explore other sites? Check them out at Battlefields.org/ParkDay

It's #NationalDoctorsDay! 🩺 In his book Rush, @stephen_fried presents Dr. Benjamin Rush, surgeon-general in the Continental Army, as a progressive revolutionary, signer of the Declaration, and a bold critic of many of his contemporaries. Read an excerpt: bit.ly/3zgAJIW

@AmRevMuseum @stephen_fried Anyone who has read this: how did this book fare? I’d like to find the best books (published any time) on Rush. He’s a fascinating figure

“War and Peace” is 1,400 pages long. But once you read it, you realize that every word was necessary.

Been meaning to buy Dempsey’s other book on Albuera for awhile - the definitive book on the battle (or so I’m told!). 🇬🇧 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 📚

Next month's new releases: cwba.blogspot.com/2026/03/coming…

@BooksnBattle @SavasBeatie I have read this one. I remember liking it a lot.

@HandlebarHist @SavasBeatie I see. The Yorktown NPS worker in the bookstore today really helped with this find. It’s on the shelf and since I’m familiar with ECW books, I know it’s gonna be good.

Got a proper book for next time I want to visit Yorktown for a Civil War video.

@BooksnBattle @SavasBeatie Even if it’s a battle/campaign I’m intimately familiar with, I will still pick up an ECW publication about it because I feel it helps keep me grounded and that I will still learn something.

Read the historical overview of the individuals during the Revolutionary War in South Carolina from Henry Laurens to Rebecca Motte! 💻️: tinyurl.com/2vpnd6ek #revolutionarywar #southcarolina #militaryhistory

In the Voices department of our Spring 2026 issue we highlighted quotes by Union and Confederate soldiers about the importance of religious faith in helping them navigate the challenges of war. Read those we didn’t have room to include here: tinyurl.com/yeu5j3rv

Some of the most common types of trenches used during World War I. (1914-1918)