In this year of America’s 250th anniversary, archaeologists and college students recently discovered artifacts dating back to the American Revolution — including one infamous 18th-century robbery.

The dig took place in Newtown, Pennsylvania, some 30 miles northeast of Philadelphia, as local outlet WFMZ reported. Students from Bucks County Community College worked alongside employees from the Mercer Museum during the excavation.

Though it seems an unassuming plot of land in suburban Pennsylvania, the site was once home to colonial-era town buildings, including the county prison and courthouse.

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The excavation, which took place from March 23 to March 28, focused on the area where the treasury building once stood.

Images show archaeologists and volunteers working around the open excavation pit, as well as various small 18th-century artifacts that were uncovered, including coins.

The dig took place on land steeped in Revolutionary War history, according to Clint Flack, an exhibit specialist at Bucks County Historical Society.

Flack, who was involved in the excavation, told Fox News Digital the most significant finds included three British gunflints from the Revolutionary War era, which were used to spark gunpowder in muskets.

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The historian said they also found a small set of keys — either used for furniture or a padlock — as well as a Dutch copper coin called a duit and a New York penny from 1737.

Excavators also found a large amount of porcelain, pottery and glass that had been beneath the soil for over 200 years.

The team was “very surprised,” said Flack, to find the treasury’s foundation hidden just below the surface as well, which he described as being in good condition.

The foundation was a key find, as the building was the setting of an infamous robbery by the Doan Gang, a group of Quaker Loyalists who stole thousands in colonial currency in 1781.

The robbery happened just three days after the British surrendered at Yorktown, Flack related.

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The gang, many of whom were part of the Doan family, robbed the Bucks County treasury of a large sum — 1,200 silver Spanish dollars and 400 silver French crowns, as well as other cash.

“The robbery began at the home of county treasurer, John Hart, where the gang seized a bundle of cash that had not yet been deposited in the treasury as well as the keys to the treasury,” Flack said.

The historian added that some of the outlaws held Hart hostage, while the other half of the gang robbed the treasury, just half a mile away.

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“The gang unlocked the door to the treasury, but had to break open a locked desk by prying the drawers open with knives,” he added. The desk is currently on display at the Mercer Museum.

Though the Doan Gang robbery remains a notable chapter, Flack said it’s only one small part of the property’s “incredible” history.

He said the treasury was used to store gunpowder in the early days of the American Revolution — and Continental Army soldiers were camped throughout Bucks County.

“Some of the Hessian [mercenaries] taken prisoner at the Battle of Trenton were imprisoned in the jail next to the treasury,” Flack noted. 

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“Multiple members of the Doan gang were imprisoned in the jail next to the treasury.”

Kash Patel’s lawsuit against the Atlantic has already backfired, big time.

Had the FBI director just put out a statement denouncing the magazine’s piece on him, the controversy would have vanished in two days.

But by filing the $250-million suit against what he calls a “defamatory hit piece,” he turned it into a top story on cable news, especially MS NOW, with constant coverage all day Monday, most of it unfavorable.

In other words, Patel shined a white-hot spotlight on accusations of excessive drinking and disappearances to a vastly larger audience than would have heard about them.  

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“We will vigorously defend the Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit,” a magazine spokeswoman said.

While Patel is free to sue anyone he wants, there are two main reasons this is a seriously bad idea.

As a public figure, he would have to prove that the Atlantic acted with malice – that is, either knowingly publishing something false, or showing reckless disregard for whether or not it’s true. The Atlantic is a liberal magazine, but has serious reporting chops.

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Beyond that, Patel would open himself up to discovery, meaning the defendants could have access to all kinds of emails, texts and documents, some of which surely be unflattering. He could be deposed under oath. He would have the same rights.

The malice question for public figures has been the legal standard since a 1964 Supreme Court ruling. Now I suppose this conservative court could overturn that. But I don’t think this lawsuit will even make it to trial.

The Atlantic reporter, Sarah Fitzpatrick, pointed to “more than two dozen people I interviewed about Patel’s conduct, including current and former FBI officials, staff at law-enforcement and intelligence agencies, hospitality-industry workers, members of Congress, political operatives, lobbyists, and former advisers,” all on an anonymous basis.

Patel’s suit says that despite his denials, he was given just two hours to respond to the magazine’s list of questions.

He provided a statement, which the article included, and the denials were repeated by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who said “Director Patel remains a critical player on the administration’s law and order team.”

In the article, Patel is described as having a “freak-out” when he couldn’t sign on to the internal computer system, telling staff members he had been fired. It turned out to be a glitch.

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Among the allegations in the Fitzpatrick piece:

“Several officials told me that Patel’s drinking has been a recurring source of concern across the government. They said that he is known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication…Early in his tenure, meetings and briefings had to be rescheduled for later in the day as a result of his alcohol-fueled nights, six current and former officials and others familiar with Patel’s schedule told me.

“On multiple occasions in the past year, members of his security detail had difficulty waking Patel because he was seemingly intoxicated, according to information supplied to Justice Department and White House officials.” 

The Atlantic described Patel’s drinking as “no secret. While on official travel to Italy in February, he was filmed chugging beer with the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team following their gold-medal victory. The incident prompted the president—who does not drink and whose brother died following a long struggle with alcoholism—to call the FBI director to convey his unhappiness, according to two officials familiar with the call.” 

What’s more, the piece says, “Patel has led a purge of people who he believes are anti-Trump ‘conspirators’ or ‘enemies’ within the FBI. This has included firing people, opening internal investigations, and pressuring agents to quit when they pushed back—or were perceived to have pushed back—against Patel’s demands or questioned their legality.”

Patel, a onetime congressional aide, is a lawyer and ontime public defender who held various posts during Trump’s first term, and in 2022 became a director of the Trump Media & Technology Group.

In his lawsuit, the FBI chief said the article is “replete with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office…Director Patel does not drink to excess.”

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Under Editor Jeffrey Goldberg, the Atlantic won its first Pulitzer Prize and three straight National Magazine Awards for general excellence. Adweek named him Editor of the Year and last year he won the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism.

It was Goldberg, you’ll recall, who was accidentally copied on a Signal chat in which War Secretary Pete Hegseth shared classified war information. But he cooperated with the administration on what could fairly be published.

Although Trump attacked Goldberg last year as a “sleazebag,” he later invited him and two reporters to an Oval Office interview.

The president, who was trying to get a favorable cover story, had posted that he was meeting with Goldberg “of all people.”

“It was “my way of explaining to people that you’re up here, because most people would say, ‘Why are you doing that?’ I’m doing that because there is a certain respect,” he told Goldberg.

The president, of course, has sued numerous news organizations, winning settlements of at least $16 million apiece from CBS and ABC.

In that vein, Patel’s lawsuit may not necessarily be about winning.

The FBI director may simply be going to court as a way of forcing the magazine to hire lawyers and as part of the Trump campaign to intimidate the media and perhaps soften or sink highly critical stories. (And yet the president talks to journalists virtually every day, increasingly takes their calls, and is going to his first White House Correspondents Dinner.) 

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The Atlantic is owned by a company founded by Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs’ widow, who is the lead investor and chair of the magazine. She has spent about $5 billion, roughly half her inherited fortune, on such matters as environmental and social justice causes. Deep pockets don’t seem to be a problem.

Kash Patel has broadcast serious questions about his conduct, even as he denies them, by going the lawsuit route. All he’s accomplished so far is putting the allegations on a huge national stage. 

The U.S. military is launching a new autonomous warfare command to deploy cutting-edge unmanned systems across Latin America, marking a first-of-its-kind move by a combatant command.

U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) commander Gen. Francis Donovan said Tuesday he ordered the creation of the SOUTHCOM Autonomous Warfare Command to support national security priorities and regional efforts.

“From the seafloor to space and across the cyber domain, we fully intend to leverage the clear superiority of the American defense ecosystem by deploying cutting-edge innovation and working ever closer with our enduring partners in the region to outmatch those who threaten our collective peace and security,” Donovan said in a statement.

According to SOUTHCOM, the new command will employ “autonomous, semi-autonomous, and unmanned platforms and systems to counter threats and challenges across domains, linking tactical missions to long-term strategic effects.”

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SAWC will also work with U.S. allies in the region and advance missions including targeting narcoterrorist and cartel networks and responding to large-scale natural disasters.

Donovan said the region is well-suited for innovation and collaboration with partners.

“Our geographic area of responsibility has a wide range of conditions, varied terrain, and diverse operational environments that make it an ideal setting in which to innovate. It is also a region with very capable and committed security partners who lean forward, embrace technologies and are very eager to work collaboratively with us to support regional stability in new and effective ways,” he said.

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SOUTHCOM is responsible for military operations in Central and South America and the Caribbean, including counter-narcotics missions aimed at disrupting drug trafficking networks that threaten U.S. interests.

The U.S. military has carried out dozens of strikes in recent months on suspected drug-smuggling vessels as part of a broader campaign to dismantle cartel-linked trafficking operations.

In a written posture statement to Congress earlier this year, Donovan said he aimed to leverage emerging technologies, telling lawmakers he intended “to capitalize on next generation capabilities like unmanned platforms, AI integration, and commercial tools to better enable us and our partners to counter … threats together.”

In March, Donovan told an Armed Services Committee member he aimed to build cost-effective, modernized forces for SOUTHCOM’s mission, including autonomous systems and human-machine teaming, “to greatly increase lethality, all-domain awareness, and data sharing for U.S. and partner forces.”

SOUTHCOM said it will work with the military services and the War Department’s Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG) to identify capabilities needed for the new command to begin operations and integrate into its mission.