July 2013 - Journal of the American Revolution

Places Posted on July 31, 2013October 24, 2014

Searching for Loyalists: Boston Harborfest (part 3)

“Tory Stories” After attending the “No Tax on Tea!” program at the Old South Meeting House, I walked to nearby King’s Chapel, the first Anglican Church in Massachusetts.[1] The steeple-less, hand-hewn, granite-block church sits on the edge of Boston’s first burial ground. In 1686, Governor Edmund Andros thwarted the Puritans’ refusal to sell land to […]

by Elizabeth M. Covart

Places Posted on July 30, 2013July 30, 2013

Searching for Loyalists: Boston Harborfest (part 2)

“No Tax on Tea! A Colonial Tea Debate”[1] On Friday July 5, I returned to the Old South Meeting House for the “No Tax on Tea! A Colonial Tea Debate” program. Unlike “Whispers of Revolution: Plotting the Boston Tea Party,” this event invited audience members to “[assume] the role of a Patriot or Loyalist to […]

by Elizabeth M. Covart

Places Posted on July 29, 2013February 3, 2014

Searching for Loyalists: Boston Harborfest (part 1)

My Quest As a historian, I am interested in how people understand and interact with the past. I find the question of how present-day Americans relate to the American Revolution and War for Independence particularly fascinating. This curiosity led me to explore the 32nd Annual Boston Harborfest, the largest Fourth of July celebration in the […]

by Elizabeth M. Covart

People Posted on July 26, 2013August 28, 2016

Colonel Lewis Nicola: Soldier, Scientist and Man of Letters (part 2)

Continued from yesterday. Click here to read part 1. When British attack upon Philadelphia threatened in 1776, Nicola was appointed Town Major for the city. In this assignment, he was responsible for the city guards, protection of Continental Army stores and property in the town, and establishment and maintenance of barracks and billets for all […]

by Douglas R. Cubbison

People Posted on July 25, 2013August 28, 2016

Colonel Lewis Nicola: Soldier, Scientist and Man of Letters (part 1)

If not for a single unfortunate letter that Colonel Lewis Nicola of the Continental Army addressed to Commander-in-Chief General George Washington on May 22, 1782, this accomplished soldier and scholar would be entirely unknown today. Regrettably, this simple letter has subsequently been wildly misinterpreted by historians, and Nicola today is best remembered as the man […]

by Douglas R. Cubbison

Critical Thinking Posted on July 24, 2013August 28, 2016

Debating Cowpens: How Could Tarleton Lose?

In the courtroom of the American Revolution, historical analysis – no matter how comprehensive or thorough – often results in competing opinions and conclusions. New facts, new narratives and new conclusions are constantly being presented, so historians do their best to argue their cases and appeal to a jury of peers. While historical litigation may […]

by Wayne Lynch and Jim Piecuch

Critical Thinking Posted on July 23, 2013August 28, 2016

Peter Francisco: Distinguishing Fact from Fiction

Dear Mr. History: I’ve heard that no private soldier did more to enable the rebel victory in the American Revolution than Peter Francisco. Do the facts support the myth? Just how much impact could one man have on an entire war? Sincerely, Kentucky 1777 Dear Kentucky: Great question! Portuguese by birth and orphaned in Virginia […]

by Michael Schellhammer

Places Posted on July 22, 2013July 16, 2013

Prince Edward Island’s Colonial Fort

July 4th may be a time of festivities in the United States but on Prince Edward Island (PEI) it’s just another day with Canada Day celebrations falling on the 1st. Wanting to do something related to Independence Day, my wife donned her red, white, and blue (I didn’t have anything so colored) and we visited […]

by Michael Barbieri

Food & Lifestyle Posted on July 19, 2013March 16, 2017

Feeding the Slaves

While it is a shameful chapter in our national past, the fact of slavery during the Revolutionary Era is inescapable, and part of understanding how the people of this nascent country ate is exploring how the slaves were fed. Sources are exceptionally scarce and contemporary recipes are nonexistent, but we can reconstruct some idea of […]

by Lars D. H. Hedbor

Critical Thinking Posted on July 18, 2013August 28, 2016

Establishing the Tory Myth

Our understanding of loyalists in the American Revolution is a relic of the eighteenth-century turn from what one might call “constitutional sense” to a more “revolutionary sensibility” in Anglo-American political culture, a shift further reinforced by romantic nineteenth-century writers.[i] To understand them as they saw themselves unfurls a rather different historical narrative. For most men […]

by Taylor Stoermer

Interviews Posted on July 17, 2013July 17, 2013

12 Questions with Holly Mayer

When we asked our Facebook readers who they’d most like to see interviewed, Holly A. Mayer was at the top of that list. Mayer just stepped down as chair of the History Department at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to focus on research and teaching. She concentrates her scholarship on civil-military relations during the Revolutionary […]

by Todd Andrlik

The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on July 16, 2013August 28, 2016

Loyalist Leadership in the Revolutionary South

The historical debate concerning the Loyalists in the Revolutionary South has generally focused on matters such as the Loyalists’ numbers and motivations. While these are issues deserve study, one aspect of the Loyalists’ role in the southern campaign has received far less attention: that of leadership. The British government’s “Southern Strategy” depended to a great […]

by Jim Piecuch

Techniques & Tech Posted on July 15, 2013August 28, 2016

The Inaccuracy of Muskets

A musket is not an accurate weapon. That’s a well known fact. But, why is it inaccurate and what can we learn from its shortcoming we can apply to studies of the Revolutionary War battlefield. There are innumerable variables concerning the musket. To keep this analysis simple most of the variables will be ignored (things […]

by Hugh T. Harrington

Beyond the Classroom Posted on July 12, 2013July 12, 2013

American Revolution Presentations on Prezi and SlideShare

Most scholars of the American Revolution do their research in libraries and digital archives. Google Books, JSTOR, American Archives and Founders Online are among the hottest mostly-free online resources for serious exploration. While I love deep-archive diving as much as the next professional, I also find great joy in the occasional shallow or leisurely swims […]

by Todd Andrlik

Places Posted on July 11, 2013July 11, 2013

Taking to Devil’s Den

The crevices and stony outcroppings of Devil’s Den, a 1,756-acre nature preserve in Weston and Redding, Connecticut, can provide shelter for hikers during an unexpected rainstorm. Or, as was the case for some women and children 236 years ago, the perfect place to hide during a British invasion. It was shortly before sunset on April […]

by Cathryn J. Prince

Techniques & Tech Posted on July 10, 2013August 28, 2016

Charles Willson Peale’s “Riffle with a Tellescope to it”

When one thinks of a telescopic sight on a rifle one does not think of the Revolutionary War. However strange, there was one documented rifle with a telescopic sight. It was conceived and test fired by a very improbable rifleman: Charles Willson Peale. Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) was the most prominent American portrait painter of […]

by Hugh T. Harrington

Arts & Literature Posted on July 9, 2013August 28, 2016

Reverend Seabury’s Pamphlet War

In the fall of 1774, just before adjourning, the First Continental Congress outlined the Articles of Association, an aggressive plan of economic resistance to Great Britain that included nonconsumption, nonimportation and nonexportation. These boycotts were to be enforced by local committees and supplant Colonial governments. Westchester, New York Reverend Samuel Seabury responded with a series […]

by Wayne Lynch

Critical Thinking Posted on July 8, 2013August 28, 2016

Overlooked Hero: General John Glover

Dear Mr. History: I’m familiar with General John Glover and believe he is an unsung hero (except for Billias’s book over 50 years ago). From his exploits as the first privateer to holding off the flanking force at Pell’s Point and managing the boat lifts from Brooklyn and crossing the Delaware, among other efforts, he […]

by Michael Schellhammer

People Posted on July 5, 2013August 28, 2016

Austin Dabney: Georgia’s African American Hero of the Revolution

George Rockingham Gilmer wrote a heroic saga of the life, service, and sacrifices of Austin Dabney, an African American Georgia Revolutionary War hero. He first published it anonymously in 1849 and reprinted it under his name in a pamphlet in 1851 and in George White’s Historical Collections of Georgia in 1854. Gilmer included it in […]

by Robert Scott Davis

Food & Lifestyle Posted on July 4, 2013August 28, 2016

It’s Not All Burgers and Beer

“The day will be most memorable in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever […]

by Pamela Murrow

Reviews Posted on July 3, 2013January 2, 2015

Washington and the Final British Campaign for the Hudson River, 1779

In 1779 General George Washington and British Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Clinton were locked in a stalemate around New York City. Clinton desperately wanted to lure Washington into a climactic battle that would destroy the Continental Army but his forces were not strong enough to fight Washington on his own ground. Clinton attacked Connecticut in an […]

by Hugh T. Harrington

Critical Thinking Posted on July 2, 2013July 1, 2013

Samuel Chase’s Wild Ride

Myth: “In 1776, when Maryland instructed its delegates to the Continental Congress to vote against independence, Chase launched a successful campaign to persuade the Maryland assembly to reverse its position. In the next two days he rode one hundred miles and arrived in Philadelphia just in time to sign the Declaration of Independence.” –American National […]

by Ray Raphael

News Posted on July 1, 2013August 28, 2016

Month: July 2013

Searching for Loyalists: Boston Harborfest (part 3)

Searching for Loyalists: Boston Harborfest (part 2)

Searching for Loyalists: Boston Harborfest (part 1)

Colonel Lewis Nicola: Soldier, Scientist and Man of Letters (part 2)

Colonel Lewis Nicola: Soldier, Scientist and Man of Letters (part 1)

Debating Cowpens: How Could Tarleton Lose?

Peter Francisco: Distinguishing Fact from Fiction

Prince Edward Island’s Colonial Fort

Feeding the Slaves

Establishing the Tory Myth

12 Questions with Holly Mayer

Loyalist Leadership in the Revolutionary South

The Inaccuracy of Muskets

American Revolution Presentations on Prezi and SlideShare

Taking to Devil’s Den

Charles Willson Peale’s “Riffle with a Tellescope to it”

Reverend Seabury’s Pamphlet War

Overlooked Hero: General John Glover

Austin Dabney: Georgia’s African American Hero of the Revolution

It’s Not All Burgers and Beer

Washington and the Final British Campaign for the Hudson River, 1779

Samuel Chase’s Wild Ride

Top 10 Most Popular Articles in June 2013