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The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Marines Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware
  • Date: Thursday, June 24, 2021
  • Time: 12:00 pm
  • Location: Online

In the annals of the American Revolution, no group played a more consequential role than the soldier-mariners from Marblehead, Massachusetts. This uniquely diverse group of White, Black, Hispanic, and Native American soldiers set an inclusive standard of unity the US Army would not reach again for more than 170 years. As acclaimed historian Patrick K. O’Donnell dramatically recounts in The Indispensables, Marbleheaders spearheaded the break with Britain, seized British ships, forged critical supply lines, established the origins of the US Navy,  and against all odds, conveyed 2,400 of Washington’s men across the ice-filled Delaware River on Christmas night 1776, delivering a momentum-shifting surprise attack on Trenton.

July 4th with the National Archives is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the generous support of: