York Revs could help teach about American Revs
My York Sunday News column suggested that the York Revolution baseball team tantalize – and educate – fans with American Revolution facts during games.
I included several possible questions with that column.
Here is a sampling:
Q. What was “the shot heard ’round the world?”
A. The shot rang out at the Battle of Concord the day the American Revolution began. Note: It wasn’t the home run by Bobby Thomson of the Giants against Ralph Branca and the Dodgers in 1951.
Q. Did John Hancock ever sign his “John Hancock” in York?
A. Yes, he was president of Congress for about a month after the delegates arrived in September 1777 and returned here in time for adjournment to Philadelphia in June 1778.
Q. Did American forces have an advantage fighting the war on its home turf?
A. Yes, the Continental Army was familiar with climate and terrain, and the French and Indian War gave Colonial officers tactical experience fighting under wilderness conditions.
Q. Can York make the claim, “George Washington slept here?”
A. Yes, but not during the war. He visited York at least four times and slept here in 1791. That was the time that he attended a German-language church service and later said he could not understand a word of it.
Q. Where was George Washington when Congress was meeting in York?
A. He was hunkered down with his troops in Valley Forge.
For more questions and answers, call up Twenty questions answered about York County and the American Revolution.
(Courtesy, York County Heritage Trust)
