Rachel Engl charts social community—the ways individuals initiated and maintained casual and intimate relationships—in the Continental Army. Over the course of the Revolutionary War, tens of thousands of men served in the Continental Army, many of whom formed strong friendships while fighting. Personal connections sustained men within the Continental Army and opened new opportunities for some in their postwar lives, while eliminating many for other men. Ms. Engl’s research draws from diaries, letters, prescriptive literature and military records to identify the contours of the social community forged by soldiers in the crucible of war.
Video courtesy of C-SPAN’s American History TV
About the Speaker
Rachel Engl is a doctoral candidate at Lehigh University and received the Institute’s 2017 Scholars’ Grant.