history
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Leadership When You Are Surprised: The Battle of Paoli and the Danger of Untested Assumptions
Part 3 of the Leadership at the Threshold Philadelphia Campaign Series Shortly before midnight on September 20, 1777, Continental Army Brigadier General Anthony Wayne confronted a nightmare familiar to military commanders and institutional leaders alike. The threat he was watching had found him first. Following the Continental Army’s defeat at the Battle of Brandywine on… Continue reading
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When the Plan Cannot Survive: Leadership at the Battle of the Clouds; Pt. 2 of the Threshold to Leadership Philadelphia Campaign Series
Five days after losing at Brandywine on September 11, 1777, George Washington prepared to fight again. On September 16, 1777, the Continental Army and British forces maneuvered toward another confrontation in Chester County, near modern day Malvern. Washington was ready. The British were ready. Nature was not. A severe storm swept across the region. Heavy… Continue reading
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Threshold to Independence: Applying The Threshold Framework to the July 2, 1776 Vote for American Independence
by Sheilah Vance History Remembers July 4. Leadership Changed the World on July 2. Every American schoolchild learns that July 4, 1776 marks the birth of the United States. Fireworks explode every year on that date because it appears at the top of the Declaration of Independence. Yet the nation was not actually born on… Continue reading
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4000 Days: A New Tribeca Film Reveals My Role in Changing College Hazing Law
I’m usually not good with keeping incredible things to myself. So here’s a inside scoop about this new film. On June 10th, the film 4000 days will have a world premiere at the Tribeca Festival. The documentary chronicles the struggles of three families whose personal tragedies became the center of a nationwide push for legislative… Continue reading
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Fabulous Gulph Mills Encampment Monument Rededication Ceremony, 12/16
Rededication Ceremony of the Gulph Mills Encampment Monument Continue reading
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Day 1, Dec. 13, 1777 — Washington’s Army at Rebel Hill
Rebel Hill and Gulph Mills This blog post is in honor of the Gulph Mills Encampment–the six days in December that General George Washington and the Continental Army spent in my home, Rebel Hill in Gulph Mills, Pa., starting on this day in 1777. I am commemorating that by posting a blog for each of… Continue reading
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Society for Military History Presentation
I made a presentation at the Society for Military History Conference in Mobile, Ala., on 3/28/25. So nice to see my Casemate Publisher’s team—David Farnswoth, Publisher/Owner, and Ruth Sheppard, my principal editor, who were vendors at the conference (lower left). We were later joined at the table by Andrew Morse, Executive Director of the Society… Continue reading
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Great PA Book Launch & 3/31 Event
It was standing room only at the Pennsylvania Book Launch of my new nonfiction book, Threshold to Valley Forge: The Six Days of the Gulph Mills Encampment, on March 9, back where it all happened—on Rebel Hill and Gulph Mills. The event, sponsored by the King of Prussia Historical Society (KOPHS), was held at the… Continue reading
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PA Book Launch, Sun. 3/9, 2pm, King of Prussia Historical Society Event in Gulph Mills
The Pennsylvania Book Launch of my new book, Threshold to Valley Forge: The Six Days of the Gulph Mills Encampment, will be Sunday, March 9 at 2pm. The event is sponsored by the King of Prussia Historical Society and will be held at the West End Civic Association building, 1269 Supplee Lane, Gulph Mills, PA… Continue reading
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Dec. 12 — A tired Continental Army begins its delayed march in to Gulph Mills
After being interrruped on the 11th by some 3000 foraging British soldiers, General Washington and a tired, cold, and hungry Continental Army readied for another try to march into Gulph Mills. They started their day at the Swede’s Ford, at present day Norristown on the east side of the Schuylkill River and Bridgeport on the… Continue reading
