Talk:John McKinly

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[edit] Capture by the British

On the night of September 12, 1777 John McKinly was captured by the British Army and kept as a prisoner of war on the British warship, Roebuck, in the Delaware River. Excepting one, every single accounting of this event describes McKinly as having been in his home and some contemporaries even make fun of him for having been in bed when captured. The exception is the accounting of well known Delaware historian Carol Hoffecker in her recent book Democracy in America. In this account, on page 47, she describes how McKinly, along with "the state's money and many of its most important documents...had been placed on a ship in the Delaware River in the hope they would be safe there," and that he was there captured.

Hoffecker's scholarship is so highly regarded that one must seriously consider the possibility that she has access to some information otherwise unknown. However, for the time being, since that source does not appear to be documented in her book, the article is staying with the traditional story.