The two sieges of Fort Morris have remained comparatively obscure events in the historiography of the 1778 British invasion of Georgia. Overshadowed by the larger-scale capture of Savannah, the sieges were nonetheless impactful events in the intensifying war in the southern states. With the eventual surrender of the fort, the British army and navy consolidated […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Scott Syfert on what we can reliably know about North Carolina’s Mecklenburg Declaration even though the original document has been lost. Was this the first Declaration of Independence and did any of its language end up in the Declaration of Independence written and signed in […]
Richard Cranch was born on October 26, 1726, in Kingsbridge, Devon, England, the youngest of seven children.[1] The Cranch family had lived in Devon for centuries and had been involved in woolen manufacture for many years. Cranch was apprenticed as a wool-card maker, and emigrated to Boston on the ship Wilmington, arriving on November 2, […]
Since 2014, the Journal of the American Revolution has recognized the new adult nonfiction volume that best mirrors the mission of the journal with its national Book-of-the-Year Award. This year the editors are pleased to announce a winner and two runners-up. All three books are outstanding contributions to the history of the Revolutionary and Founding […]
May 2025 will bring the 250th anniversary of a unique if obscure Revolutionary war event in Charlotte, North Carolina: the much beloved, much maligned, “first” declaration of independence in the American colonies: the Mecklenburg Declaration of May 20, 1775 (or “MeckDec” as the locals call it). The MeckDec tale and associated celebrations have ebbed and […]
BOOK REVIEW: Belonging: An Intimate History of Slavery and Family in Early New England by Gloria McCahon Whiting. (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025) $39.95 hardcover. Massachusetts had no large plantations due to its harsh winters and rocky soil, and without the ability for cash crops to be grown successfully, the demand for enslaved […]
As the Revolutionary War began, the fledgling Continental and state governments were faced the huge burden of holding and provisioning thousands of captured enemy soldiers and insurgent Loyalists. In 1776, prisons were improvised across the states—with the infamous Simsbury Mine in Connecticut as the most notable example.[1] By the end of the year, a chain […]
Brevet Major General Peter Muhlenberg woke up in the ruins of Fort Littleton on the morning of March 6, 1784, mounted his horse, and continued his journey through the snow-covered mountains of western Pennsylvania.[1] With him were a servant, a pack horse, and a German veteran of Casimir Pulaski’s Legion.[2] They rode to Bedford, site […]
BOOK REVIEW: The Home Front: Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence by Lauren Duval (Charlotte: University of North Carolina Press) $45.00 hardcover The Home Front by Lauren Duval, published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture in conjunction with the University of North Carolina Press, offers a comprehensive […]
The Race to the Dan is the name given to the campaign of maneuver and retreat that followed the Battle of Cowpens on January 17, 1781.[1] The major event in the campaign was the single confrontation of the opposing armies at the fords of the Catawba River on February 1. In the traditional view of […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer discusses his recent article on how Pope Pius VI viewed republicanism and the American Revolution and the ultimate acceptance of the new United States of America. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, […]
The year is 1764, and smallpox is sweeping the town of Boston. One of Paul Revere’s children is stricken, and the family chooses to quarantine in their home until the child recovers.[1] The local newspapers document new smallpox cases. Incoming vessels with smallpox victims on board are impounded, and the passengers and crews are immediately […]
BOOK REVIEW: The Killing of Jane McCrea: An American Tragedy of the Revolutionary Frontier by Paul Staiti (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2025). My introduction to the Jane McCrea story came fifty years ago as part of a Revolutionary War reenactment weekend. The organizers chose my group to be part of the opening of the battle […]
For all the flaws of the framers, Americans can still look to the founding era for wisdom and guidance. That deeply learned collection of statesmen, whatever its shortcomings, committed itself to advancing the public good and securing the long-term survival of the nascent nation.[1] And when the first members of congress, justices of the bench […]
Largely ignored by scholars, Thomas Nelson Jr. of Yorktown, Virginia, was among the patriots who dared all when he signed the Declaration of Independence. He was well known to the wealthy and powerful of the era as a member of the Virginia gentry which held vast political and economic sway within the colony. Nelson filled […]
BOOK REVIEW: The Course of Human Events: The Declaration of Independence and the Historical Origins of the United States by Steven Sarson. (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia) $35.00 paperback Modern interpretation of the Declaration of Independence is distressingly polarized. To some, it was the contrivance of hypocrites engaged in a war to perpetuate slavery.[1] […]
John L. Linn, born March 21, 1738, was most likely the son of John and Elizabeth Linn of Philadelphia and was baptized on April 3 of the same year.[1] He was apparently one of the early graduates of the Philadelphia College of Medicine where he earned his medical degree.[2] Linn is not listed as a […]
In 1775, the colony of Georgia faced heavy criticism for failing to support the American Revolution fully. The situation would change dramatically, as represented by a moment in 1776 connected to the famous events in Boston at that time, and also to East Florida, escaped enslaved people, Indigenous native peoples, and rice. Georgia’s history had […]
BOOK REVIEW: Being Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History by Andrew Burstein (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2026) In Being Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History, Andrew Burstein tackles the inner life of Thomas Jefferson and seeks to provide a fuller picture of the man in both public and private. Although Jefferson spent much of his life in public service, […]
BOOK REVIEW: The American Revolution and the Fate of the World by Richard Bell (New York, NY: Riverhead Books, 2025) $35.00 hardcover University of Maryland professor Richard Bell’s latest work, The American Revolution and the Fate of the World, shows how the North American struggle for independence from British control was a global conflict, changing […]
On June 20, 1775, Patriots of the Cumberland Association met at Liberty Point, the space currently located between the intersection of Bow Street and Person Street in what is now Fayetteville, North Carolina.[1] At the time, Cumberland County, which included the present-day counties of Moore, Hoke and Harnett, was inhabited by a large concentration of […]
BOOK REVIEW: Lydia’s Tale: The Mystery of Lydia Darragh, Irish Quaker, Patriot Spy by Robert N. Fanelli (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2025) $34.95 hardcover Robert N. Fanelli’s Lydia’s Tale attempts to contextualize the life and legacy of the famed heroine spy Lydia Darragh. Fanelli is a contributor to the Journal of the American Revolution; his […]
On Christmas day 1780, seven days before his discharge from the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment (Rawlings’ regiment), Lt. Elijah Evans recorded in a troop return that he “claims a Captaincy from the 15th April 1779.”[1] This was his last attempt to highlight a conspicuous administrative oversight that had prevented his promotion throughout his time […]
BOOK REVIEW: A Journey North: Jefferson, Madison, and the Forging of a Friendship by Louis P. Masur (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2025) $24.95 hardcover Have you ever wanted to road trip through rural America with future presidents Thomas Jefferson or James Madison? Louis P. Masur’s A Journey North is probably as close to […]
BOOK REVIEW: New Jersey’s Revolutionary Rivalry: The Untold Story of Colonel Tye & Captain Huddy by Rick Geffken (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2025) $24.99 Paperback Rick Geffken’s New Jersey’s Revolutionary Rivalry revolves around two antagonists. Titus was an enslaved man who escaped to British lines and, as the leader of a mixed group of […]
The American Declaration of Independence boldly proclaims “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” These words encouraged Americans to fight for freedom and have inspired disadvantaged groups though out the world. Historian Joseph Ellis called the phrase “the most potent and consequential words in American […]
On March 7, 1778, one of the deadliest naval battles of the Revolutionary War occurred off the coast of Barbados between the British ship Yarmouth and an American squadron led by the Continental frigate Randolph. The five-ship American contingent which sailed from Charlestown, South Carolina, led by Capt. Nicholas Biddle, was the largest joint Continental […]
BOOK REVIEW: Entangled Alliances: Racialized Freedom and Atlantic Diplomacy During the American Revolution by Ronald Angelo Johnson (Ithica, NY: Cornell University Press, 2025) The years between the two well-known peace treaties that ended conflicts in North America were a time of significant social upheaval. Two places in particular, the thirteen British colonies and the Caribbean […]
The ten weeks between the American victory at Yorktown and the close of 1781 were a journey from the mountain top to the valley for the Continental army. On the summit, the army’s leaders looked down on the morale-boosting victory they had chased for years, and the successful removal of a British army under Gen. […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews Geoffrey Hoerauf, JAR contributor and reenactor, on the role of American spies and sympathizers around British Fort Detroit and how they informed the American efforts along the frontier. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, Stitcher, Google […]
During the American War for Independence, 1781 proved to be a monumental year for the young nation. They would achieve an astounding victory at the Siege of Yorktown, and that would presage the end of major combat operations and the beginning of peace negotiations between the warring nations. There was one general officer on the […]
BOOK REVIEW: Facing Washington’s Crossing: The Hessians and the Battle of Trenton by Steven Bier (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2025) $35.00 Steven Bier’s Facing Washington’s Crossing: The Hessians and the Battle of Trenton recounts the tale of the Hessian regiments during the American Revolution as they leave their home of Hessen-Kassel, crossing the Atlantic to […]
There is a fine line between courage and stupidity. Eight men congregated at Smithfield Plantation in southwest Virginia on April 7, 1774, prepared for a perilous adventure. They were young men in high spirits, ready to set off into Virginia’s mostly unexplored western wilderness. Their intrepid leader was Deputy Fincastle County Surveyor John Floyd. Their […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews Stuart Lillie, vice president of Public History at Fort Ticonderoga, on their new exhibit on Henry Knox’s Artillery Train. 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 episode […]
The Continental Congress directed the organization of the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment (Rawlings’ regiment) in resolutions dated June 17 and 27, 1776.[1] The force was a combination of six newly-formed companies from the two states and three independent rifle companies organized a year before. The nine-company regiment was still completing organization on November 16 […]
Located far enough away from American-controlled Kentucky but enough close to the British-allied Native Americans in the Western Great Lakes region, Fort Detroit became the center for British military operations to counter American activities in present-day Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio during the American Revolutionary War. These operations included raids on American settlements as well as […]
To the extent that historians give Thomas Paine credit for playing a significant role in the American Revolutionary Cause, it was his rousing call for independence in his widely read tract Common Sense, published January 9, 1776, that most agree was his chief contribution to America’s decision to separate from British rule. Paine turned up […]
On the morning of November 18, 1780, Maj. Archibald McArthur’s troops, a battalion of the 71st and a detachment of the 63rd Regiments of Foot, were washing their clothes and bathing in the still-warm waters of the Broad River in central South Carolina. Stationed at Shirer’s Ferry, their responsibility was to guard the ferry to […]
When the request came, I was surprised, excited and flattered in equal parts. Would I be an advisor for the upcoming PBS series The American Revolution, produced by Ken Burns? Of course I said yes, despite not knowing what the project would actually entail. I had heard it was in the works, but did not […]
