Tag: George Washington

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This Week on Dispatches: Benjamin George on George Washington’s Information War

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Benjamin George on how George Washington used information tactically and strategically to manipulate the course of the war. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. Dispatches can now […]

by Editors
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George Washington’s Information War

Information has been as powerful a weapon as any in the history of warfare. Modern militaries continue to grapple with the power of information by developing and incorporating specific information strategies into their warfighting arsenals. In 2017, the U.S. military established information as a warfighting function to define and harness “the military role of information […]

by Benjamin George
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This Week on Dispatches: Shawn David McGhee on George Washington’s “Rules of Civility”

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian and JAR contributor Shawn David McGhee on the mystery of George Washington’s “Rules of Civility.” New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. Dispatches can now be easily accessed on […]

by Editors
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George Washington’s “Rules of Civility”: An Early American Literary Mystery

Tucked away in George Washington’s papers rests a thirty-five-page handwritten folio labeled “Forms of Writing.”[1] In Washington’s neat and ornate cursive, the first roughly two-thirds of this artifact are comprised of carefully copied examples of legal mechanisms such as promissory notes, bills of exchange, short- and long-form wills, and, ominously, a “Form of a Servants […]

by Shawn David McGhee
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Hero to Zero? Remembering Horatio Gates

Between heroes like George Washington and villains like Benedict Arnold, the Revolutionary War was full of historical actors of all stripes. But one man in particular defies an easy sorting between hero and villain. Washington’s first adjutant general, Horatio Gates, does not have a secure place in historical memory as either hero or villain. In […]

by Mike Matheny
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Patriots and Politics, Redcoats and Reconstruction: General Nathanael Greene’s Grand Southern Strategy

Major General Nathanael Greene’s military career presents a paradox to historians: how could a Quaker, unlearned in the art of war, become one of America’s foremost Revolutionary War generals? While historians have extensively studied Greene’s exercise of tactics and operations, Greene’s formulation and execution of grand strategy—the linking of economic, governance and security objectives with […]

by H. Allen Skinner
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The First Four Days at Valley Forge

The following timeline narrative attempts to unite previously disjointed events and occurrences regarding the first four days of the Continental army’s six-month stay at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania. For clarification purposes, all references to “Valley Forge” are for the winter cantonment and not the iron forge on Valley Creek for which the encampment was named. Temperatures […]

by Gary Ecelbarger
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Charles Lee—The Continental Army’s Most Prolific Essayist General

Maj. Gen. Charles Lee’s substantial literary contributions to the American independence movement have been overshadowed by his challenging Gen. George Washington for Continental Army leadership and the 1860 discovery of a potentially treasonous document.[1] Initially, Revolutionary Era Americans viewed Charles Lee as a highly accomplished military officer and a learned scholar and admired his ardently-argued […]

by Gene Procknow
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The Significance of John Cadwalader

In 1776, John Cadwalader was a thirty-four-year-old merchant and prominent member of the Philadelphia gentry who had risen to command the volunteer militia known as the Philadelphia Associators. In his capacity as a militia colonel, he would play a distinctive—and today largely unappreciated—role in what historians have termed the “Ten Crucial Days” of the Revolutionary […]

by David Price
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Partisan Politics and the Laws Which Shaped the First Congress

Every ten years the United States engages in the process of re-apportionment, wherein each state with more than one House seat redraws their Congressional districts. Simultaneously, every re-districting cycle partisans, activists, and pundits alike all bewail the harmful effects of gerrymandering on the process. Far from a modern phenomenon, partisan politics has always had a […]

by Samuel T. Lair
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This Week on Dispatches: Brian Koyn on George Washington’s Emotional Intelligence and the Newburgh Conspiracy

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews US Army chaplain Brian Koyn on how modern emotional intelligence research can provide insight on how George Washington successfully handled the Newburgh Conspiracy. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. […]

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This Week on Dispatches: Patrick H. Hannum and Frederick R. Kienle on George Washington’s Leadership Advice

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews  long-time JAR contributor Patrick H. Hannum and his co-author Frederick R. Keinle on George Washington’s leadership advice to  Col. William Woodford—and whether Woodford took heed. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and […]

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George Washington’s 1775 Leadership Advice to William Woodford: Did He Listen?

Gen. George Washington’s well-crafted November 10, 1775 letter to Col. William Woodford contains some timeless pearls of military wisdom, guidance, and advice.[1] Washington’s instructive response to an earlier letter from Woodford reveals a set of basic leadership principles that remain in official United States Army doctrine to this day. This enduring leadership lesson leads one […]

by Patrick H. Hannum and Frederick R. Kienle
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This Week on Dispatches: Alexander Lenarchyk on Washington’s Asylum

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews college student and JAR contributor Alexander Lenarchyk on his discovery that Washington mused on the idea of needing an “asylum” should the war go terribly wrong. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, […]

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The Frankford Advice: “Place Virginia at the Head of Everything”

Since James Thomas Flexner’s 1974 Pulitzer recognition for his biography of George Washington, one of the axioms of the American founding is that the general, George Washington, was the “indispensable man.”[1] The selection, therefore, of Washington as the commander of the Continental Army was undoubtedly among the most critical decisions in the history of the […]

by Richard Gardiner
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A Video Tour of Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon was George Washington’s lifetime project, from his inheritance of the property in the mid-1700s until his death in 1799. It was his prized home and final resting place. Today it’s one of the most visited historic sites in the country. This was my first time at Mount Vernon, and I was eager to learn […]

by Bridget Barbara
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Governor Jonathan Trumbull, Who Supplied Washington’s Suffering Army . . . and the French

Jonathan Trumbull, Senior is the most important governor in Connecticut’s long history. This is not only because of the many key contributions he made as a patriotic leader to his beloved state of Connecticut during the American Revolution, but just as importantly, what he contributed to help ease the suffering of soldiers under Gen. George […]

by Damien Cregeau
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This Week on Dispatches: Richard Werther on George Washington and the First Mandatory Immunization

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Richard Werther talks about his recent article about how small pox threatened to derail the American cause by depleting troops strengths and George Washington’s realization that ordering universal inoculation for his army was necessary to prosecute the war. New episodes of Dispatches are available for […]

by Editors
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Review: Surveying in Early America

BOOK REVIEW: Surveying in Early America: The Point of Beginning, An Illustrated History by Dan Patterson and Clinton Terry (Cincinnati, OH: University of Cincinnati Press, 2021) One of the first things that people may learn about George Washington is that his earliest professional experience was in the field of surveying. He did this briefly, until his half-brother […]

by Timothy Symington
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This Week on Dispatches: Gregory J. W. Urwin on the American Slave Roundup after the British Surrender at Yorktown

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews distinguished historian and writer Gregory J. W. Urwin about his recent JAR article, “The Yorktown Tragedy,”  examining George Washington’s order following the American and French victory at Yorktown to round up enslaved persons who had fled to the British, and return them into bondage. New episodes of Dispatches […]

by Editors
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Justice, Mercy, and Treason: John Marshall’s and Mercy Otis Warren’s Treatments of Benedict Arnold

In the early years of the nineteenth century, the founders of the new American Republic were lurching forward from the shockingly successful outcome of their increasingly remote Revolution, and finding themselves immersed in the uncharted waters of nation-building. The political landscape was inflamed by passionate partisanship and varying, often vituperatively expressed visions of what course […]

by Rand Mirante
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This Week on Dispatches: Patrick Hannum on the Meeting of the Three Commanders

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian, decorated Marine veteran, and JAR contributor Patrick Hannum on the historic meeting between George Washington, French admiral, Comte de Grasse, and French general Comte de Rochambeau during the Yorktown campaign. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, […]

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Meeting of the Three Commanders

On March 6, 2019, a chilly late winter afternoon, the Virginia Beach Historic Preservation Commission dedicated a Virginia Historical Highway Marker to commemorate a historic meeting of three commanders. On September 18, 1781, Adm. François Joseph Paul, Comte de Grasse, Gen. George Washington, and Gen. Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau, met on board […]

by Patrick H. Hannum
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This Week on Dispatches: Jonathan Curran on Public Opinion and the Whiskey Rebellion

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews USMA instructor and JAR contributor Jonathan Curran on his research into how public opinion about those protesting the taxes on whiskey in Western Pennsylvania changed over the course of the conflict. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, […]

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Patriotism and Profit

BOOK REVIEW: Patriotism & Profit: Washington, Hamilton, Schuyler & the Rivalry for America’s Capital City by Susan Nagel (Pegasus Books, 2021). In Patriotism & Profit: Washington, Hamilton, Schuyler & the Rivalry for American’s Capital City, Susan Nagel recounts the drama surrounding the Compromise of 1790 and the protracted struggle over the location of the nation’s capital. […]

by Kelly Mielke