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USA 250 Anniversary Logo<\/p>\nEditor\u2019s note: Pennsylvania and New Jersey have played a key role in the nation\u2019s 250-year history. While most are familiar with the events that happened in Philadelphia, our region also played a pivotal role in the development of the fledgling nation. In honor of the country\u2019s 250th anniversary celebration, we will feature some of the places, people and events in the region that helped shape America\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
Col. George Nagle was someone who got things done.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how his descendant, Bill Nagle, describes the man who led Berks County\u2019s first American soldiers into the Revolutionary War.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the Reading Eagle, Nagle of Laureldale recounted how his ancestor helped shape Berks County and America during the revolution.<\/p>\n
Even as a child, George Nagle\u2019s ability to execute was evident \u2014 at age 15, Nagle\u2019s father, Joaquim, sent him from his homeland of Germany to scout the colonies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough his report, they decided to pull up stakes and move here,\u201d Nagle said. \u201cThat was in 1746.\u201d<\/p>\n
USA 250 Anniversary Logo<\/p>\n
Nagle\u2019s family settled in Douglass Township, where his father and brother ran a grist mill. He later moved to Reading, where he became one of the area\u2019s earliest sheriffs.<\/p>\n
In that role, Nagle\u2019s large stature \u2014 built via his trade as a blacksmith \u2014 and decisive nature suited him well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Nagle family really were critical in settling and growing Berks County,\u201d Nagle said. \u201cFrom its frontier origin to being recognized as (an agricultural hub).\u201d<\/p>\n
When the call to join the revolution went out, the men of Berks were sought for their experience as seasoned frontiersmen.<\/p>\n
Nagle said George Washington\u2019s history fighting alongside his ancestor and others from Berks and Pennsylvania in the French and Indian War contributed to him adopting the guerilla strategies of frontier warfare.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Berks County rifleman wore frock shirts and fringe leggings,\u201d Nagle said. \u201cThey carried tomahawks and learned from the Indians, really the way of life, to an extent.\u201d<\/p>\n
A powerful weapon<\/p>\n
What most distinguished the soldiers from Berks and Pennsylvania was their weapon of choice.<\/p>\n
That weapon, the Pennsylvania long rifle, played a decisive role in the regions included in Congress\u2019 call to form an army, said Gregory Kreitz, a former Reading Eagle reporter and local history buff.<\/p>\n
Kreitz reenacts battles involving Thompson\u2019s Rifle Battalion \u2014 Pennsylvania\u2019s first official unit in the Continental Army.<\/p>\n
Thompson\u2019s Rifles drew recruits from counties including Bedford, Cumberland, York, Northumberland, Northampton, Lancaster and Berks. Nagle led the Berks company.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt (Thompson\u2019s Battalion) changed the war,\u201d Kreitz said. \u201cIt changed warfare of the Revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Lexington and Concord and finding themselves at war, Kreitz said it\u2019s likely that America\u2019s founders were wishing for some kind of silver bullet.<\/p>\n
That silver bullet was a lead ball, shot from a Pennsylvania long rifle with deadly accuracy up to 300 yards.<\/p>\n
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The Pennsylvania long rifle, pictured here, gave riflemen a critical edge over British forces during the American Revolution. (Courtesy of Gregory Kreitz)<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil the riflemen arrived, everyone was living in a 50-yard world,\u201d Kreitz said. \u201cMuskets, the only weapon of the British, were fired in line but were only effective to kill around 50 yards forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rifle was first made in the early to mid-1700s by German immigrant gunsmiths in Lancaster and along the Wyomissing Creek in Berks.<\/p>\n
Its greater range came from patched balls and spiral grooves inside a lengthy barrel, which spun the balls as they shot.<\/p>\n
Kreitz said the rifle was built for one purpose \u2014 to expand the frontier.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the 1760s the frontier had settled near Chambersburg in the Conococheague Valley, a stone\u2019s throw from Carlisle \u2014 the home of Col. William Thompson, who would command Thompson\u2019s Rifle Battalion,\u201d Kreitz said. \u201cThe long rifle enabled settlers to shoot game, feed their families and offered protection in Indian attacks. Having control of your target consistently at around 200 yards was a powerful advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Founding Fathers needed an edge<\/p>\n
Before Congress\u2019 official call to arms, Kreitz said John Adams, John Hancock and founding father Dr. Joseph Warren discussed frontiersmen in Pennsylvania that can hit targets accurately at great distances.<\/p>\n
They needed an edge to augment the revolutionary force fighting the British garrison at the Siege of Boston.<\/p>\n
At the time, that force was comprised mostly of militiamen from the New England colonies.<\/p>\n
The congressional war resolution on June 14, 1775, was the first time an army was officially drafted \u2014 and it was solely riflemen, Kreitz noted.<\/p>\n
The resolution called for riflemen from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, all areas along Great Wagon Road \u2014 running from Philadelphia to the Shenandoah Valley \u2014 where long rifle gunsmiths had settled and sold their wares.<\/p>\n
\u201cContinental Congress knew what kind of complement came out of the Berks County area,\u201d Nagle said.<\/p>\n
Under George Nagle, the Berks complement was the first among Pennsylvanians to reach the revolutionary headquarters in Boston.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Washington) sent messengers down and said, \u2018Listen, I need the Berks County riflemen up here,\u2019\u201d Nagle said. \u201cHe (Nagle) and 95 of his buddies headed up to Cambridge (Massachusetts). They started sniping the Redcoats, shooting from behind a tree. The accuracy of the long rifle was something that they really hadn\u2019t experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kreitz said that before the long rifle, it was common for the British and colonists to talk across the lines at night.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne night the riflemen showed up for the conversation,\u201d Kreitz said. \u201cThey shot them dead\u2026and changed the nightly routine forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the siege in Boston, Kreitz said Washington baited British spies into watching the riflemen\u2019s shooting demonstrations on the Boston Common.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe distances at which they hit targets was enthusiastically received by the Americans and fearfully noted by the spies,\u201d Kreitz said. \u201cWashington knew the enormous impact these soldiers were having.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the Siege of Boston, a detachment of Thompson\u2019s Rifles, including Thompson himself, was sent to Quebec to participate in the failed capture of Quebec City.<\/p>\n
In 1776, Thompson\u2019s riflemen became the 1st Pa. Regiment of the Continental Line and remained that through the battle of Yorktown, where they fought, Kreitz noted.<\/p>\n
After major victories at Trenton, Assunkpink Creek, and Princeton, Washington moved all his riflemen into one corps, commanded by Col. Daniel Morgan, who was originally in charge of the Virginia riflemen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat rifle corps was crucial in winning the Battle of Saratoga, the turning pointing of the Revolutionary War,\u201d Kreitz said.<\/p>\n
Thompson\u2019s Rifles reputation<\/p>\n
Nagle noted some members of Thompson\u2019s Rifles earned Washington\u2019s ire for being undisciplined, and in some cases, mutinous.<\/p>\n
But Nagle\u2019s Berks company was not among Washington\u2019s disfavored and helped quell a mutiny among the ranks at Boston, Nagle said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an idea that the riflemen were too unruly and Washington sent them to Quebec to keep them out of trouble,\u201d Nagle said. \u201cPart of that story is true, but it wasn\u2019t the Berks County riflemen.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Washington praised the Berks riflemen\u2019s skill, citing letters kept by the Nagle family that document him urging Congress to extend their conscription.<\/p>\n
George Nagle\u2019s other family members, including his brothers, Peter and Frederick, and his son, Jacob served in the Continental force as well. Jacob was a privateer and Peter and Frederick achieved the ranks of captain and corporal, respectively.<\/p>\n
After the war, Nagle and his family returned to Berks and carried on their mercantile businesses.<\/p>\n
Why they fought<\/p>\n
As to why his ancestors felt compelled to join the revolution, Nagle said there were several reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think some of it came from the courage of their father\u2019s military background,\u201d Nagle said. \u201cThe other part of it was, the taxation without representation hitting Berks Countians, specifically Germans, who were really looked down upon by some of the Welsh and English settlers as being the stupid immigrants who couldn\u2019t speak English.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that the Continental Congress under British rule only granted Berks County a single representative, while Bucks County representatives numbered in the teens, despite covering a similar area and population.<\/p>\n
He said England was also heavily taxing foundries and forges, which were major industries in Berks at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey (the British) wanted iron out of the foundries to be shipped back to England,\u201d Nagle said. \u201cThey wanted that middleman income. So they were really taxing us to eliminate the forges.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a blacksmith, his ancestor would have been acutely subject to the unfair treatment, Nagel said.<\/p>\n
Nagle suggested the British never breaching Berks was likely due to Washington placing a high strategic value on the area\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis breadbasket was here,\u201d Nagle said. \u201cThe wagons were built here. The horses were coming from here. All the hay, food, provisions. We supplied a lot of the Northern army\u2019s provisions out of Berks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The core motivator was Washington\u2019s call for help, Nagle said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeorge Washington was the real key,\u201d Nagle said. \u201cI think that started in the French and Indian War, when they crossed paths and George saw what a long rifle can do. Whenever he needed them, they (the Nagles) were there 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nagle, a retired patternmaker, said he takes pride in his ancestry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was an orphan, I lost my dad when I was 7,\u201d Nagle said. \u201cNow I have a hell of a family.\u201d<\/p>\n
George and other Nagle family members have their graves at Charles Evans Cemetery in Reading.<\/p>\n
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A Pennsylvania historical marker highlighting the Thompson\u2019s Rifle Battalion during the Revolutionary War is displayed outside the Berks History Center, 940 Centre Ave. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s note: Pennsylvania and New Jersey have played a key role in the nation\u2019s 250-year history. While most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4000,62733,349,182,139,28,128,130,129,210],"class_list":["post-215596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-america-250","tag-america-250-pa","tag-berks-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-dtd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}