William Tryon and the Park that Still Bears His Name
byFort Tryon Park, sixty-seven acres just north of the George Washington Bridge in Manhattan, is a bucolic refuge among the skyscrapers of New York…
This Week on Dispatches: Eric Sterner on South Carolina’s John Rutledge
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews consultant, author, and JAR contributor Eric Sterner on the life of John Rutledge, governor, president, and…
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David Wooster Kept the Men at Quebec: Giving Credit to a Much-Maligned General
byMost modern historical treatments of the American invasion of Canada disparage Brig. Gen. David Wooster for his leadership in Canada. A detailed examination of…
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Contributor Question: If you could curate a museum exhibit . . . .
byThis month, we asked our contributors: If you could curate a museum exhibit about any aspect of the American Revolution and founding era, what…
A Choice Body of Men: The Continental Army on the Upper Ohio
byThe settlers who chose to make their homes in the upper Ohio in the mid to late eighteenth century faced a wide variety of…
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Review: War at Saber Point: Banastre Tarleton and the British Legion
byWar at Saber Point: Banastre Tarleton and the British Legion by John Knight (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2020) The American Revolution produced numerous well-known…
This Week on Dispatches: William V. Wenger on Foreign Assistance to the American Revolution
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews retired US Army officer Willam V. Wenger on his research into the contributions of France, Spain,…
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A Fatal Dispute Among the Guards
byThe British evacuation of Philadelphia had been under way for several days. Given the honor to be among the last units to leave, the…
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The 2021 Annual Volume
byThe seventh Journal of the American Revolution Annual Volume is now available. Each annual volume highlights articles selected by our editorial board from the…
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North Carolina and Public Spirit in the American Revolution, 1775–1783
byIn the South, the American Revolution was largely a civil war, one between Whig supporters of American liberties and Loyalists or Tories, who remained…
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“The Predicament We Are In”: How Paperwork Saved the Continental Army
by“Few people know the predicament we are in,” wrote George Washington, while he expressed the Continental army’s dire circumstances.[1] By January 1776, just six months…
This Week on Dispatches: James P. Sieradzki on the New Jersey Shop License Law of 1780
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews attorney and local historian James P. Sieradzki about New Jersey’s attempt to stop illicit trade between…
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“Spirits of Independence”: Ten Taverns of the Revolutionary War Era
byCity Tavern in Philadelphia is a reconstruction of the famous eighteenth century tavern where countless patriots—both political and military—met throughout the American Revolution, and…
The Revolutionary War Service of James Noble
byWhen old Revolutionary War soldiers applied for their military pensions in the first and second quarter of the nineteenth century, they generally reported the…
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Sir Henry Clinton’s Generalship
by“My fate is hard,” Sir Henry Clinton remarked after learning that he had been named commander of the British army in May 1778, adding…
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Amicus Reipublicae; or, Abraham Bancker, Friend of the Republic
byAbraham Bancker gave in to temptation on September 10, 1789, when he petitioned George Washington for a federal appointment as compensation for his service…
This Week on Dispatches: Jonathan Bayer on the Fake News of Quebec’s Surrender
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews PhD student and JAR contributor Jonathan Bayer on his discovery of an account of the surrender…
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Joseph McCracken: New York’s First Revolutionary Captain
byOn June 8, 1776, New York’s Capt. Joseph McCracken presented to the Albany Committee of Correspondence a payroll of men “employed in the taking…
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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…
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Reflections on the Siege and Capitulation of Yorktown and Gloucester
byLt. General Earl Cornwallis, the British general officer commanding in the south, occupied Yorktown and Gloucester on August 1 and 2, 1781, the evacuation…
“She had gone to the Army . . . to her Husband”: Judith Lines’s Unremarked Life
byWhen the War of the Revolution began in April 1775, Connecticut resident Judith Jeffords née Philips was nineteen years old, had been married for two…
Review: Resisting Independence: Popular Loyalism in the Revolutionary British Atlantic
byResisting Independence: Popular Loyalism in the Revolutionary British Atlantic by Brad A. Jones (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2021) In Resisting Independence: Popular Loyalism in the…
This Week on Dispatches: Gary Ecelbarger on Clement Biddle and the “Battle of the Clouds”
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews writer and JAR contributor Gary Ecelbarger on what a letter from Clement Biddle can tell us…