John Durang: Man of the American Stage By Lynn Matluck Brooks

While the Durangs established themselves in York, political developments darkened between the colonies and the British crown. Pennsylvanians, like colonists elsewhere in British North America, protested British tactics forcing Americans to pay for defense and royal protection, particularly costly due to the French and Indian War (1754–1763). Pennsylvania supported Massachusetts in the early outbreaks of hostilities against the British; Philadelphia, soon to be the new nation’s capital, housed the First Continental Congress (September 1774) and the Second (May 1775). In July 1776, congress, sitting at Philadelphia, adopted and signed the Declaration of Independence. From the start of hostilities, York’s patriots joined the uprising. Jacob Durang, an experienced soldier, enlisted in the First Battalion, York County Militia, in December 1775.²⁸ John Durang wrote with pride of his father’s service “with his brethren in arms againsd tyrannic power in the glorious cause of liberty and religion, in defence and security of a home for their wives and children” (6). Eager to play a role and don a costume, John—barely eight years old—later recalled:

The war brought other diversions for the boy. As early as March 1776, British and Hessian soldiers were held at York, well inland to shield them from British raids. Captured officers were boarded at the Durang’s home, where they formed “an excellent band of music, and occasionally play’d at my father’s to my great delight, and serenaded the citizens” (7). When the British took Philadelphia, the Continental Congress withdrew to York, which then served as capital of the United States. During congressional sessions in the winter of 1777–1778, theatrical performances were held in rooms above York’s courthouse.

By May 1778, the French had announced their alliance with the Americans, and in June the British left Philadelphia, carrying away