Revolutionary War Years
Unlike many of Philadelphia's lawyers, who had business ties with England and tended to be Loyalists as the Revolution became imminent, Peters sided with the Whig or American cause. A week after the Continental Congress created the Continental Army, they appointed him as the Secretary to their Board of War. Later his position title was changed to Commissioner of the Board of War. He held this post with honor throughout the active phase of the Revolutionary War. When he resigned in 1781, Congress passed a declaration to thank him for "long and faithful service".
Peters was a good friend and became a benefactor of Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, the German officer appointed as Inspector-General and trainer of the Continental Army. Peters often directly paid for his expenses and allowed him and his staff to stay at the family estate, Belmont. In early 1779, von Steuben and his staff completed writing the Blue Book, which was published as the first military manual of the United States Army.
Read more about this topic: Richard Peters (Continental Congress)
Famous quotes containing the words war and/or years:
“This is not only a war of soldiers in uniform. It is a war of the people, of all the people, and it must be fought not only on the battlefield but in the cities and the villages, in the factories and on the farms, in the home and in the heart of every man, woman and child who loves freedom.”
—Arthur Wimperis (1874–1953)
“During those years in Stamps, I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare. He was my first white love.... it was Shakespeare who said, “When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes.” It was a state of mind with which I found myself most familiar. I pacified myself about his whiteness by saying that after all he had been dead so long it couldn’t matter to anyone any more.”
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