This Halloween season, you’ve probably seen a lot of bat-themed treats and decorations, but did you know bats were (and still are!) found on and near American battlefields? 🦇 During the War of 1812 and the Civil War, soldiers would score nearby caves for bat droppings, which contained potassium nitrate, an essential ingredient in gunpowder. 🦇 At Richmond National Battlefield Park, researchers studied the bat population in 2016-2017 using acoustic detectors and found the little brown bat, a Virginia endangered species, was commonly found on the Cold Harbor and Gaines Mill battlefields. 🦇 At Petersburg National Battlefield, researchers found the federally endangered Indiana bat and the Northern long-eared bat within the park’s boundaries. battlefields.org/learn/natur…

#OnThisDay October 22, 1777, Hessian troops launched their assault on the American Ft. Mercer. They hoped to open supply lines to British Philadelphia on the Delaware River. However, after entering part of the fort, they became trapped by obstacles the Americans had laid and were attacked by Gen. Nathanael Greene’s men. They eventually retreated from the field. battlefields.org/learn/revol…

Peyton Randolph, the first president of the Continental Congress, died #OnThisDay October 22, 1775. After serving as the Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses and as president of the Second Virginia Convention, Randolph’s peers elected him president of the Continental Congress in 1775. His death that same fall from a stroke meant that he did not see American independence that he worked toward come to fruition. battlefields.org/learn/biogr…

While advancing in the Kentucky interior, Confederate forces under Felix Zollicoffer spotted Union Col. Theophilus Garrard’s men atop Hoosier Knob #OnThisDay October 21, 1861. Zollicoffer organized an attack on the Federals but was repeatedly repulsed. Zollicoffer eventually retreated to the Cumberland Gap. This victory was one of the first Union victories in Kentucky and provided a much-needed morale booster to the North. battlefields.org/learn/civil…

#OnThisDay October 21, 1861, Union Col. Charles Devens was sent across the Potomac River to attack what was believed to be a Confederate camp. Instead, his forces found a line of trees and Mississippi infantry ready to attack. By the end of the day, Confederate forces drove Union forces from the field over the bluff and into the Potomac, where many drowned, and hundreds surrendered rather than risk escape into the river. battlefields.org/learn/artic…

Union troops repulsed the attack on Camp Wildcat from Felix Zollicoffer’s Confederate forces #OnThisDay October 21, 1861. The victory halted the Confederate advance into the Kentucky interior. Today, visitors can visit the Camp Wildcat Battle Monument in Kentucky, which features trails, interpretive signs, a shelter, and battle monuments, to learn more about the battle. The American Battlefield Trust and its members have saved over 264 acres of the Camp Wildcat Battlefield. battlefields.org/visit/battl…

On the morning of October 9, 1779, American Gen. Benjamin Lincoln and French Comte d’Estaing launched a major assault on Savannah, Georgia, but were stymied by fog that shrouded the battlefields and caused soldiers to get lost. When the fog lifted, the soldiers were exposed and fired at from a British redoubt. The Allies lost roughly 1,000 men. After the attack failed, d’Estaing and his troops left, leaving Lincoln no choice but to call off the siege #OnThisDay October 20, 1779. battlefields.org/learn/revol…

He’s known as the “Bad Old Man.” See how Garry Adelman ranks Jubal Early and other division commanders of the Army of Northern Virginia in the newest episode of our podcast, Boom Goes the History! Listen now on Spotify.

Join us as we "Monday Morning Quarterback" the division commanders of the Army of Northern Virginia. Who performed the best in the Eastern Theater? Who performed the worst? Join Garry Adelman, Kris White and Dan Davis on the newest episode of Boom Goes the History as they make their picks! 🎧 Listen now: bit.ly/4ehkArC

Hoping to slow Union Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan’s progress in the Shenandoah Valley, Confederate Maj Gen. Jubal Early attacked Union forces at Cedar Creek #OnThisDay October 19, 1864. Early initially drove three Union corps from the field, but when he paused to reorganize, Sheridan arrived, rallied his troops, and launched a counterattack from which Early could not recover. This Union victory extinguished Early’s hopes of future Confederate offensives in the Valley. battlefields.org/learn/civil…

After six years of war, both the British and Continental armies were exhausted. The British, in hostile territory, held only a few coastal areas in America. On the other side of the Atlantic, Britain was also waging a global war with France and Spain. The American conflict was unpopular and divisive, and there was no end in sight. For the colonies, the long struggle for independence was leading to enormous debt, food shortages, and a lack of morale among the soldiers. Both sides were desperately seeking a definitive victory. Outnumbered and outfought during a three-week siege in which they sustained great losses, British troops surrendered to the Continental Army and their French allies at Yorktown, Virginia, #OnThisDay October 19, 1781. This last major land battle of the American Revolution led to negotiations for peace with the British and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Did you know that visitors to Mount Vernon have claimed to see ghosts walking Washington’s estate? In 1806, Josiah Quincy III stayed in Washington’s bedroom at Mount Vernon and claimed to see his ghost. He speculated that Washington’s spirit could not rest in peace after relic hunters disturbed his tomb. Perhaps his spirit now rests easier thanks to the preservation work still ongoing at his former home. battlefields.org/learn/head-…

#OnThisDay October 18, 1776, Gen. William Howe’s men landed at Throg’s Neck, New York, at a spot called Pell’s Point. As they advanced, the British were shot at by Comm. John Glover’s forces from behind a series of natural stone walls. The Americans ultimately withdrew as the British advanced, but their tactics delayed the British invasion and bought Washington time to regroup at White Plains. battlefields.org/learn/revol…

#OnThisDay October 18, 1862, as Confederate troops were retreating from the Battle of Perryville, action took place on the grounds of Henry Clay's "Ashland" Estate. Approximately 1,800 Confederate troops under the command of General John Hunt Morgan engaged in a skirmish with 294 Union troops from the Third and Fourth Ohio, who were camped on farmland at the estate. By the end of the fighting, Morgan's men captured a total of 290 Union soldiers. battlefields.org/visit/herit…

Attempting to turn over a new leaf and leave behind the disaster that had unfolded at Fredericksburg, Major General Ambrose Burnside ordered the whole army to march downriver in January 1863 to cross under the cover of a cavalry feint upstream. But heavy rains exacerbated by massive deforestation — due to soldiers burning the surrounding woods for warmth — caused the already bad roads of Central Virginia to deteriorate further. In what is remembered as “The Mud March” and “The Union’s Valley Forge,” the Army of the Potomac became hopelessly mired in mud that was supposedly so deep and thick as to have swallowed entire gun carriages and limbers of artillery. battlefields.org/learn/artic…

When it rains nowadays, the only thing most people have to worry about is remembering an umbrella. But during the American Revolution, rain could change the outcomes of entire battles! On October 8, 1777, the British army under Lieutenant General John Burgoyne tried to escape north after fighting at Bemis Heights, but cold, hard rain forced them to stop and encamp near Saratoga, New York. Hungry, weary, and out of options, the British dug in and prepared to defend themselves, but within two days the Americans had them surrounded. #OnThisDay October 17, 1777, after negotiations, Burgoyne's army surrendered. This American victory impressed the French, and France signed a formal Treaty of Alliance with the United States, changing the course of the American Revolution. battlefields.org/learn/artic…

After extensive negotiations, British Lieutenant General John Burgoyne and his forces surrendered to American forces under Major General Horatio Gates #OnThisDay October 17, 1777, in Saratoga, New York. Impressed by the Patriots’ resistance to Britain during the Battle of Saratoga, France signed the formal Treaty of Alliance and Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the Americans, formally acknowledging the United States as a sovereign nation and guaranteeing French military and commercial support. This support, along with later aid from the Spanish and the Dutch, tipped the balance of the conflict in the United States’ favor. battlefields.org/learn/revol…

October is Family History Month! To celebrate, the Trust is highlighting resources to help you explore your own family history and bring the past to life: battlefields.org/making-the-… Share your connections to history in the comments!

In the heat of the battle, during the Battle of Antietam, a Minnie ball tore through Confederate Brig. Gen. George B. Anderson’s ankle. After being transported multiple times from town to town to get medical attention in order to spare himself amputation, Anderson eventually ended up in Raleigh, North Carolina, where doctors were forced to amputate his foot. However, the wound had already been infected, and he died of the complications #OnThisDay October 16, 1862. He was one of six generals killed or mortally wounded at Antietam. battlefields.org/learn/biogr…

#OnThisDay October 16, 1859, abolitionist John Brown and 21 men raided the Federal Arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). They hoped to use the weapons there to arm and free the enslaved along the Appalachian Mountains. However, Brown’s plan quickly fell apart when the local enslaved people refused to join the raid, and Robert E. Lee’s Marines successfully subdued the raiders and captured Brown. Before being hanged, he uttered these prophetic words: “I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away; but with Blood.” battlefields.org/learn/biogr…