Benjamin Warren's War
This is the second offering in our fall lecture series, Revolutionary Plymouth, where we'll explore the people, places, conflicts, and ideas that shaped the town during the American Revolution and beyond.
On 19 April 1775, American history changed. Colonial forces faced the British army at Lexington & Concord … and won. Word spread rapidly, and the Plymouth “Minute Men,” among them Benjamin Warren, a 35-year-old general store owner, rallied to the Patriot cause. For the next six years, Benjamin participated in America’s battle for independence, from the siege of Boston to the New York frontier, before returning home to resume civilian life. His is the quintessential Plymouth story, that of an ordinary man who, in extraordinary times, rose to the challenge and made his mark on history.
Speaker Bio:
Peggy M. Baker is a distinguished historian, genealogist, and longtime scholar of Plymouth’s history. She currently serves as the Thomas Rogers family researcher for the Mayflower Society’s “Silver Books” genealogical project.
Baker is Director Emerita of the Pilgrim Society/Pilgrim Hall Museum, where she served as Curator of Manuscripts & Books from 1991 to 1994 and as Director from 1995 to 2010. She is an elected member of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts and an honorary member of the Massachusetts Mayflower Society.
A prolific author, Baker has written more than 50 articles, many focusing on the history and people of her adopted hometown of Plymouth. Her scholarship has been recognized with the Katharine F. Little Distinguished Mayflower Scholarship Award from the Pennsylvania Society of Mayflower Descendants in 2008 and the Pilgrim Academic Research Award from the General Society of Mayflower Descendants in 2023.
Baker holds a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Michigan, with studies in Latin, History, and Education, and an M.S. in Library Science with a specialization in Archives from Wayne State University.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Plymouth Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.