As the run-up to America’s 250th birthday continues, Delawareans can learn more about what was happening at home during the Revolution.
Joseph Sullivan with the Delaware Public Archives hosts a talk Monday at the Brandywine Hundred Library in Wilmington called “In Common Cause: Delaware’s Homefront in the Revolutionary War.” He says Delaware’s role was outsized, compared to its small area.
“There tends to be this idea among a lot of people that we weren't really significant, that we weren't really involved in a lot of these bigger, broader events," he says. "But when we look back at the Revolutionary War and those early days [in] the United States, Delaware was deeply involved.”
Sullivan says Delaware played an important role in establishing the new American nation, supplying Washington’s army and keeping itself safe from marauding British warships, even as it navigated becoming a new state in a new nation.
“Delaware was self-governing mostly as part of Pennsylvania," he says. "They had their own General Assembly, but they're really having to, on the fly during the war, frame an entirely new government and make all of this work while under the pressure from the conflict.”
Sullivan also notes that, while the only battle on Delaware soil, the 1777 Battle of Cooch’s Bridge, is sometimes seen as a minor event, it actually played a significant role.
“Maxwell's force that was there, about 1,200 men, was arrayed to delay the advance of Howe's army of about 13,000. And after the Battle of Cooch's Bridge, that army wouldn't march again for five days," Sullivan says.
Sullivan’s talk is free and open to the public. It begins at 6:30 pm. More information is at archives.delaware.gov.
