Some of the most prominent families of the American Revolution proudly hailed from Connecticut. Committed to the pursuit of freedom, men like Major General David Wooster led troops into battle, while Samuel Huntington and others risked it all by signing the Declaration of Independence. Women might have stayed at home, but they played a vital part by producing goods for soldiers while also taking care of their property and children. In the wake of war, Sarah Pierce started the Litchfield Female Academy and taught proteges like Harriet Beecher Stowe. Family members often enlisted alongside one another. Elijah and David Humphreys were two such brothers who proudly served in the war together. From the Burrs to the Wolcotts, author Mark Allen Baker reveals what life was like for Connecticut families during the Revolutionary War.
Mark Allen Baker is a former business executive (General Electric/Genigraphics Corporation, assistant to the president and CEO), author (fifteen books), historian and writer (over two hundred articles). A graduate of the State University of New York, with postgraduate work completed at MIT, RIT and George Washington University, his expertise has been referenced in numerous periodicals, including USA Today, Sports Illustrated and Money magazine. Following his 1997 book, Goldmine's Price Guide to Rock & Roll Memorabilia, he appeared as a co-host on the VH-1 series Rock Collectors. Baker has also been a featured speaker at many events, including the Hemingway Days Festival and Writers Conference in Key West, Florida. He may also be familiar to some as the former co-owner of Bleachers Restaurant & Sports Bar (Liverpool, New York). Acting as a historian for the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Baker is the only individual who has been a volunteer, chairperson and sponsor of an Induction Weekend event, both inside and outside the village of Canastota. He has also published artwork, articles and books related to the museum. Baker turns his attention to the hardwood for a book about basketball to be published in the fall of 2010.