*** All JAR Articles ***

 Critical Thinking Posted on

The Evolution of the American Declaration of Independence

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 […]

by Jane Sinden Spiegel
2
War at Sea and Waterways (1775–1783) Posted on

The Deadliest Seconds of the War

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 […]

by Douglas R. Dorney, Jr.
Reviews Posted on

Entangled Alliances: Racialized Freedom and Atlantic Diplomacy During the American Revolution

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 […]

by Timothy Symington
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Geoffrey Hoerauf on American Spies around Fort Detroit

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 […]

by Editors
Reviews Posted on

Facing Washington’s Crossing: The Hessians and the Battle of Trenton

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 […]

by Sam Short
2
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

The New Dominion: Virginia’s Bounty Land

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 […]

by Gabriel Neville
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Stuart Lillie on Henry Knox’s Artillery Train

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 […]

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

Vanishing Ranks: Rawlings’ Rifle Regiment and the Struggle to Recruit for the Frontier

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 […]

by Tucker F. Hentz
Espionage and Cryptography Posted on

American Spies and Sympathizers at Fort Detroit

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 […]

by Geoffrey Hoerauf
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Brett Bannor on Gulliver’s Travels and the Founding Generation

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR Contributor Brett Bannor on the surprising influence of Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” on members of the Founding Generation. How often did they refer back to this classic political satire? New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, […]

by Editors
Features Posted on

An interview with Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, producers of Ken Burns’ The American Revolution

The PBS documentary The American Revolution, produced by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, premiers on November 16, 2025. Producers Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt took time out of their busy schedules to talk to JAR about their experiences working on this landmark film, and some of the things they learned about the people […]

by Editors
Reviews Posted on

George Washington: His Quest for Honor and Fame

BOOK REVIEW: George Washington: His Quest for Honor and Fame by Peter R. Henriques (Charlottesville, VA: University of VA Press, 2025) $24.95 hardcover Famed Washington scholar Peter R. Henriques (author of Realistic Visionary: A Portrait of George Washington) turned the content of some recent talks given at Colonial Williamsburg into a brief “interpretive biography” of […]

by Timothy Symington
Lectures and Presentations Posted on

A Dispatches Special: Prof. Alexander S. Burns discusses his new book, Infantry in Battle, 1733–1783

This week Brady Crytzer’s guest is Alexander S. Burns, assistant professor of History at Franciscan University of Steubenville. Prof. Burns discussed his new book Infantry In Battle: 1733-1783, at the 2025 Braddock’s Road Preservation Association Seminar at Fort Ligonier in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States […]

by Editors
Critical Thinking Posted on

The Tree of Liberty: Standing Armies and the Struggle to Define American Governance

One the United States’ Founders, writing under the pseudonym Brutus, argued that the new country, spanning too great a distance and too many distinctly interested peoples, was not viable.[1] His predictions were bleak: the government would lack the support of the people, who would feel both neglected and subsumed by its distant authority. To generate […]

by Matthew Carroll
1
Espionage and Cryptography Posted on

Private Adam Rider: General Washington’s Improbable Spy

On March 18, 1818, the U.S. Congress enacted a law that established a lifetime pension for American veterans of the Continental army who were “in reduced circumstances.”[1] As part of the filing process for these benefits, veterans were required to submit affidavits to local courts with supporting testimonials attesting to their service record during the […]

by Tucker F. Hentz
1
Postwar Politics (>1783) Posted on

“The Good Old Republican Cause”: Philip Freneau’s Principled Stand against the Shadow of Monarchy

Many Americans celebrated April 30, 1789, as a defining moment for the United States, a sort of political BC/AD demarcation point in the republic’s short history.[1] Once the initial jolt of national optimism and political unity induced by President George Washington’s first inauguration had worn off, however, the first administration took up the thankless business […]

by Shawn David McGhee
1
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Retribution in Pennsylvania: The 1780 British Counter-Offensive to the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign

“The Expedition of Genl Sullivan against the six nations seems by its effects to have exasperated than to have terrified or disabled them,” wrote Continental Congressman James Madison in June 1780.[1] This 1779 Patriot offensive, known as the Sullivan Campaign or the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign, was meant to teach the Loyalists and their Native American allies […]

by Andrew A. Zellers-Frederick
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: G. Patrick O’Brien on the Cessation of Hostilities on the New York Frontier in 1783

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian and JAR Contributor G. Patrick O’Brien on how the news of the end of the American Revolution was conveyed along the New York frontier in 1783. 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

Alexander Thompson and Declaring Peace in the Borderlands of Western New York, 1783

On April 17, 1783, a dispatch arrived at Fort Rensselaer along the western bank of the Mohawk River, around two miles northwest of modern Canajoharie, New York. The messenger carried directions from Gen. George Washington to send “an Officer To the British Garrison at Oswago To announce a Cessation of Hostilities on the frontiers of […]

by G. Patrick O'Brien
1
War at Sea and Waterways (1775–1783) Posted on

1778 Naval Strategy: French Actors and British Reactors

On February 6, 1778, the American colonies signed a Treaty of Amity and Commerce and a Treaty of Alliance with the country of France. The former treaty recognized the absolute sovereignty and independence of the colonies and established commercial rights in direct opposition to England’s Navigation Acts; the latter guaranteed financial and military support. On […]

by Bob Ruppert
Reviews Posted on

Enemies to Their Country: The Marblehead Addressers and Consensus in the American Revolution

BOOK REVIEW: Enemies to Their Country: The Marblehead Addressers and Consensus in the American Revolution by Nicholas W. Gentile. (Amherst and Boston, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2025) Paperback, $32.95. The first book by independent historian Nicholas W. Gentile brings to light an almost completely unknown incident that occurred in the coastal town of Marblehead, […]

by Timothy Symington
1
Critical Thinking Posted on

“We Will Cross at Ely’s Ford Today”: Is the Yorktown Campaign Historical Marker at the Right Location?

In the months prior to the Revolutionary War’s culminating siege at Yorktown and Gloucester Point, Virginia in 1781, the embattled Old Dominion was the scene of an intense campaign of maneuvers and raids. These operations pitted the young Maj. Gen. the Marquis de Lafayette, commanding a small, hard-pressed but determined American force, against Lt. Gen. […]

by John R. Maass