Rogue History

How does one of the most notorious pirates in British history become an iconic hero of the American Revolution? Long before he went toe-to-toe with the most powerful navy on the face of the planet, John Paul Jones was just a simple Scottish merchant ship captain…who committed a murder…or two.

Was Peggy Shippen the real mastermind behind Benedict Arnold's betrayal? Peggy successfully fooled the most powerful men in America, including George Washington, into believing she was just an innocent and naive creature. It wasn't until 150 years later that her role in the plot was discovered, when pages of secret correspondence were uncovered.

The British government vowed freedom to enslaved people if they could escape and take up arms against their Patriot enslavers. But when the British failed to deliver promised land in Nova Scotia, the Black Loyalists needed a leader to step up, sail across the ocean, and demand a solution. That man would be Thomas Peters, a former prince who escaped enslavement in North Carolina.

King Philip's War was the deadliest conflict of the colonial period. What scared the colonists most was the sophistication of Philip's forces. Indigenous warriors used guerrilla tactics that the English, trained in European-style warfare, were completely unprepared for. So while the colonists were the ones who brought guns to the New World, King Philip's forces were already better at using them.