Seventeen Testimonies Seal New Smyrna’s Fate, 1777
byIn March 1777, while Andrew Turnbull was away in England, several Minorcans escaped New Smyrna and fled to St. Augustine, East Florida. They hiked seventy…
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Thomas Read of Delaware, Part 1: The Creation of the Continental Navy
byThomas Read (1740-1788) was the middle son of the Read family of New Castle, Delaware. His older brother George was a delegate to the…
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King Gustav III of Sweden: Friendly Foe of the United States
byNew York City, November 16, 1783. It was finally here, Evacuation Day. The British, who had occupied Manhattan for seven long years, were finally…
This Week on Dispatches: Brooke Barbier on Paul Revere’s Boston
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews writer and podcast host Brooke Barbier about historic sites in Boston that were familiar to Paul Revere….
Nineteenth-Century Remembrances of Black Revolutionary Veterans: New Jersey Soldier Oliver Cromwell
byHarriet Tubman escaped from slavery in 1849. She became a major conductor on the Underground Railroad, as well as an advocate for Women’s Rights….
Incredible Insults and Hardships: The Hostage Experience of Ebenezer Sullivan
byWhen twenty-three-year-old Capt. Ebenezer Sullivan nobly volunteered himself as a prisoner-exchange hostage in the last weeks of the Canadian invasion, he had no way…
Such As Are Absolutely Free: Benjamin Thompson’s Black Dragoons
byAt the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, there is an exhibit in the core gallery examining the choices, opportunities and constraints of…
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Black Haitian Soldiers at the Siege of Savannah
byThe story of the Black Haitian soldiers serving in the French army in the battles to wrest Savannah, Georgia, from the British in September–October…
This Week on Dispatches: William W. Reynolds on the British Naval Signals Missions of 1781
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews retired engineer and JAR contributor William W. Reynolds on how the Americans were able to obtain…
17
The Admission of North Carolina and Rhode Island into the Union
byOn November 21, 1789, the people of the state of North Carolina ratified the United States Constitution. On May 29, 1790, the people of…
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Colonel Tye: Leader of Loyalist Raiders—and Runaway Slave
byJohn Corlis (sometimes spelled Corlies) was a Quaker land owner who resided in Shrewsbury Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey. He along with his mother…
The Impeachment of Senator William Blount—the First in American History
byIt is easy to suggest that William Blount made no significant contribution to the development of the United States. His achievements, although not negligible,…
Review: Anatomy of a Massacre
byAnatomy of a Massacre: The Destruction of Gnadenhutten, 1782 by Eric Sterner (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2020) Eric Sterner’s Anatomy of a Massacre: The Destruction…
This Week on Dispatches: Louis Arthur Norton on the Plight of the Seamen
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian and JAR contributor Louis Arthur Norton on what happened to captured Continental Navy, states’ navies,…
Nineteenth-Century Remembrances of Black Revolutionary Veterans: Jacob Francis, Massachusetts Continental and New Jersey Militia
byPhiladelphia Blacks, under the leadership of well-to-do Robert Purvis, organized the Vigilance Committee to aid and assist fugitive slaves in 1837. Purvis’s wife, Harriett…
Francis and Gottlieb Otto: Rebels or Loyalists?
byDuring the American Revolution it could be difficult to determine who was supporting the American cause and who remained loyal to Great Britain. Many…
Nineteenth-Century Remembrances of Black Revolutionary Veterans: Edward Hector, Bombardier and Wagoner
byNat Turner launched a bloody uprising among enslaved Virginians in Southampton County in 1831 the same year that William Lloyd Garrison of Boston began…
Review: First and Always: A New Portrait of George Washington
byFirst and Always: A New Portrait of George Washington by Peter R. Henriques (University of Virginia Press, 2020). With so many books already written…
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The Earl of Dartmouth, Secretary of State for the Colonies, Second Year: November 1773 – August 1774
byDuring the three months that the Earl of Dartmouth, Secretary of State for the Colonies, was on holiday from August to November 1773, the…
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What Do Bond Prices Tell Us about the Early Republic?
byAmerica’s early finances were, in a word, messy. The states took on enormous debt to fund the Revolutionary War while the national government chartered…
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A Brief History of Benjamin Franklin’s Residences on Craven Street, London: 1757 – 1775
byIf one looked into Benjamin Franklin’s time on Craven Street, they might initially believe he lived at 36 Craven Street the entirety of his…
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How do you define “Founding Fathers”?
byHow do you define “Founding Fathers”? You can define it either broadly or narrowly. By consensus, most historians limit the narrow definition to six….
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Which side benefited the most from the Native Americans?
byWhich side do you think benefited the most from the Native American involvement in the war? Why? The British benefited the most, from one…
Hamilton: An American Musical
byReview of the Broadway musical Hamilton, now playing at the Richard Rodgers Theater on 46th Street in New York City. Let me confess at…
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9 Questions with Rick Atkinson
byLearning that one of the most acclaimed military writers of our time has turned his narrative expertise towards the American Revolution is exciting news…
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The American Vicars of Bray
byLoyalists, those Americans who openly supported the British Government during the American Revolution, have been largely assumed to have had unchanging allegiance during the…
America's Most Important History!
This Week on Dispatches: Serena Zabin on The Boston Massacre: A Family History
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian, author, and JAR Book-of-the-Year Award winner, Serena Zabin on her book, The Boston Massacre: A…
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Nineteenth-Century Remembrances of Black Revolutionary Veterans: Thomas Carney, Maryland Continental Soldier
byJohn Russwurm and Samuel Cornish establish the first African American newspaper, Freedom’s Journal, in New York in 1827. The paper circulated in eleven states,…
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Comte d’Estaing’s Georgia Land Grants
byOn the morning of October 9, 1779, one of the bloodiest and most forgotten battles of the American Revolution took place during the Siege…
Nineteenth-Century Remembrances of Black Revolutionary Veterans: Hannah Till, George Washington’s Cook
byThe 1820 Missouri Compromise allowed Missouri to become a slave state, established Maine as a free state, and banned slavery in the territory west…