President Andrew Johnson, an enigma to history, who served in the most visible of all public service positions at the most chaotic period in American history, in the aftermath of the assassination of President Lincoln at the conclusion of the American Civil War.

Here is the first full-length documentary on his life, illustrating his humble beginnings, his life in indentured servitude, and his dash for freedom. As a teenager on the run with a bounty on his head for escaping servitude, he met the adventurous and intelligent young woman who became his wife, who provided him an education.

Locket portraits of Andrew and Eliza McCardle Johnson from the 1840s, Greeneville, Tennessee.

Up until meeting Eliza, the only education he had ever been provided was being read to while apprenticing to a tailor, from a book called The American Speaker, a book so impactful it changed his life. After marrying and becoming educated, he dedicated his life to public service after establishing himself as a prosperous tailor in rural East Tennessee, with an eye to serving the other working poor like himself.

A misunderstood man, the subject of scorn for his humble beginnings and modest station in life, as a Southern Democrat in the tradition of Andrew Jackson, Johnson held every level of public office in the American governance system, from town alderman, to state legislator, to representing Tennessee as Congressional representative, Senator, Governor, and Military Governor of Tennessee in the Civil War, whereupon Lincoln named him as Vice President on the National Union Ticket, hoping to unite the country after the volatile, destructive war.

Here is a much-needed, new examination of this public figure, thrust into the spotlight by a series of unfortunate events, who did his best to unite the country and likely prevented it from descending into another Civil War.

Watch here, and let me know your thoughts!

This portrait of Francis Marion hangs in the South Carolina State House

Today’s Commander of the Revolution is the South Carolina guerrilla officer, Francis Marion. Marion was born in the year 1732 in Berkeley County, South Carolina to a family of French Huguenot descent. The exact date of his birth is unknown. He did not have much in the way of a formal education, but he possessed keen observation crossed with a bold, daring, sanguine personality. When he was fifteen, he wanted to go to sea and he joined the crew of a merchant schooner. The ship sank on its way to the West Indies, and Marion and four other crewmen spent a week drifting in the Caribbean. That experience appeared to be enough sea-going for Francis; he returned to his family’s plantation and began to manage it for his father.

Francis Marion’s extraordinary military career began when he joined the South Carolina Militia to fight in the French and Indian War. This included a Cherokee uprising in Tennessee and the Carolinas where Marion would see his first action. He took careful mental note of how the Cherokee fought in the mountains and dense woodlands of Southern Appalachia. His regiment suffered badly due to constant ambushes and bushwhacking tactics employed by the Cherokee warriors. The war ended in 1761 when South Carolina raised an army of 2,800 men and gained the support of the Catawba and Chickasaw tribes and the Cherokee found themselves outnumbered. It was the largest military force to enter Southern Appalachia until that point. Marion returned again to his plantation and eventually purchased his own land, Pond Bluff, in 1773, where he built a two-story house of cypress. He eventually owned nearly 1500 acres of land at Pond Bluff.

A 1934 image of Pond Bluff, Upper St. John’s Orangeburg Co., SC. Today, Marion’s plantation lies submerged beneath Lake Marion.

After the Battles of Lexington and Concord, South Carolina joined the cause for independence and began raising troops. Marion was given an officer’s commission in the 2^nd South Carolina Infantry. He was present from the first when the Royal Navy tried to seize Charleston by attacking Fort Sullivan (now known as Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island) in 1776, mere days before the Declaration was signed. In 1779, Marion participated in the desperate attempt to retake Savannah from the British which ultimately failed. The British finally took Charleston the following year and there was no American military resistance in the region. Marion sought to fix that by raising a small unit of no more than fifty men. With this tiny army of partisan rangers, he harassed British garrisons and supply trains until General Horatio Gates’ army finally arrived in South Carolina later in 1780. Marion continued his guerilla operations while he was attached to Gates’ army, utilizing the combat tactics of the Cherokee that he had learned years before. He captured Williamsburg, South Carolina singlehandedly, preventing the British from advancing farther into the state. The British eventually sent Banastre Tarleton to chase Marion down, but he was never found. It is reported that Tarleton gave Marion his famous nickname “The Swamp Fox.” He fought heroically at the Battle of Eutaw Springs in 1781, the last major battle in the Carolinas.

After the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the Revolutionary War ended, and Francis Marion returned to his plantation to find it in ruins. He borrowed money to rebuild his home and he began serving in the South Carolina Senate, where he opposed punishing former American Loyalists. During this time, he married Mary Esther Videau. He was given command of Fort Johnson near Charleston which came with a salary that saved him from financial ruin. He would die on his plantation on February 27, 1795. The guerrilla tactics he developed, however, live on in modern military warfare doctrine, having been adopted by the United States Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment.

Watch the trailer here:

If you miss it Sunday, here are some more upcoming airdates:

UPCOMING

“IN PURSUIT OF THE RIGHT COURSE”: ANDREW JOHNSON, THE 17TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

The documentary reappraises one of America’s most misrepresented presidents, Andrew Johnson.

• Sunday October 4, 2026 2:00 pm ET on KET

• Thursday October 8, 2026 4:00 am ET on KET

• Sunday October 11, 2026 3:00 am ET on KETKY

• Sunday October 11, 2026 12:00 pm ET on KETKY

• Sunday October 11, 2026 8:00 pm ET on KETKY

• Saturday October 17, 2026 6:00 pm ET on KETKY

• Sunday October 25, 2026 3:00 am ET on KETKY

• Sunday October 25, 2026 12:00 pm ET on KETKY

• Sunday October 25, 2026 8:00 pm ET on KETKY

• Saturday October 31, 2026 6:00 pm ET on KETKY

Tune in!

• Sunday October 4, 2026 2:00 pm ET on KET

• Thursday October 8, 2026 4:00 am ET on KET

• Sunday October 11, 2026 3:00 am ET on KETKY

• Sunday October 11, 2026 12:00 pm ET on KETKY

• Sunday October 11, 2026 8:00 pm ET on KETKY

A print of Stephen Hopkins, 1868. New York Public Library

Stephen Hopkins began his political career when he was made a justice of the peace for the town of Scituate, just outside of Providence. His career snowballed, and between the years of 1730 and 1742 he held no less than seven different positions on courts and town councils including the Court of Common Pleas and the House of Deputies. He kept himself quite busy.

Beginning in 1742, he devoted himself mostly to the mercantile trade. He became a merchant who built, owned, and outfitted ships, and he was part owner of the privateering vessel Reprisal in 1745, in partnership with John Mawney, sheriff of Providence and son of Colonel Peter Mawney. In the mid-1750s, Boston portraitist John Greenwood was commissioned by a group of sea captains and merchants, including Hopkins, to create a satirical painting. The men were stopped at a major trading port in Suriname on the north coast of South America, where Greenwood was living at the time. Greenwood developed a tavern scene, showing himself among twenty-one affluent traders, many of whom were caricatured as intoxicated. Stephen Hopkins is depicted in the red coat, snoozing:

Sea Captains Carousing in Suriname, by John Greenwood, 1755.

One of Hopkins’s enterprises later in life was as a manufacturer, and he became a partner with brothers Moses, Nicholas, Joseph, and John Brown in establishing the Hope Furnace. This enterprise was concerned with iron works which made pig iron and forged cannons for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Hopkins’s son Rufus managed the business for four decades.

By 1755, he was back in politics when he was elected governor of Rhode Island. For almost a decade, Hopkins would be in and out of the governor’s office, always pitted against his rival Samuel Ward. When the Stamp Act of 1765 was passed by Parliament, Americans were outraged, but especially Americans like Hopkins who were merchants. Hopkins was governor at the time and he organized the Rhode Island General Assembly to repeal it. Hopkins wrote The Rights of Colonies Examined, a pamphlet that targeted the Stamp Act, and any potentially similar policies, and called them out as unjust. During this time, he served as a Trustee for the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, or Rhode Island College, which eventually become what is now Brown University.

The Governor Stephen Hopkins House, 15 Hopkins Street, Providence, Rhode Island

In 1770, Hopkins became the Chief Justice of Rhode Island Superior Court, and maintained that position until 1775, even while serving in the Continental Congress. In 1774, Hopkins, as well as his rival Samuel Ward, was elected to Continental Congress. He was already firmly in the camp of independence as he saw it as unavoidable. He signed the Declaration in 1776. He was sixty-eight at the time, one of the most elderly of the signers, and had developed palsy in his hands. He was barely able to sign his name. He stated at the signing, “My hand trembles, but my heart does not.”

His age did not deter him from helping the Patriot cause. With his experience as a merchant, he helped piece together the Continental Navy and oversaw their ships, equipment, and organization. His increasingly poor health forced him to resign from Congress and he returned to Rhode Island. He would die in his home in Providence on July 13, 1785, living just long enough to see America’s independence.

After the war, Moses, Nicholas, Joseph, and John Brown were instrumental in moving what was known as Rhode Island College of Newport, Rhode Island, to Providence, where it was renamed Brown University in 1786.

An Engraving of James Smith by Ole Erekson, 1876, Library of Congress

This week’s Signer of the Declaration is the lesser-known Pennsylvania delegate, James Smith. Smith was born in the year 1719, though the exact date is unknown. He was born in the province of Ulster in Ireland. His family moved to Pennsylvania when he was ten years old and lived on a farm along the Susquehanna River. Smith was educated quite well at a school in New London, Pennsylvania. He began studying law under a man named Thomas Cookson and was eventually admitted to the state bar. He opened a law practice in York, Pennsylvania, and was reportedly the only lawyer in the town. He married a Delaware woman named Eleanor Armor and they would have five children together.

Throughout Britain’s harsh treatment and taxation of the colonies, Smith openly opposed them. Though he was not active in politics outside of his law practice, he was invited to join the Pennsylvania Assembly to discuss what was to be done about Britain. While many Pennsylvanians wanted a peaceful reconciliation with the British Crown, Smith was one of the few at the time who foresaw that peace would not be the case. In fact, he immediately began raising the first state militia to prepare for the war he knew was coming. For his outspokenness on the matter, he was elected to Continental Congress in 1774 to represent Pennsylvania, though he initially did not attend as he was still busy raising troops. He did, however, attend the Second Continental Congress where he voted for independence and signed the Declaration. He was also elected to the Pennsylvania Provincial Conference to help draft the state constitution.

When Congress had to evacuate Philadelphia in late 1776, Smith hosted the members of Congress at his home in York. He was noted by his fellow Founding Fathers as being incredibly witty and somewhat eccentric. They enjoyed their stay at his home immensely. He was elected to the Board of War for his diligence in raising the Pennsylvania militia and was also elected to the Committee of Foreign Affairs. However, in 1778, he resigned his political stations and returned to his law practice. The war largely didn’t affect his life and presumably practiced his law in relative peace.

When the war was concluded and independence was won, Smith found himself back in political affairs. He served as a state representative and a member of the Pennsylvania High Court. However, he was getting old and he declined any further elections. He had lost a good deal of wealth in investments, though his law practice prevented him from going into any serious debt. His office would tragically burn down in 1805 and he died a year later on July 11, 1806, at eighty-seven years old.

Smith is buried in the churchyard of the First Presbyterian Church located at 225 E. Market Street in York, Pennsylvania.

A portrait of Samuel Adams by John Singleton Copley, 1772. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Here, Adams points to the Massachusetts Charter, which he viewed as a constitution protecting colonists’ rights against the Crown.

This week’s Founding Father is the unforgettable Bostonian, Samuel Adams. Adams was born on September 27, 1722, at Quincy, near the city of Boston, Massachusetts. His father, Samuel Adams Sr., was a wealthy Puritan merchant who was actively involved in Massachusetts politics and was an advocate for the rights and freedoms of colonial citizens. Samuel Adams was one of twelve children, only three of whom lived to adulthood. The younger Samuel Adams was educated at the Boston Latin School and then went on to Harvard University at age 14 where he studied law and political science and distinguished himself in those fields. Though his main interest was politics, Adams initially went into the mercantile trade alongside a man named Thomas Cushing, a distinguished merchant who later became an active patriot. Adams lost this job not long after it started as Cushing felt Adams was not paying proper attention to the business. Adams attempted to start his own business but failed miserably. He was then given a job at a malthouse owned by his family where he helped make malt for beer brewing. He married Elizabeth Checkley in 1749. She would tragically die in childbirth in 1757. She had given birth to six children in those years, with only two living to adulthood, Samuel, born in 1751, and Hannah, born 1756. Adams remarried seven years later to Elizabeth Wells, but they had no children.

Adams finally launched his political career in 1747 when he was elected as a clerk for the Boston market and then elected as a tax collector. As in business matters, tax collecting did not hold his attention. He would often forget to help collect taxes, which endeared him, naturally, to the Boston populace. As early as 1763, he was boldly expressing his sentiments relative to the rights and privileges of the colonists. He wrote up instructions for the General Assembly, in a decided stand against the Stamp Act, denying Parliament the right to tax the colonists without their consent when the British determined to collect taxes from the colonies to help make up the deficit from prosecuting the global war known as the French and Indian War.

Paul Revere's 1768 engraving of British troops arriving in Boston was reprinted throughout the colonies.

Adams immediately began publishing tracts against the taxes in the Boston Gazette in order to rally the people against British Parliament. In 1765, he was elected to the general court of Massachusetts, furthering his political career and his outcries against Britain. When the Townshend Acts of 1767 were passed, Adams helped convince Bostonians to place a boycott on British goods. Thus, when he observed his world becoming occupied with British troops, as, for example, in 1768, depicted here in an engraving by Paul Revere, he suggested a union of the colonies against British aggressions, in the first such public expression of that idea. In addition, Adams tried to negotiate a withdrawal of the British troops to the outskirts of the city.

After the Boston Massacre in 1770, the British decided to withdraw one regiment from Boston. Samuel Adams’s patriotic followers began calling themselves the Sons of Liberty. In 1772, at the Boston Town Meeting, held at Faneuil Hall, Adams proposed the formation of the Committee of Correspondence to unite the colonies. He authored a Declaration of Rights presented at the meeting in November 1772. Adams helped organize the Boston Tea Party in 1773, though the extent of his participation is unknown. Britain passed the “Intolerable Acts” as a punitive measure for the Tea Party, and Samuel Adams gave up on any hope of reconciliation.

He was made a delegate to Continental Congress in 1774, and he would retain his seat there until after the Revolutionary War. He signed the Declaration in 1776 and served on numerous committees formed by Congress throughout the war and was noted for seconding John Adams’s motion to appoint George Washington as commander in chief of the continental army. Adams favored harsh treatment of Loyalists, and advocated confiscation of Loyalist property and prohibition on their returning to live in the colonies, on the theory that they could undermine the new government.

He returned to Boston in 1781 to find that his home on Purchase Street had been destroyed and looted.The windowpanes were etched with insults and caricatures were drawn on the walls. His garden was trampled, the outbuildings knocked down, and the house was robbed of all its furnishings. Adams was unable to fix the house, so he moved his family to Dedham, Massachusetts, where he would live for the rest of his life. He attempted to get back into politics several times as he was an outspoken Anti-Federalist and was concerned that the new American government might consolidate too much centralized power.

He served as governor of Massachusetts until 1797, after which he retired permanently from political life. He died on October 2, 1803, at the astonishing age of eighty-one. His grave can be found in the Granary Burying Ground in Boston.

“Mr. Samuel Adams,” by Paul Revere, 1774. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT.

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A portrait of John Witherspoon by Rembrandt Peale, 1794

This week’s Founding Father is the Scottish-born Presbyterian minister, John Witherspoon. Witherspoon was born on February 5, 1723 in Gifford, Scotland. His father sent him to Haddington Grammar School for his early education, and when he was just fourteen, he began studying at the University of Edinburgh. He had a mind to follow in his father’s footsteps and studied divinity in order to become a minister. By the age of twenty, he had a doctorate in Theology. He was made the minister of Beith, Scotland and it was here he married Elizabeth Montgomery. They would have ten children total; only five lived to become adults and emigrate to America.

Witherspoon was a devout Protestant; he was taken prisoner after the Battle of Falkirk, which was fought between the British Crown and the Jacobites, when Scottish supporters of Prince Charles Stuart tried to restore that Catholic Stuarts to the British throne. He was released after the Jacobite defeat several months later, but his reputation caught the attention of political leaders in New Jersey.

Witherspoon was not involved with America until 1768, when he was asked by Richard Stockton and Benjamin Rush to become the president of Princeton College. He found the college in a sorry state and immediately began raising funds and restructuring the syllabus based on the model at the University of Edinburgh. He donated several hundred of his own books to its library. In addition to his administrative duties, Witherspoon taught courses in literature, history, divinity, and moral philosophy. Although the college was originally focused on producing clergymen, Witherspoon broadened its purpose to include potential political and cultural leaders. Among his students were a host of men who would play important roles in American political and cultural life including James Madison and Aaron Burr.

On the eve of the Revolutionary War, Witherspoon had observed the harsh laws implemented by Great Britain upon the Colonies. Having long been a supporter of republicanism, even before his arrival in America, he was sympathetic to the Patriot cause. As a Presbyterian minister, he was especially disturbed by the Crown’s efforts to appoint an American Anglican bishop. He joined the New Jersey Committee of Correspondence in 1774. He expressed concerns about the British state church and other efforts of the Crown and Parliament to interfere in colonial affairs in his 1776 sermon, “The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men.” When he was elected to serve in the Second Continental Congress, alongside his friends, Stockton and Rush, in 1776, he was of the firm opinion that independence was the proper course of action. He was the only signer who was an active member of the clergy and a college president.

Princeton College was broken up during the Revolutionary War and its funding ceased. Witherspoon had to evacuate the college before the Battle of Princeton in 1777. The main building, Nassau Hall, was badly damaged, and his papers and personal notes were lost.

Later that year that he received word that his son, James Witherspoon, who had graduated from Princeton in 1770 and served as the aide-de-camp to General Francis Nash, had been killed in the disastrous defeat of the Patriot forces at Germantown. Witherspoon now dedicated himself mostly to political tasks. He continued to serve in Congress, becoming one of its most active members, as well as serving on many of its committees. He helped draft the Articles of Confederation and was elected to represent Somerset County in the New Jersey Legislature in 1780 where he aided in ratifying the Constitution.

In 1780 he was elected to a one-year term in the New Jersey Legislative Council representing Somerset County and was a candidate for Congress in 1789 and 1791. By 1783, Witherspoon had largely retired from political life, though he continued to serve as a minister and president of Princeton. Witherspoon was responsible for the reconstruction of Nassau Hall after the war, which caused him great personal and financial difficulty. He paid for Princeton’s repairs after the war with his own money which nearly left him impoverished. In 1791, at age 68, he married a 24-year-old widow, Anne Marshall Dill, with whom he had two more children. His health began to decline, however, and he went blind in 1792. Two years later he died on November 15^thand was buried in the Princeton Cemetery.

The President’s House, Princeton University, completed 1756. Witherspoon lived here from 1768 to 1779. Wikipedia, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, Fullmetal2887, own work.

Built in 1773 by John Witherspoon, a Georgian Farmhouse, known as “Tusculum” built as a summer residence and ultimately where he retired. He died here in 1794. Jerry and Raye Klotz, M.D., own work, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0

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A portrait of William Floyd by Ralph Earle, 1792.

When troubled times of Great Britain’s tyranny began, Floyd ardently sided with the colonies. Though at the time he held no major political position, he voiced his opinion on the matter openly and it won him much admiration. He was elected to Continental Congress in 1774 and again the following year, He was noted for rarely taking part in the debates of Congress, though he served on several committees. During 1775, he became a colonel in the Suffolk County Militia. He signed the Olive Branch Petition July 8, 1775.

New York had no delegates present on July 2, 1776, when the vote for independence occurred. However, Floyd was one of the four New York delegates who signed the engrossed copy of the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776.

When the British attacked Long Island on August 27, 1776, Floyd led the militia to drive them off. Shortly after the American defeat, the British confiscated his gorgeous home, and it was used by the British cavalry as a barracks for seven years, with all his livestock used to feed enemy soldiers. The estate was left in a ruinous condition.

During the war, despite the fact that his property was being held by the British, he would continue to serve in Congress but was also made a senator for New York and a major-general of the Long Island militia. Throughout all this confusion, Floyd worked himself to the bone to keep the New York government organized.

After the Revolutionary War, Floyd continued to serve as a senator for his home state, a position he would hold until 1808. In 1783, he was able to return to his Long Island farm and begin restoration.

He purchased new land in 1784 along the Mohawk River from the Oneida and Tuscarora Indians, and lived there for the rest of his life. Floyd served in the first United States Congress, 1789-1791, but declined re-election. He was also a delegate in the New York Constitutional Convention in 1801 and was a presidential elector many times up until 1820. He was a firm supporter of Thomas Jefferson in his 1801 race against Aaron Burr, and a staunch proponent of Jeffersonian Republicanism.

Much of Floyd’s later life is unknown. He was asked to be a presidential elector in 1820, but failed to attend the electoral college. He died on August 4, 1821 at the remarkable age of eighty-seven years old. He is buried at the Westernville Cemetery in Oneida County, New York.

William Floyd House, 20 Washington Avenue, Mastic Beach, Long Island. CC BY_SA 3.0

General William Floyd House, Westernville, Oneida County, New York, ca. 1794. Historic American Buildings Survey. Survey No. HABS NY-5513. Library of Congress call No. HABS NY,33-WESV,1-1.

After sharing stories at Bryan Station, it was off to Daniel Boone’s Cabin in Carlisle, Kentucky, just below Blue Licks. Here was his last Kentucky home. From the bridge crossing The Licking River at Blue Licks Springs, we studied the approach to Blue Licks Battlefield, drove to the battlefield, walked down the preserved portion of the Buffalo Trace found there, and visited the Battlefield Burying Ground and Monument. Then we traveled portions of Colonel Henry Bird’s War Road, to study how he, his British regiment, and their Indian allies came down from Detroit to attack Ruddell’s Station, Martin’s Station, and Grant’s Station. While eating lunch at Biancke’s, a downpour visited us, miraculously clearing just in time for the hayrides across the fields to Ruddell’s Station.

Guide Lew Nicholls, author of “1780 British Raid into Kentucky,” was able to provide us with an extensive PowerPoint documenting Martin’s Station.

Over 500 souls were captured, wounded, or killed at Ruddell’s Station and Martin’s Station, including about 30 slaves. Remarkable stories of those who survived the death march back up to Detroit and Montreal, and then were released when the Treaty of Paris was signed, were related during this portion of the tour.

Our final event was at The Bourbon County Whiskey House, Paris, Kentucky, catered by Trackside at the Depot, the wonderful Paris restaurant.

UPCOMING Witnessing History TOURS and EVENTS:

Mark your calendars! Witnessing History Education Foundation, Inc., Dinner and Special Event! November 7, 2026.

Emcee: Doug High, WTVQ, Lexington, KY

Guest: David Wright, author of Historian with a Brush.

Portrait of Connecticut Founding Father Oliver Wolcott by the American painter Ralph Earl, oil on canvas. Courtesy of the Museum of Connecticut History.

This week’s Founding Father is the prestigious Connecticut politician, Oliver Wolcott, Sr. Wolcott was born on November 20, 1726 in Windsor, Connecticut, the fourteenth of fifteen children, in the family that governed the colony. His father was colonial Governor Roger Wolcott; his mother was Sarah Drake Wolcott. He attended Yale and graduated with top honors in 1747, having lead his class for four years. Upon graduating, he was granted a captain’s commission in the militia by Governor George Clinton of New York, and raised a regiment to fight the French in King George’s War, for the ill-fated Louisburg expedition to Canada. The war ended the following year. He dabbled in the study of medicine with his uncle, Dr. Alexander Wolcott, though eventually went on to try the merchant’s trade. He was made the first sheriff of Litchfield, Connecticut in 1751, a position in which he served for twenty years. During this time, he married Laura Collins and they would have five children, one of whom would tragically die in infancy.

Wolcott has been described as tall, erect, dark-complexioned, dignified, a man of integrity and deep Puritan faith. He was said to be “a man who spoke his own mind,”and was described by Thomas Rodney as “a man of integrity, is very candid in debate and open to conviction and does not want abilities, but does not appear to be possessed of much political knowledge.” Despite his duties as a sheriff, Wolcott stayed away from politics and his life was relatively peaceful as far was we know, though he was supportive of the cause of independence.

It wasn’t until 1774 that Wolcott’s political career began, when he was appointed to be an assistant to the state council of Connecticut. In 1776, he was elected to represent Connecticut in Continental Congress, where he voted for independence without hesitation. He became ill and left Philadelphia without signing; William Williams served as his substitute. On his way back to Litchfield that July, as he traveled from Philadelphia through New York, he transported the head of the lead equestrian statue of King George III to Litchfield, where it was melted into bullets at Wolcott’s home by his wife and daughter!

Oliver Wolcott House, South Street, Litchfield, Connecticut. Photo credit: Don Cram, CC BY-SA 3.0. Built in 1753 by Oliver Wolcott, Sr. George Washington stayed here in 1780 during his first visit to Litchfield. Not open to the public.

When he returned to the Continental Congress on October 1, 1776, he was allowed to sign the Declaration. Throughout the Revolutionary War, like some other signers, he would serve back and forth in Congress and on the battlefield.

Wolcott commanded fourteen regiments of militia in the defense of New York. He was eventually promoted to brigadier general and was involved in many engagements. He was sent to New York to reinforce General Putnam on the Hudson River. He joined with Horatio Gates’ army in time to fight at the Battle of Saratoga, a significant victory for the Patriot cause. As a major general in 1779, he defended the Connecticut sea coast against New York Royal Governor William Tryon’s raids on Fairfield and Norwalk. In May 1780, he served on the Council of Safety, the executive committee for prosecution of the war. From here on out, Wolcott had to balance his military duties along with his seat in Congress and making peace with Native American tribes, all of which he conducted successfully.

After the war, he resigned from Congress. He served as commissioner during the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784 to make peace with the Six Nations, then resigned that post in 1785. In 1787, Wolcott was elected as lieutenant governor of Connecticut, a position he would hold for the last ten years of his life. In 1789, he helped conclude a land treaty with the Wyandotte Indians. He would also serve as a chief justice for the court of common pleas in his home county of Litchfield. He would die peacefully on December 1, 1797 at seventy-one years old.

A Portrait of Thomas Nelson Jr. ca. 1750, by Mason Chamberlin.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

This week’s Signer of the Declaration is the Virginia gentleman, Thomas Nelson, Jr. Nelson was born on December 26, 1738 in Yorktown, Virginia, the town that would mark the end of British rule in America. He was born into a family of Northern English cloth merchants who had moved to Virginia to expand their business. Like many of his peers, Nelson was sent to England for his education and he studied at Newcome’s School in London, some say Eton College, and then at Christ College, Cambridge, where he studied literature. He returned to Virginia in 1761 and married Lucy Grymes, with whom he would have five children. It is surmised that he was a cousin of George Washington himself. Lucy was from a prominent, old Virginia family. Lucy’s parents were Philip Ludwell Grymes and Mary Randolph Grymes, of Williamsburg, Virginia. Her maternal uncle was Peyton Randolph, the President of the First Continental Congress; her paternal aunt was the mother of “Light Horse Harry” Lee. Lucy was cousins with at least three signers, including Carter Braxton, Benjamin Harrison, and Thomas Jefferson.

Lucy Grymes and three of her seven siblings. John Hesselius, 1751. Virginia Museum of History and Culture. She was the eldest of four boys and four girls.

Though Nelson’s main occupation was a planter, his political career launched when he was elected to the House of Burgesses in 1761, not long after his return from England. Nelson initially limited his political participation to the House of Burgesses. However, when British governance became ever more tyrannical, Nelson found himself elected to the Virginia Conventions from 1774-76 to represent York County. He strongly supported the cause of independence and put forth the motion for Virginia to establish an army to oppose the British with force if necessary. His fervent support elected him to Continental Congress where he signed the Declaration of Independence.

Nelson returned to Virginia and was made a brigadier general in the Virginia Militia. He raised troops with his own money, but Congress could not supply them for long and they were disbanded in 1779. His health troubled him throughout the war and he could only participate on and off in both his political and military affairs. He did however, fight during the Siege of Yorktown, and according to legend, gave George Washington permission to fire on his house.

“York Hall,” The Thomas Nelson House, ca. 1730, Route 1005 & Main Street, Yorktown, Virginia.

The house was built by Thomas “Scotch Tom” Nelson, grandfather to the signer. Thomas Nelson, Jr. lived here during the Revolutionary War, though it was Lord Cornwallis’s temporary headquarters and a cannonball fired during the siege at Yorktown is lodged in its walls.

Nelson succeeded Thomas Jefferson as governor of Virginia in 1781, though once again, his health forced him to resign the office. He not only contributed his own funds for the Continental Army, but attempted to raise money to help pay for the French intervention as well. This landed him in severe debt which the United States government never repaid. He moved to a small estate in Hanover County, Virginia, and he died there on January 4, 1789 just a few days after his fiftieth birthday. Nelson Counties in both Virginia and Kentucky are named in his honor.

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with Kent Masterson Brown

Saturday, July 18, 2026

“The American Revolution in Frontier Kentucky”

Bryan Station • Blue Licks • Bird’s War Road • Ruddell’s Station

Dear Friend of Witnessing History,

As the nation marks the 250th anniversary of American independence, we invite you to step off the page and into the landscape where that independence was truly secured. On Saturday, July 18, our fearless leader, historian, author, and documentary filmmaker Kent Masterson Brown will lead an intimate, expert-guided tour across the sites of the American Revolution on Kentucky’s frontier — the battlegrounds and war roads that determined the fate of the American West. Judge Lew Nicholls, author of several books on the Revolutionary War in frontier Kentucky, will assist with narration at these sites.

The day concludes with a bourbon-tasting and celebratory dinner catered by Trackside at the Depot at The Bourbon County Whisky House in Paris, Kentucky— where history, Kentucky heritage, and fine cuisine come together! Spaces are limited. We hope you will join us. (A more detailed itinerary is available for registrants but please note the bus departs Lexington at 8:30 am and returns at 7 pm.)

YOUR GUIDE

Kent Masterson Brown

Kent Masterson Brown is one of Kentucky’s most distinguished voices in American history. As many of you know, Kent brings rare depth and passion to every subject he explores.

He and the Witnessing History Education Foundation, Inc. — the 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to produce high-quality documentary films on all aspects of American history—are producing a film for Kentucky 250, “The American Revolution on the Kentucky Frontier.” This tour highlights many of the stories for that film.

On July 18, Kent will serve as your personal guide through the frontier sites that defined the American Revolution in Kentucky — bringing these stories to life with the clarity and energy for which he is nationally celebrated.

STOP ONE

Bryan Station

Located near present-day Lexington, Bryan Station was one of Kentucky’s most storied frontier forts. On August 15, 1782 — nearly a year after Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown — a massive combined force of British Rangers and warriors from the Shawnee, Delaware, and other Ohio nations laid siege to the fort

In one of the Revolution’s most celebrated acts of courage, the women of Bryan Station marched to the spring to draw water — in full view of the concealed enemy — rather than alert the garrison and forfeit their only water supply. The defenders held. The siege at Bryan Station set the stage for the catastrophic battle that followed just days later at Blue Licks.

Key Takeaway: The siege of Bryan Station exemplifies the fierce, often overlooked warfare that raged on Kentucky’s frontier long after the Eastern theater had concluded.

STOP TWO

The Battle of Blue Licks

August 19, 1782. Just four days after the siege at Bryan Station. Ten months after Lord Cornwallis surrender his British forces to General Washington at Yorktown. On a hillside above the Licking River in Robertson County, Kentucky militiamen pursuing the force that had besieged Bryan Station rode headlong into an ambush. In fifteen devastating minutes, 72 Kentuckians were killed — more than a third of their force. The British and Indian alliance lost only three men.

Today, the Battle of Blue Licks is officially recognized as the last major engagement of the American Revolutionary War. The defeat galvanized Kentuckians and prompted General George Rogers Clark to launch a retaliatory expedition into Ohio in November 1782 — effectively breaking Native American military power in the region for a generation. Now a Kentucky State Park, Blue Licks stands as a solemn memorial to those who gave everything on this ground.

Key Takeaway: Blue Licks marks the true close of the American Revolution — fought not at Yorktown but here, on Kentucky’s frontier.

STOP THREE

Colonel Henry Bird’s War Road

In June 1780, British Captain Henry Bird departed Detroit with 150 regulars and Canadian Rangers — and gathered a force of 600 to 900 Native warriors as he advanced south. Ascending the Licking River in bateaux and canoes, Bird’s men cut a road through the Kentucky wilderness, hauling the first artillery ever brought against the log forts of the frontier.

This road — now marked by the Kentucky Historical Society near Falmouth — traces the route along which a thousand-man army of British regulars, Tories, and warriors marched. It was a road built for conquest that permanently changed the character of the Kentucky frontier.

Key Takeaway: Bird’s War Road represents the most organized British military incursion into Kentucky — a deliberate campaign to destroy the frontier settlements and reclaim the West.

STOP FOUR

Ruddell’s Station

On June 24, 1780, Bird’s forces arrived at Ruddell’s Station — a stockaded log fort near present-day Cynthiana, Kentucky, housing approximately 350 men, women, and children. When a British cannon shot tore through the fort’s wall, Captain Isaac Ruddell had no choice but to surrender, negotiating terms that would place his people under British protection.

But once the gates were opened, Bird lost control of his Native allies. Nearly 470 captives — men, women, and children — were taken prisoner and forced to march 600 miles to Detroit. The British would never again mount such a large expedition into Kentucky, nor would they bring cannon against the frontier. The surrender of Ruddell’s Station stands as one of the Revolution’s most heartbreaking chapters.

The tomb of the Ruddell’s Station massacre victims

On the way back to Paris for the evening event, we will stop briefly at the site of Martin’s Station, a fortified station in Bourbon Cunty that was attacked by the same forces that forced the surrender of Ruddles Station. Like the people in Ruddles Station, those at Martin’s Station joined the 600 mile Kentucky Death March to Detroit.

Key Takeaway: Ruddell’s Station demonstrated both the vulnerability of Kentucky’s frontier forts to artillery and the tragic human cost exacted on the families who settled the West.

MIDDAY

Lunch at Biancke’s in Cynthiana

No stop on today’s journey would be more fitting for a midday meal than Biancke’s Restaurant — a landmark of downtown Cynthiana that has been welcoming guests since 1894. Situated at 102 South Main Street, just steps from the sites connected to Colonel Henry Bird’s 1780 invasion and the frontier struggle we explore today, Biancke’s is one of Kentucky’s oldest continuously operating restaurants.

Biancke’s offers an ideal opportunity to rest, reflect on the morning’s history, and prepare for the afternoon’s journey to Blue Licks and the close of the American Revolution on Kentucky soil.

EVENING

Dinner at The Bourbon County Whiskey House

The day concludes with dinner at The Bourbon County Whisky House — a fitting tribute to Kentucky heritage. Named after Old Bourbon County, the original county whose boundaries encompassed much of the land we will have walked that day, the evening offers a chance to reflect on the stories, the landscapes, and the remarkable people who secured this Commonwealth for the nation.

Guests will enjoy Dottie Spears’s Kentucky-inspired cuisine from Trackside at the Depot, a celebrated bourbon selection, and the continued company of one another in a setting that honors the same Kentucky heritage we explored throughout the day.

RESERVE YOUR PLACE

Saturday, July 18, 2026

Space on this tour is strictly limited. To reserve your place or for more information, please contact the Witnessing History Education Foundation.

REGISTRATION LINK

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Robert Morris. Portrait by Robert Edge Pine, 1785.

In 1769, Morris married Mary White and they would have seven children. She was well-educated and from a prominent Philadelphia society family. Her character and devotion to her husband and to the cause of liberty were notable; she suffered and triumphed at his side throughout his life.

Mary White Morris (1749-1827). Portrait by Charles Willson Peale, 1782.

When Great Britain imposed the Stamp Act of 1765 on the American colonies, Morris, being a merchant, was naturally affected by it. Despite being a native of England, Morris found himself sympathizing with the Americans on this issue. Morris largely refused to participate in politics, but he spoke critically of Britian’s treatment of the colonies among his peers. When war finally broke out at Lexington and Concord, Morris was made a member of the Committee of Safety and was tasked with smuggling gunpowder and arms into the colonies. At that point, he was fully involved in the cause of independence. He was elected to the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly in 1775 and from there, elected to Congress. Though he supported the cause, Morris abstained from voting for independence along with John Dickenson. He signed the Declaration at a later date. Morris was made a member of the Marine Committee and was also charged with the grueling task of supplying the Continental Army which was a constant problem throughout the war.

Morris spent most of the war trying to secure supplies and weapons for the army. These attempts were often frustrated as the British would capture American trade vessels in Europe and the Caribbean. In spite of this, Morris worked tirelessly on supplying American forces. He was credited with supplying Washington’s army well enough for the victory at Trenton. Morris requested a leave of absence from Congress in 1778 to focus on his trade business. This resulted in false accusations against him for using his position in Congress for financial gain. He would deal with these accusations for the rest of the war.

From 1781 to 1784, Morris was named the Superintendent of Finance. He oversaw much of America’s myriad financial problems which resulted in the establishment of the Bank of North America. He helped fund the final offensive of the war that culminated at Yorktown, raising an astounding $1,400,000 on his own. When the war had ended, Morris simply wanted to return to his mercantile business, but he was called to attend the Constitutional Convention in 1789. He also served in the United States Senate during these years.

Roger Sherman and Robert Morris share the distinction of being the only two Signers of the Declaration who also signed the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution.

Morris eventually left his political career, but found himself in massive debt, He had lost on land investments and had funded the war effort out of his own pocket. He lived in debtors’ prison for over three years and was released in 1801. Gouvernor Morris, of Morrisania, provided Robert Morris with an annuity for the rest of his life. His health broken by prison life, he died five years after being released, on May 8, 1806.

Summerseat, the home Signer Robert Morris purchased after the war, and later, owned by Signer George Clymer. Located at the corner of Clymer Street and Morris Avenue, Morrisville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. George Washington headquartered here at the end of 1776, during the days of the New York and New Jersey campaign.

Governor (PA) Thomas McKean and His Son, Thomas McKean, Jr., by Charles Willson Peale, 1787. Philadelphia Museum of Art.

This week’s Founding Father is the Delaware lawyer and statesman, Thomas McKean. McKean was born on March 19, 1734 in New London Township, Pennsylvania. His mother died when he was only eight years old, and he and his brother were sent to New Castle, Delaware to start their education. Though McKean was an able student, he was particularly fond of the outdoors. He became an excellent horseman and was a crack shot with a pistol. It was during his early education that he met George Read, who would also be a future signer of the Declaration of Independence. McKean would begin studying law under his uncle John Finney. He was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1754, and later, to the Pennsylvania bar. He spent the years 1758-1762, studying in London, England, perfecting his lawyer skills in courts there. His political career began upon his return to the colonies in 1762, when he was elected to the New Castle county assembly in Delaware. A year later, he would marry Mary Borden. They had six children; she would die unexpectedly in 1773. He remarried in 1774 to a childhood friend, Sarah Armitage, with whom he had four children.

Sarah Armitage McKean with a daughter, Maria Louisa, by Charles Willson Peale, 1787. Philadelphia Museum of Art.

On the eve of the American Revolution, Delaware was one of the most divided states on the topic of independence. The “Court Party” was in favor of reconciliation with Great Britain, and the Scots-Irish dominated “Country Party” was in favor of independence. Having helped repeal the Stamp Act of 1765, McKean was firmly in the camp of independence, while his friend George Read opposed him in the “Court Party.” Though they were initially politically opposed, they remained friends throughout their lives. McKean’s vocal calls for independence got him elected to Continental Congress to represent Delaware, where he argued for and voted for independence on July 2. McKean was noted for convincing some of the more skeptical members of Congress to do likewise. McKean was not present on July 4th or on August 2, 1776, to sign the Declaration in person, however, as he was at those times commanding Pennsylvania militiamen in Washington’s army. McKean was not one to sit out of a fight. His signature does not appear on an authenticated copy dated January 17, 1777, and he is presumed to have signed it in 1781.

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Though his militia were disbanded in 1777, McKean remained politically active throughout the war. He was made chief justice of Pennsylvania, and elected “president” of Delaware and helped draft the state’s constitution. Because of this, he was constantly pursued by the British after they quickly occupied Delaware, and he and his family were forced to move several times. Between this, and Delaware’s myriad loyalists blocking elections, McKean’s political career was in constant upheaval until the war ended.

When America gained her independence, McKean retained his position as chief justice of Pennsylvania. He played a pivotal role in putting down the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, arguing the rebels be arrested and put on trial instead of met with military action. He was elected governor of Pennsylvania three times in a row, after which he retired from politics in 1808. He spent most of his later years writing his political philosophy and serving as the vice president of Pennsylvania’s Society of the Cincinnati. He would die on June 24, 1817. He is buried in Laurel Hill East Cemetery, Philadelphia. McKean County, Pennsylvania is named in his honor.

The stone portion of this house was built in 1720. No surviving house exists with a more direct link to Thomas McKean, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, than this stone home at 1903 New London Road, Franklin Township, Pennsylvania. It was owned by Thomas’s father and may have been where he was born in 1734.

In early 1774 or 1775, William Whitley and his brother-in-law George Clark, ventured from their homes in Rockbridge County, Virginia, crossing the Appalachian mountains into Kentucky at the Cumberland Gap, traveling along the Wilderness Road, determined to lay claims to land. They found lands along the Dix River near Cedar Creek, and returned to Virginia to collect their families. Whitley’s wife, Esther Fallin Whitley, and his two young daughters, made the journey with a group of other settlers, including Whitley’s sister, Margaret, and her husband, George Clark. In November, 1775, the Whitleys and Clarks returned to Kentucky and claimed land, as was customary, by planting corn. Whitley planted 10 acres of corn and built a cabin on the site he had scouted, not far from the Wilderness Road. The Clarks established Clark’s Station, a marker for which can be seen in Danville. On July 14, 1776, the capture of three young women, including Jemima Boone, by Native Americans at Fort Boonesborough, prompted the Whitleys — who were parents of two young daughters— to build a cabin at nearby St. Asaph’s Fort, as a refuge from danger.

Reproduction palisades, cabins, and blockhouses erected at St. Asaph’s Station, Logan’s Fort, Stanford, Kentucky.

Throughout the Revolution, Whitley’s family lived in a cabin at times on the site where the home is now located, but, sometimes moved to their cabin built inside the palisades at Logan’s Fort in Stanford, Kentucky, for added protection. Esther Whitley became known as a formidable sharpshooter in her own right; William Whitley placed her initials alongside his on the stock of his longrifle, a sight we were privileged to see during our visit!

Sportsman’s Hill, the “Guardian of the Wilderness Road.” William Whitley began building a brick home, modeled after those he knew in his native Rockbridge County, Virginia, in 1785, completing it by 1794. It was the first brick house on the Kentucky frontier, made entirely of bricks fired on the property itself, The brickwork is a Flemish bond design, and Whitley featured his monogram in bricks on the front of the house, with his wife’s monogram, “E.W.” in brickwork on the home’s back wall. The unique engineering of this remarkable structure features an ingenious “escape room” inside walls that are almost two feet thick. Several cubbies to hide small children and weapons are tucked along secret passages and staircases. The Whitleys were parents of eleven children, eight girls and three boys, all of whom survived to adulthood. The home was meant to be a fortress in case of Native American attacks, which were common along the frontier even after hostilities with the British ended.

In 1788, Whitley’s plantation, amounting to about 2800 acres, featured Kentucky’s first racetrack. The track encircles a high hill, where spectators would gather to watch the featured half-mile races. Whitley, being an American patriot, designed the track where the horses would run in the opposite direction of British races, i.e., counterclockwise, and they ran on clay, not turf, as is the British tradition. Races took place here until the Civil War.

Horse racing in Kentucky’s early years was not just pure entertainment, however. It served the practical purpose of identifying the best horses for breeding, horses being crucial to survival and used for every kind of work and transportation. Daniel Boone, at this time, drafted and oversaw the passage of laws governing the breeding of horses, so essential was horsebreeding to the economy of the day.

Nevertheless, the exciting sport of horse racing soon became lavish entertainments at Sportsman’s Hill. Kentuckians would gather from all over every early fall, the races beginning at dawn, before the heat of the day, with elaborate breakfasts served after, outdoors. This was the origin of the Kentucky Derby and the Derby breakfast tradition. Even today, the Governor’s Derby Breakfast is served outdoors in Frankfort on the grounds of the Governor’s mansion. The menu today, however, will differ. A Whitley family member recalled they served, “chicken soup with rice, baked Ohio River salmon, bacon, cabbage and beans, barbecued lamb, roast duck and applesauce, roast turkey and cranberry sauce, roast beef, broiled squirrel, leg of bear, baked opossum with sweet potatoes, roasting ears, hominy, boiled potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, stewed tomatoes, hot cake, corn dodgers, buttermilk, plum pudding, rum sauce, pumpkin pie, log cabin pie, assorted cakes, assorted fruits, vanilla ice cream, coffee, apple jack, claret, Transylvania Bitters, peaches and honey, old bourbon whiskey, port and champagne.” Tally-ho!

Thomas Jefferson, by Rembrandt Peale. Official Presidential portrait. White House.

Jefferson was in opposition to Great Britain’s taxation of colonies almost from the start. He proposed a ban on British imports in 1774 after the severely limiting Intolerable Acts were passed. In 1775, he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, which ultimately led to his election to Continental Congress. Being an excellent writer, Jefferson was placed on the “Committee of Five” and was chosen to help pen the Declaration of Independence itself. Obviously being the author, Jefferson signed the Declaration. However, being the author of the Declaration painted a target on his back. During the war, Jefferson would be force to flee several times. On one occasion in 1781, Jefferson would flee Richmond, Virginia while being pursued by Banastre Tarleton’s cavalry. It was also during the war that Jefferson was elected governor of Virginia.

After the war, Jefferson’s life was hardly over. Once the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolution, Jefferson maintained his position in Congress, and was then tasked with taking over Benjamin Franklin’s duties in France. Jefferson would leave France right before the French Revolution broke out. He would serve as George Washington’s Secretary of State and as John Adam’s vice president. Of course, Jefferson would be elected president himself in 1801. It was during his presidency that he secured the Louisiana Purchase with France, which expanded America’s borders nearly to the Rocky Mountains. He funded the Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific Northwest and funded scientific research, notably the archeological excavations at Big Bone Lick in Kentucky, among others. However, Jefferson’s presidency was not free of trouble. His vice president, the ambitious Aaron Burr, became increasingly disagreeable. Burr was not reelected alongside Jefferson in 1804, and Burr would go on to start conspiracy to try and establish his own state. Burr’s plans would be revealed to Jefferson, and ultimately Burr voluntarily went into exile in England. The issue of states-rights and the power of the federal government loomed over Jefferson’s presidency, an issue that would last decades to come. Jefferson vehemently opposed federal power and passed the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in order to secure state sovereignty.

Monticello is depicted on the reverse of the Two Dollar Bill.

Even in his later years, Jefferson continued remarkable work. He founded the University of Virginia in Charlottesville in 1819 and designed the original buildings and layout himself. He had no small amount of influence over the Greek War of Independence in 1821, and inspired several Greek thinkers on how to establish a fair government. Jefferson’s health began to deteriorate, and he would die on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence. There is perhaps no single figure in history who had as much influence on the founding and political landscape of America than Thomas Jefferson.

Note: Many thanks to all who are accompanying me on the April 25 guided bus tour to some of Kentucky’s pioneer forts, which settlers defended against British soldiers and their Native American allies during the American Revolution. Those stories are coming to life soon on a Witnessing History film. Stay tuned

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Who was Mary Katharine Goddard, and how did her name come to appear on the Declaration? Mary Katharine was born in 1739 in New London, Connecticut. Her father was not only New London’s postmaster for the Royal Mail, but also a physician. Her younger brother, William Goddard (1740-1817) moved to Rhode Island to start a printing business, and soon began to print Providence, Rhode Island’s first newspaper, the Providence Gazette.

When Dr. Goddard died, William’s mother, Sarah, and his older sister, Mary Katharine, moved to Providence to live with William. They helped William, but he abandoned the Providence Gazette in the mid 1760s, and moved on his own to Philadelphia. There, in 1767, he used a Franklin Press to publish a Franklin paper, the Pennsylvania Chronicle. Thereafter, his widowed mother, Sarah, and sister, Mary Katharine, began Sarah Goddard & Company, with another partner, John Carter; that company continued to publish the Providence Gazette newspaper. In 1768, Sarah and Mary Katharine moved to Philadelphia to assist William Goddard in publishing the Pennsylvania Chronicle, but the venture failed within a few years.

In 1770, Sarah died; in 1773, William and Mary Katharine moved to Baltimore. William soon began to publish Maryland’s first newspaper, The Maryland Journal and the Baltimore Advertiser. William then began another venture; he traveled the colonies promoting the Constitutional Post, an alternative mail delivery service to the Royal Mail. In William’s absence, Mary Katharine Goddard skillfully managed the Goddard printing house on her own, with William’s name featured on the mastheads of the publications. William’s plan for the Americans to be responsible for the colonies’ own mail was adopted in 1775; at this point, Mary Katharine was named the Postmaster of Baltimore. She was the first postmaster of Baltimore, the first female postmaster in the colonies, and soon became the first female Postmaster for the United States of America.

In 1775, after being named postmaster, Mary Katherine stopped printing The Maryland Journal under her brother’s name, and began printing it under the abbreviated name, “M.K. Goddard.” She printed not just the news, but books, pamphlets, broadsides, and blank paper products.

When the Declaration was issued in Philadelphia in July, John Dunlap became the first printer of what was known as the “Dunlap Broadside,” copies of the Declaration which were distributed to state governments, local committees, and commanders of the Continental Army. About 26 copies of the Dunlap Broadside are still extant. Goddard was the among the first newspaper publishers to print the text, and she was the first woman to print the text of the Declaration of Independence, which she did in the July 10th issue of The Maryland Journal.

On December 20, 1776, British troops closed in on the city of Philadelphia, causing the Continental Congress to evacuate to Baltimore, where they decided to meet in the Henry Fite House.

The Henry Fite House, Baltimore. Congress met here from December 20, 1776, until February 27, 1777. It was destroyed by fire in 1860.

Mary Katherine Goddard’s print shop, serving also as a bookstore and post office, was located just blocks away from the Henry Fite House. Mary Katharine became instantly responsible for all incoming and outgoing mail for the delegates to the Congress, for printing one of only two newspapers in the city, and for printing other documents, including Congressional broadsides. She continued to act as a bookseller as well, selling, for example, blank books to John Adams.

Goddard printed several resolutions and notices by order of Congress in December 1776 and January 1777. Then, on January 18th, 1777, the Journals of the Continental Congress record the following order: “That an authenticated copy of the Declaration of Independency, with the names of the members of Congress subscribing the same, be sent to each of the United States, and that they be desired to have the same put upon record.”

Mary Katherine Goddard printed these broadsides, and completed the order within two weeks. She used her full name on what is now known as “The Goddard Broadside.” On January 31, 1777, President of Congress John Hancock sent a broadside to each of the states, accompanied by the following letter:

“As there is not a more distinguished Event in the History of America, than the Declaration of her Independence--nor any that in all Probability, will so much excite the Attention of future Ages, it is highly proper that the Memory of that Transaction, together with the Causes that gave Rise to it, should be preserved in the most careful Manner that can be devised. I am therefore commanded by Congress to transmit you the enclosed Copy of the Act of Independence with the List of the several Members of Congress subscribed thereto and to request, that you will cause the same to be put upon Record, that it may henceforth form a Part of the Archives of your State, and remain a lasting Testimony of your approbation of that necessary & important Measure.”

The “Goddard Broadside” was the first printed version of the Declaration of Independence specifically intended for preservation. It was the first printed broadside to use the title “The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America”. It was the first version of the Declaration to list the names of 55 of 56 signers, the exception being Thomas McKean, who only got around to signing it in January 1777. And, it is the only “official” version of the Declaration of Independence to be printed by a woman. Mary Katherine Goddard’s imprint at the bottom of her broadside proudly presents not only her full name, but also the city where Congress met for those two crucial months, and where she lived and worked for over forty years. There may be about ten copies of The Goddard Broadside still extant.

After the war, her brother resumed printing the news in The Maryland Journal in partnership with Eleazer Oswald. Mary Katharine continued to serve as Postmaster until after the ratification of the Constitution in 1789, when the new Postmaster General, Samuel Osgood, removed her, over her objections.

Osgood had argued that the position would require more travel than a woman could handle. Goddard appealed to President George Washington, reminding him that she had supported the Post Office during the Revolutionary War, “at her own risque, [and] advanced hard money to defray the Charges of Post Riders for many years, when they were not to be procured on any other terms...” She then refuted the assertion that she would be unequal to the job requirements, writing, “as two Persons must be employed, according to this new Plan...She is more adequate to give Instructions to the Riding Post Master, how to act than any other Person possibly could.” Washington responded by stating that he would not interfere in political appointments. Goddard’s letter to Washington, and his response, are preserved in the National Archives.

With the support of over 200 prominent citizens of Baltimore, Goddard also petitioned the U.S. Senate, to no avail. She continued to own a bookselling business.

Upon Mary Katharine Goddard’s death in 1816, she not only freed her enslaved servant Belinda Starling, but also left to Belinda the entire estate.

Will you help us meet the challenge?

Make a tax-deductible gift today!

A match grant challenge for
“1776: The Crucial Year
of the American Revolution”

The film that must be made!
The Year that Made America!

Two hundred and fifty years ago, a group of determined men and their families— farmers, lawyers, merchants, and soldiers — changed the world.

In the summer of 1776, they did something no people had ever done: they declared themselves free from a tyrannical government, backed those words with their lives, and began the long, painful work of creating a new country from a new idea.

That story has never been more important to tell. And right now, we have an extraordinary opportunity to tell it.

Witnessing History Education Foundation is producing “1776: The Crucial Year of the American Revolution” — a feature documentary film that brings the pivotal events of America’s founding year to life for audiences across the country.

Rooted in primary sources, told through the voices of the men and women who lived it, and produced for broadcast on KET and for national distribution, this film will reach millions of Americans — students, families, and citizens — at the precise moment our nation marks its 250th birthday.

And we need your help to make it happen.

A generous supporter has issued us a challenge: raise $100,000 by May 31 and he will donate an additional $50,000 — bringing our total to $150,000.

Every dollar you give between now and May 31 is worth $1.50. That is not a figure of speech. It is the math of this moment.

We are asking you — as one of the supporters who has already shown faith in this work — to give again, and to give as generously as you can.

“1776: The Crucial Year” is not simply a film about the past. It is a film about who we are, where we came from, and why it matters that the story is told accurately, honestly, and with the depth it deserves.

As we approach the 250th anniversary of American independence, no documentary project carries higher stakes.

Our founder and Content Developer, Kent Masterson Brown, has spent decades bringing American history to life through film and scholarship. The same dedication that shaped our previous work is driving this one — and this film will be his most ambitious and important yet.

The match window closes on May 31. We are counting on friends like you to help us reach the threshold.

Please give today. Please give generously. And please share this appeal with anyone who loves American history and believes this story must be told.

With deep gratitude,

Kent Masterson Brown President and Content Developer Witnessing History Education Foundation, Inc.

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