Michael Morgan pens a weekly column, "Delaware Diary," in the Delaware Coast Press and has authored many stories for The Baltimore Sun, Maryland Magazine, Civil War Times Illustrated, America's Civil War and other periodicals for the past 15 years. He is a frequent guest speaker at historical societies in Lewes, Georgetown, and other towns along the Delaware coast.

Libraries, archives, and museums reveal clues to the colorful characters lining the history of Delaware, from its earliest colonial days to the invention of the "beach resort" and the founding of the nation's "Summer Capital" to World War II and...

Libraries, archives, and museums reveal clues to the colorful characters lining the history of Delaware, from its earliest colonial days to the invention of the "beach resort" and the founding of the nation's "Summer Capital" to World War II and the present. While the intrepid patriot Henry Fisher and the infamous serial killer Patty Cannon are not known beyond the boundaries of southern Delaware, others such as William Penn, Captain Kidd and the DuPonts enjoy more widespread reputations. Here, tales of shipwrecks and rumrunners combine with the politics of slavery and suffrage to illuminate the history of one corner of the United States, a microcosm that synthesizes light on various facets of the development of the United States in a broader context.

In 1610, the English captain Samuel Argall sailed around the gentle curve of a dune-covered cape and into a wide bay. Argall was not the first European to sail these waters. Nearly a century earlier, Giovanni da Verrazano had sailed up the North American coast from Cape Hatteras to Canada; but the Italian explorer kept so far from shore that he failed to notice the bay that Argall had entered. A year before Argall arrived, Henry Hudson had also sailed into the bay. Hudson was leading a Dutch expedition looking for the fabled Northwest Passage across America; Hudson surmised that the bay would not lead to an opening that crossed the continent and after a brief stay, he sailed on. Captain Argall was looking for food. Thomas West, the governor of the Virginia colony, had dispatched the English captain to the north in an attempt to locate supplies for the Jamestown settlers, who were so short of provisions that they wanted to return to England. When Argall sailed past the high dunes that lined the cape on the southern shore of the bay, there were no European settlements in the region; and he decided to continue northward. But he was impressed by the wide waterway, and decided to give the bay a proper name. At the same time, Argall hoped to curry favor with Governor West. Thomas West was born on July 9, 1577, in Hampshire, England. He studied at Oxford, but he failed to earn a degree. After traveling abroad for a few years, West returned to England where he became active in politics and was elected to Parliament. At about the same time, West also became interested in the colonization of AmericaÃ??'Ã??'¦.

Sound Bite A kaleidoscopic view of the men of the sea and the beachfront tycoons who shaped Delaware and its role in the development of America, in war, politics, and business.

Sound Bite A kaleidoscopic view of the men of the sea and the beachfront tycoons who shaped Delaware and its role in the development of America, in war, politics, and business.