Month: June 2013

1
News Posted on

Special Limited Print Edition in the Works

Get your holiday shopping lists ready. A very special limited PRINT edition of Journal of the American Revolution will be available to our readers this November! The folks behind allthingsliberty.com have joined forces with Ertel Publishing, the former publisher of American Revolution magazine, to produce a special commemorative volume. The details of the print edition […]

by Editors
5
Interviews Posted on

12 Questions with T. H. Breen

I recently asked our readers via Facebook who they’d most like to see interviewed next and T.H. Breen was among the handful of historians named (hat tip to Matthew Kroelinger). Breen is the William Smith Mason Professor of American History at Northwestern University and a specialist on the American revolution. He is the author of […]

by Todd Andrlik
2
Critical Thinking Posted on

“Intolerable Acts”

I started with an innocent question about the British Parliament’s Quartering Act of 1774: Did American Patriots list that law as one of the “Intolerable Acts” that led them to outright rebellion against Great Britain? Some of the Revolutionary histories I’d read said that was one of the five Intolerable Acts, along with the Boston […]

by J. L. Bell
20
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

“Light Horse Harry” Lee and Pyle’s Massacre

On February 25, 1781, the Continental cavalry of Lieutenant Colonel Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee’s Legion and Brigadier Andrew Pickens’s militia encountered several hundred loyalists commanded by Colonel John Pyle at Holt’s Race Paths in North Carolina. Pretending that he was British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, and his Continentals the similarly clad troops of Tarleton’s […]

by Jim Piecuch
4
Places Posted on

Bunker Hill Monument and Memory

Yesterday marked the 170th anniversary of the commemoration of the Bunker Hill Monument. It took the Bunker Hill Monument Association, thousands of individual donors, a craft and bake sale organized by Sarah Josepha Hale, a large donation from philanthropist Judah Touro, and seventeen years to complete construction of the 221-foot tall obelisk, the first major […]

by Elizabeth M. Covart
6
Critical Thinking Posted on

The Whites of their Eyes

Myth: During the so-called Battle of Bunker Hill, Israel Putnam (some say William Prescott) issued a command: “Do not fire till you see the whites of their eyes!” Displaying great courage and discipline in the face of advancing Redcoats, the untested patriots stood their ground and withheld their fire until they could gaze into the […]

by Ray Raphael
6
Food & Lifestyle Posted on

A Pennsylvania Dutch Meal

This time, we’re going to visit the farm country of Pennsylvania, settled by German-speaking immigrants who formed a fairly cohesive community starting in the 1680s, as war convulsed their homeland. They comprised almost half of Pennsylvania’s population, and were supportive of the American Revolution, volunteering to serve in numbers even greater than the Congress asked […]

by Lars D. H. Hedbor
4
Reviews Posted on

Benson Lossing: Historical Tourist

When studying the American Revolution, there are several books that provide an overview of the events and people of that epic period in American history. A reader can choose from a popular history such as Bruce Lancaster’s “From Lexington to Liberty” or a deep study that provides an abundance of facts and background information such […]

by Jeff Dacus
6
Interviews Posted on

Rapid-fire Q&A with Gordon S. Wood

Google Gordon S. Wood and you’ll find dozens of well-earned introductions: One of the foremost scholars on the American Revolution… One of the most esteemed historians… One of the most important authors… One of the most distinguished, celebrated, prominent… “Gordon S. Wood is more than an American historian. He is almost an American institution,” wrote […]

by Todd Andrlik
6
People Posted on

Mrs. Middleton Takes Prisoners

Questions about the validity of the Molly Pitcher legend bring up a broader gap in our understanding of military affairs during the era of the American Revolution: we have anecdotal evidence that soldiers’ wives were sometimes on the battlefield, but we don’t really know if this was common or rare, accepted or anomalous, sanctioned or […]

by Don N. Hagist