Colonial America

Stories set before the Revolutionary War. Each article cites archives, museums, or established scholarship.

4 documented stories. All stories · Topics

• Revolution

  The Gaspee Affair of 1772: Colonists Burned a British Customs Ship

  Rhode Island colonists boarded and burned HMS Gaspee — an early flashpoint before Lexington. (Gaspee Affair)

• Weird America

  The Boston Massacre of 1770: How Five Deaths Became Revolutionary Propaganda

  British soldiers fired into a crowd on King Street — and Paul Revere’s engraving turned the killings into a cause. (Boston Massacre 1770)

• Weird America

  The Lost Colony of Roanoke: What Happened to England’s First Attempt at America?

  A settlement vanished. The word CROATOAN was carved into a post. Centuries later, the mystery still draws searches. (Lost Colony of Roanoke)

• Weird America

  The Salem Witch Trials: How Spectral Evidence Condemned Neighbors to Death

  In 1692, accusations, visions, and courtroom panic led to hangings — and a colony later admitted it had been wrong. (Salem witch trials)