*** All JAR Articles ***

 The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Francisco de Saavedra de Sangronis: A Spainard’s Pivotal Role in the Yorktown Triumph

Nowhere in the struggle that was the American Revolution was outside assistance more significant than at the siege of Yorktown during the autumn of 1781.[1] The French provided significant support from land troops, but it was the French Navy that really clinched the affair with their naval blockade that ultimately trapped the British army of […]

by Richard J. Werther
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Richard Gardiner on George Washington’s First Teacher

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR Contributor Richard Gardiner. For the last two centuries historians have speculated as to the identity of George Washington’s first teacher. Richard Gardiner provides compelling new evidence. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, […]

by Editors
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

The Loyalist Who Gave Birth to His Nightmare

As his London Packet approached the colonies in November 1774, Thomas Paine was not scanning for land. After turning northwards towards Philadelphia in Delaware Bay, the former privateer was not visualizing where, during the Seven Years War, French privateer ships awaited English prey within the folds of the eastern shore.[1] Stricken with typhus fever that […]

by Richard Briles Moriarty
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

“It is Incredible How Much They Dread a Rifle”: Col. William Woodford’s 1775 James River Crossing

River crossings during the American Revolution were common events. Historians, patriotic organizations and living history enthusiasts focus on several of these crossings with commemorations and reenactments. The most celebrated of all crossings is Washington’s Crossing of the Delaware on December 25, 1776. State parks, in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, recognize the crossing and events of […]

by Patrick H. Hannum
Reviews Posted on

Fighting for Philadelphia

BOOK REVIEW: Fighting for Philadelphia: Forts Mercer and Mifflin, the Battle of Whitemarsh, and the Road to Valley Forge, October 5-December 19, 1777 by Michael C. Harris (El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2025) When examining the 1777 Philadelphia campaign, historians often skip from the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown, in September and early October, […]

by Gene Procknow
3
Historical Spotlight Posted on

Unraveling the Mystery of George Washington’s Earliest Teacher

George Washington’s childhood is a rather elusive historical research topic. It is not that there is a lack of stories, tales, and legends published about Washington’s early years, but the task of separating authentic information from widespread mythology has compelled judicious historians to exercise tremendous skepticism when offered an assertion about his youngest days. Much […]

by Richard Gardiner
2
Education Posted on

Black Patriots of the American Revolution: A Guide for Teachers

Introduction As America enters its semiquincentennial year in 2026, there will be numerous celebrations and remembrances of the nation’s founding. The names George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and others will ring familiar as patriots who drafted key documents such as the Declaration of Independence, rode across the countryside to alert […]

by Linda J. Rice
5
Critical Thinking Posted on

Tarleton at the Waxhaws: A Proposal for Reconciliation

The engagement between Abraham Buford and Banastre Tarleton at the Waxhaws has attracted controversy since it occurred. Buford has had supporters and detractors, just as students of the battle have exonerated or excoriated Tarleton. The problem has been that this kind of black-or-white determination suggests one side was entirely at fault, the other entirely blameless. […]

by Robert Ford
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Josh Wheeler on David Fanning’s Murderous Raid

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR Contributor Josh Wheeler on Loyalist David Fanning’s raid against Patriots in North Carolina after the British surrender at Yorktown. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. Each […]

by Editors
4
Religion Posted on

“In the Cause of American Liberty:” Catholic Contributions to Independence

Eighteenth-century America was predominantly Protestant, and the Thirteen Colonies suffered from a virulent strain of anti-Catholicism. Despite this, the mostly-Protestant Founding Fathers, while being greatly inspired by their Protestant English forebears, were greatly inspired by Catholic thinkers as well. The United States was not established as a Christian country, with American diplomats asserting in 1797: […]

by Raphael Corletta
2
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

The Monmouth Campaign by the Numbers

A British cannonball decapitated James McNair, a Continental artillerist, at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778. Thomas Bliss, another American cannoneer, was captured that day. Col. John Durkee, commanding Varnum’s brigade, escaped death that Sunday but his right hand was permanently disabled from a wound received in the morning. Col. Henry Livingston, commanding […]

by Gary Ecelbarger
Education Posted on

Teaching About the Black Experience through Chains and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing

Introduction It is estimated that over 25,000 Blacks served in the American Revolutionary War. Of these, 20,000, many who had escaped enslavement, served on the British side, largely due to Dunmore’s Proclamation that promised emancipation for “Negroes” who “joined his Majesty’s troops.”[1] An estimated 5,000 to 8,000 served on the American side, some as fighters, […]

by Linda J. Rice
2
Autobiography and Biography Posted on

Joseph Warren, Sally Edwards, and Mercy Scollay: What is the True Story?

Joseph Warren was the embodiment of the American colonists’ struggle to secure their rights. In 1775 he was a widowed father of four young children and an esteemed Boston physician. He served as chairman of the Committee of Safety and president of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. He authored the Suffolk Resolves, which was unanimously endorsed […]

by Janet Uhlar
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: David Price on Abolitionist Lemuel Haynes

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews author and JAR Contributor David Price on the life of Lemuel Haynes, clergyman and an abolitionist voice in the Revolutionary Era. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. […]

by Editors
3
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

The 1779 Invasion of Iroquoia: Scorched Earth as Described by Continental Soldiers

Six indigenous nations in upstate New York—the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora—were joined in an alliance for mutual protection. Known as the Haudenosaunee, which means people of the longhouse, or the misnomer Iroquois, at the beginning of the American Revolution they assured the upstart patriots that they would adopt a neutral stance and […]

by Victor J. DiSanto
Politics During the War (1775-1783) Posted on

That Audacious Paper: Jonathan Lind and Thomas Hutchinson Answer the Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence is commonly revered in modern America as the aspirational apotheosis of political and social egalitarianism, although in 1776, among English Tories and American Loyalists, it held no such distinction. Indeed, in 1776, by both Tories and Loyalists, the Declaration was considered vacuous political propaganda and was typically treated with scorn, derision, […]

by David Otersen
Interviews Posted on

Revolution Road! JAR and Trucking Radio Legend Dave Nemo

This July Fourth, JAR contributors will once again provide more than two hours of Revolutionary talk on Radio Nemo, the station dedicated to the trucking industry, hosted by legendary host Dave Nemo. This year’s lineup features Shawn McGhee, Nancy Spannaus, Gary Ecelbarger, Jane Hampton Cook, with the interviews beginning at 9:30 a.m. eastern on July […]

by Editors
1
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Those Deceitful Sages: Pope Pius VI, Rome, and the American Revolution

In December 1775, Pope Pius VI released his famed encyclical entitled Inscrutabilie Divinae Sapientiae. Translated as “The Inscrutable Divine Wisdom,” the Pope used his platform to issue a commentary on the most pressing issues of the time. Among the many topics he touched on were threats to the Catholic Church, the shifting politics of Europe, […]

by Brady J. Crytzer
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Eric Sterner on How the Story of Samuel Brady’s Rescue of Jane Stoops became a Frontier Legend

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews author and JAR Contributor Eric Sterner about frontiersman Samuel Brady and his rescue of Jane Stoops from an Indigenous war party. While the event may be true, did it happen the way the later stories recalled? New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern […]

by Editors
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: David P. Ervin on the Politics of the Continental Army in the West

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR Contributor David P. Ervin on the 13th Virginia Regiment’s controversial redeployment from the western frontier to the east to join the main Continental army. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, […]

by Editors
Reviews Posted on

BOOK REVIEW: Under Alien Skies

BOOK REVIEW: Under Alien Skies: Environment, Suffering, and the Defeat of the British Military in Revolutionary America by Vaughn Scribner (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2024) $29.95 Paperback Historians’ interest in the environment has remade our understanding of the past in recent years. We are now more inclined to appreciate the role that […]

by John Gilbert McCurdy