Revolutionary Fervor Sweeps Maryland
by committee member Paul Stankus
Apparently there’s this musical coming to the Kennedy Center next month. Something about a revolutionary war hero and a scholar, a ten dollar founding father. In honor of its arrival, the Gaithersburg Book Festival has four panels bringing you back across the rivers of time to a period when we were no longer British subjects, but not yet Americans. We forged our national identity in the crucible of war.
So pitch up your Tri-Cornered hat embellished with a turkey feather and unveil your Betsy Ross Stars and Stripes to learn about the treatment of prisoners of war on both sides of the conflict. American prisoners were held in squalid boats on the Hudson River, “The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn”—which, incidentally, is currently a staff pick at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. You will also hear about the treatment of British soldiers in Dangerous Guests, particularly how the Hessian soldiers were moved to a Lancaster prisoner of war camp where they found a willing populace of German settlers. Many of them remained in the Southern PA after the war, their descendants leaving an indelible mark on the local culture which you can see to this day in Lancaster County.
The war was not just between the British and the Colonials, it also drew in neighboring Indian tribes. “Dunmore’s War” traces the last colonial era war against the Indians a mere two years before the Declaration of Independence is signed. Unlikely General covers the life of General ‘Mad’ Anthony Wayne from Revolutionary war hero to Indian fighter.
Don’t throw away your shot to imagine how Eliza must have felt when he broke her heart. We have on or program this year, two historical novels reimagining Eliza Hamilton’s life – “I, Eliza Hamilton” by Susan Holloway Scott and “My Dear Hamilton” by Laura Kamoie and Stephanie Dray. My wife and I continue to swipe ‘I, Eliza’ back and forth from each other to read the next chapter. Can’t wait to move onto the much-anticipated My Dear Hamilton.
Meet thee inside (the tent) at the Gaithersburg Book Festival on May 19.