Revolutionary War comes to the Tatnall and Lea mills in Delaware

During the Revolutionary War the Tatnall and Lea flour mills of Brandywine, by Wilmington, Delaware furnished flour to the American army. Washington and Lafayette visited Joseph Tatnall. Before the battle of the Brandywine, Washington ordered the top grinding stones of the mills to be removed and hidden from the British troops.

Flour as a war target

Flour barrels in the Capitol at the start of the Civil War. A tale from the Revolutionary War, below, from an 1831 children's book, described how a miller trickily did not lie while protecting barrels of flour from the British.

Easter scratched egg with the Battle of Bunker Hill

Germans in Pennsylvania and Maryland dyed their eggs in brown onion skins or logwood, then scratched designs on the shells to give as gifts. A young Capt. Wm Beatty carved the Battle of Bunker Hill on an egg!! The incredible design was described by a British officer, prisoner in 1781 Frederick, Md. Eggs in photo were made by Tom Martin of Landis Valley museum.

Baron von Steuben's French chef at Valley Forge

Cooking beef on a string.  Steuben's "cook of celebrity" couldn't prepare their ration of beef and bread without utensils. He asked their 'wagoner" how to cook the meat and was told "by hanging it up by a string, and turning it before a good fire..."

Continental army's "sumptuous" Thanksgiving of 1777

After having no rations for 2-3 days, Congress "opened her sympathizing heart" and provided ..... 1/4 cup rice and 1T of vinegar.....to eat with "a leg of nothing and no turnips."

18th century earthen camp kitchen at Mount Harmon

If you are near northeast Maryland (Earleville) tomorrow (Sunday) you can still see the freshly dug camp kitchen and enjoy the Revolutionary War encampment and battle at Mt Harmon Plantation HERE.

Campaign Tables

18th Century British campaign tables, George Washington, and 19th Century American Civil War army tables.  40 sketches and photographs show some ingenious ways tables were taken apart, folded and transported by the army.

Sweet Potato Dinner



Placing sweet potatoes in or on coals from a fire is an easy way to cook them...and that is how they were cooked in the painting "General Marion Inviting a British Officer to Share His Meal."   The image was on the $10 bill of the Confederate States, and on a post war South Carolina $5 bill...