Author: Benjamin Huggins

Benjamin Huggins is an associate professor and editor at the Papers of George Washington project at the University of Virginia. He is the editor of three volumes of The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series. He received his Ph. D. in history from George Mason University in January 2009. In addition to his articles for the Journal of the American Revolution, he has written a chapter in A Companion to George Washington, Edward Lengel, ed. (Wiley-Blackwell, May 2012) on Washington as commander in chief in the first years of the French alliance. He is also the author of Willie Mangum and the North Carolina Whigs in the Age of Jackson (McFarland, 2016).

Autobiography and Biography Posted on

Review: First and Always: A New Portrait of George Washington

First and Always: A New Portrait of George Washington by Peter R. Henriques (University of Virginia Press, 2020). With so many books already written about the Founding Fathers, some believe there is nothing new to be learned about those men. George Mason professor emeritus and George Washington scholar Peter Henriques shows us in First and […]

by Benjamin Huggins
Reviews Posted on

Young Washington: How Wilderness and War Forged America’s Founding Father

Book review: Young Washington: How Wilderness and War Forged America’s Founding Father by Peter Stark (HarperCollins, 2018). BUY THIS BOOK FROM AMAZON Peter Stark’s account of George Washington during the French and Indian War from 1753 to 1758 offers an entertaining portrait of Washington during those early years of his military career, but he gives […]

by Benjamin Huggins
People Posted on

General George Washington: Diplomat

An important facet of Washington’s generalship has gone largely unexplored by historians: his role as a diplomat. For a top-level military leader in a coalition, maintaining good relations with allies is of the first importance. With the signing of the military alliance with France in 1778, Washington had to add this role to his generalship. […]

by Benjamin Huggins
Reviews Posted on

For Fear of an Elective King: George Washington and the Presidential Title Controversy of 1789

Book Review: For Fear of an Elective King: George Washington and the Presidential Title Controversy of 1789 by Kathleen Bartoloni-Tuazon (Cornell University Press, 2014) The debate that erupted in the Congress in the spring of 1789 as to whether the delegates should address the president as “His Majesty the President” or “His Highness the President […]

by Benjamin Huggins
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Raid Across the Ice: the British Operation to Capture Washington

In early February 1780, General George Washington’s main army was encamped at Jockey Hollow, New Jersey. But the general maintained his headquarters about three miles away in Morristown, at the house of the widow Theodosia Ford. That separation enticed the British high command into undertaking an operation that, if successful, would cripple the Continental Army […]

by Benjamin Huggins