Welcome to Wethersfield Historical Society’s Virtual Summer Program for 2020. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are unable to welcome you in person to the Wethersfield Museum at the Keeney Memorial Cultural Center, or have as many of you as we would like in to visit the Hurlbut-Dunham House or the Cove Warehouse. What we can do is share some of our treasures, friends, and colleagues with you here through the marvels of modern technology.
First up is our friend Captain Sal Tarantino of Sheldon’s Horse, the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons. In the first of four videos he talks about the role Sheldon’s Horse and Wethersfield played in the War for American Independence. In the following three short videos, Captain Tarantino outlines the events that led up to the American Revolution, the infamous Arnold/André Affair, and the finer points of the articles of clothing that make up his uniform.
This content was made possible in part by a grant from the Robert Allan Keeney Memorial Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving and the generosity of our members.
The next activity will ask a little more from you physically than just watching a video. It’s the American Revolution in Wethersfield Scavenger Hunt.
- Directions: You are a spy during the American Revolution. Another spy has important information for you. Search for clues in the following places in Wethersfield to decode the name of the spy that you need to meet with to get that information. Click here for your own PDF copy of the mission. You can download and print it or work from your mobile device. Good luck!
Learn more: What follows are a series of links and recommendations to curated sources for additional detailed information on the American Revolution.
African Americans:
- “African Americans in the Revolutionary Period”
- “Africans in America Part 2: Revolution”
- Edward Ayres, “African Americans and the American Revolution”
- Maurice Barboza, “The Hometowns of Connecticut’s African American Revolutionary War Soldiers, Sailors and Patriots”
- Elizabeth Collins, “Black Soldiers in the Revolutionary War”
- Eric Grundset, “Forgotten Patriots”
Battles & Causes of Conflict:
- DK Find Out!, “American Revolution”
- Khan Academy, “Road to Revolution”
- Liberty!
- Mission U.S., “For Crown or Colony?”
Recommeded Historical Fiction:
- Esther Forbes, Johnny Tremain (1943)
- Hamilton (2020): Musical film
- Liberty’s Kids (2002): Television series for Kids
- Museum of the American Revolution, “Summer Reading List: 2020 Young Reader’s Edition”
- 1776 (1972): Musical film
Native American:
- Colin Calloway, “American Indians and the American Revolution”
- Colin Calloway, The American Revolution in Indian Country
- Elizabeth Hoover, “What Happened to Native People After the American Revolution”
- Sarah Pearsall, “Madam Sacho”
- Alejandra Smith, “Oneida”
Wethersfield:
- Ann Harrison and Mary Donohue, “Revolutionary War: The ‘Conference’ State”
- Linda Pagliuco, “The Revolutionary Life of Samuel Blachley Webb”
- Linda Pagliuco, “The Undoing of Silas Deane”
- Ronna Reynolds, “Wethersfield Enters the Revolution”
- Second Continental Light Dragoons (www.dragoons.info)
Women: