On a warm September morning 239 years ago, a mixed American army of Continental Troops, State Troops, and local Militia met and fought a British/German army on the banks of the Brandywine River. Much has been written about that battle, but little has been said about how these 12,000 Americans came to be armed when the common people in their mother countries were forbidden arms? What arms did they carry? Where did they come from? Were those arms as good as the arms carried by the British and Germans? How about their side arms and accoutrements? In fact, what rights or laws allowed these British citizens to even possess, manufacture, and carry these weapons?

Local historian Chris Reardon presented an in-depth look at the evolution of hunting and military arms from the beginning of European settlement in the Delaware Valley in the 1630s up to the 1830s, and shared more about this area's impact on the arms used as the eastern settlements pushed westward.

Chris displayed part of his collection of representative arms and associated accouterments, and examine some of the many myths, rights, and laws surrounding these arms as we looked at the evolution that helped win our freedom and carry us westward across the Mississippi.