What’s the funniest thing you’ve come across in researching this period? In Paris, while negotiating the treaty with France, Ben Franklin stopped for a bite to eat in a popular cafe. On the other side of the room he saw Edward Gibbon, member of Parliament and author of the already famous Decline and Fall […]
What two people from the Revolutionary period who never met (so far as we know) do you wish you could introduce? Why? I would like to have seen Dr. Joseph Warren, who died tragically at Bunker Hill, meet Dr. Benjamin Rush. Warren would have soon concluded Rush was an airhead and not even a […]
Since you began studying the American Revolution, how has your perspective on it changed? My perspective has become more complex. As I followed Ben Franklin to France, I saw the war become an international struggle. As I watched Washington think his way to the strategy that won the war in America, he emerged as […]
How do you define “Founding Fathers”? You can define it either broadly or narrowly. By consensus, most historians limit the narrow definition to six. Washington, Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton and Madison. A broader definition would include many worthwhile individuals, such as Sam Adams, John Hancock, Joseph Warren, Nathanael Greene etc. –Thomas Fleming I don’t. […]
Which side do you think benefited the most from the Native American involvement in the war? Why? The British benefited the most, from one point of view. Most of the Indians fought on their side. These Indians perpetrated no massacres or torture of prisoners on British soldiers or civilians. But from another more long range […]
Review of the Broadway musical Hamilton, now playing at the Richard Rodgers Theater on 46th Street in New York City. Let me confess at the outset that I’m not a movie, television, or Broadway critic. I’m a trained academic historian, and most of my publications have focused on the era of the American Revolution. In […]
Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation established Thanksgiving as the national holiday we celebrate today, making him the father of modern Thanksgiving.[1] The Revolutionary generation, however, created the first national Thanksgiving holidays 157 years after the Pilgrims and 85 years before Lincoln’s historic proclamation. In this season of football games and parades ending with Santa Claus, it […]
I keep promising myself to write on how David Fanning, the Tory guerrilla turned British colonel, became a psychotic murderer off the battlefield in North Carolina in 1782. But was it late 1781? First, I have to try to settle tough questions. Did Fanning really do no harm to any human being in South Carolina?[1] […]
In the spring of 1776, the Continental Congress recommended that each colony create a new government “under the authority of the people” [for] “the defence of their lives, liberties, and properties.”1 On May 6, the Virginia House of Burgesses convened the 5th Virginia Convention at Williamsburg to determine the colony’s course of action. On May […]
Arlington National Cemetery’s founding story is well known. During the American Civil War, Union forces occupied Robert E. Lee’s 1000-acre estate on the Potomac River directly across from Washington, DC and, as a form of retribution for Lee joining the Rebel cause, turned it into a cemetery. What is lesser known is the link between […]
Learning that one of the most acclaimed military writers of our time has turned his narrative expertise towards the American Revolution is exciting news indeed. Three-time Pulitzer prize winner Rick Atkinson is working on a trilogy about the conflict that founded the United States, and even though the first book won’t be in print for […]
Summering on Long Island in 1776 was no vacation for Gen. George Washington. As commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, he was attempting to build defenses and ready his raw soldiers to directly confront the best warriors of the British Empire. It was July 1776, and on paper Washington was dividing his fifteen thousand troops into […]
Throughout the American Revolution, opposing armies fought a common enemy. Primary documents on both sides are full of complaints, descriptions and responses to the attacks of a stubborn adversary; fever. As the Declaration of Independence was being prepared, Joseph Hewes of North Carolina complained from Philadelphia on May 17, 1776, “An obstinate ague and Fever, […]
If he had lived in the eighteenth century, Henry Cooke would have been called a Master Tailor. Today we call him a historical costumer, but his tailoring is no less masterful. In an era when all clothing was hand made, proper fit was important. Achieving the right fit and the right look means understanding the […]
William Whitlow loved his wife, and she loved him. Others knew it too; fellow soldiers in the 44th Regiment of Foot, in which Whitlow was a private soldier, said that “there was not a happier Couple in the Regiment.” By September of 1779 they had a child together, and all must have seemed right in […]
America has many heroes from its War for Independence, but one who is rarely remembered is Virginia’s Maj. Gen. John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg. If he is ever mentioned, it is usually as part of a legend in which he removed his robes after preaching a sermon to reveal a Continental uniform underneath, then proceeded to […]
In many respects it was a sobering testament to Britain’s mounting resolve to suppress the Revolution at all costs. “It is his Majesty’s resolution,” explained Lord George Germain, “that the most vigorous Effort should be made, and every means employed that Providence has put into His Majesty’s Hands, for crushing the Rebellion.” The vigorous effort […]
The British army that fought in the opening engagements of the American Revolution in 1775 was not a wartime army, it was a peacetime army that suddenly found itself involved in a war. It was composed entirely of volunteer, professional soldiers, but not many among them had prior combat experience. This is true at the […]
Loyalists, those Americans who openly supported the British Government during the American Revolution, have been largely assumed to have had unchanging allegiance during the conflict; once a Loyalist, always a Loyalist. Similarly, those supporters of Congress and the new United States are assumed to have been constant in their beliefs throughout the war, with one […]
Book Review: After Yorktown: The Final Struggle for American Independence by Don Glickstein (Westholme Publishing, November 2015). Key tenets of America’s founding ethos are that rugged, independent minded farmers and tradesmen rose up in righteous rebellion to throw off the shackles of British tyranny and they succeeded by winning the last battle of the Revolution […]
“I have nothing to send you but love. I hope I shall have some money soon.”[1] So wrote Lt. Joseph Hodgkins from his “Camp on Long Island” to his wife, Sarah, back home in Ipswich, Massachusetts. The letter was dated June 10, 1776, so Sarah’s husband had already been away from his wife and family […]
Book Review: Igniting the American Revolution: 1773-1775 by Derek W. Beck (Sourcebooks, October 2015) Books about the origins of the American Revolution are plentiful. Although they vary greatly in quality, almost any bookstore or library has a volume or two on hand that covers the basics: the British government imposed unjust taxes that American colonists refused […]
I have driven up and down Taylorsville Road my entire life and would frequently pass a building on that road which I knew very little about. I later found out it is the David Library of the American Revolution and this summer I had the privilege of doing an internship there. Before my internship, I […]
Book Review: The Spirit of ’74, How the American Revolution Began (New York, The New Press, 2015) by Ray Raphael and Marie Raphael Most people understand that the American Revolution began in Massachusetts. What they may not know is that the revolution actually began well over a year before the gunfire at Lexington and Concord. Rather […]
Recognizing the contributions and sacrifices of all combat veterans from any war is a meaningful American tradition. On June 2, 2015, the President of the United States awarded Medal of Honor to Army Sgt. William Shemin and Private Henry Johnson, both World War I soldiers. The President remarked, “We know who you are. We know […]
From the beginning, the American army knew south-facing Fort Ticonderoga did little to protect against an attack coming up Lake Champlain from British-controlled Canada.[1] To address the problem, they decided to fortify the north-facing peninsula, called East Point or Rattlesnake Hill, that poked out into the lake across from Ticonderoga. During the summer of 1776, […]
Book Review: Revolution: Mapping the Road to American Independence 1755-1783 by Paul E. Cohen and Richard H. Brown (W. Norton & Company, 2015) Maps are an essential component to the study of history. While modern maps are useful, it’s also insightful to look at the maps that were available when historic events occurred. Not only do […]
The Continental Congress received the preliminary peace treaty on March 13, 1783, proclaimed a cessation of hostilities on April 11 and ratified the preliminary peace treaty on April 15.1 Three days later, in general orders issued at Newburgh, New York, Washington announced that an armistice would go into effect at noon on April 19, the […]
George Baylor (1752-1784) was a young Virginia planter in 1775. He was a son of Col. John Baylor, who had been George Washington’s friend and companion during the French and Indian War. Therefore, when young Baylor decided to join the American war effort, he had an inside line on a top staff position. Baylor arrived […]
The American Revolution was very much a case of David versus Goliath. A relatively small group of colonists decided that they wanted to break free of the home government, which in this case just happened to be one of the most powerful nations on the globe. Almost overnight the thirteen separate colonies had to form […]
Book Review: Native Americans in the American Revolution: How the War Divided, Devastated, and Transformed the Early American Indian World by Ethan A. Schmidt (Praeger, 2014) Native Americans in the American Revolution discusses the American Revolution in a way that most have never encountered. This conflict typically depicts “American colonists” against the British, with colonists on both sides […]
British Lieutenant Richard Williams was one of the few artists to document the siege of Boston from 1775 through 1776. He created maps, sketches, and watercolors of the places he visited. Today, this collection of imagery is in high demand by museums and private collectors because it gives us a rare glimpse of the war. […]
Book Review: Hessians: Mercenaries, Rebels, and the War for British North America by Brady J. Crytzer (Westholme Publishing, 2015). Students of the American Revolution are at least superficially familiar with the soldiers sourced by the British who were principally from the Hesse-Cassel state of Germany and dubbed “Hessians,” however their many contributions, varied roles and […]
From the time that Congress adopted the Continental Army on June 14, 1775, the army was a work in progress. Such things as the organizing of logistics, tables of organization, articles of war or the appointment of general officers were on a trial basis. States had control in some areas, but in the area of […]
The name Aaron Burr immediately brings to mind his rival, Alexander Hamilton. But Hamilton wasn’t the only prominent person with a dislike for Burr. In 1798, George Washington made it clear that he did not like the cut of Aaron Burr’s jib. Preparing for what would become the Quasi-War with France, President John Adams was […]
Henry Laurens was a plantation owner and wealthy merchant in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1776, he was sent as a delegate of the colony to Philadelphia. In 1777, he was elected President of the Continental Congress and remained in the position to almost the end of 1778. One year later he was appointed Ambassador to […]
Book Review: The Queen’s American Rangers by Donald J. Gara (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2015). There have been very few studies of specific Revolutionary War units, an unusual situation given the number of Civil War unit histories. This is a field where a diligent historian can illuminate particular aspects of a regiment’s service as well as its […]
Glazier, Masters & Co.[1] of Hallowell, Maine, in 1830 published A narrative of some of the adventures, dangers and sufferings of a Revolutionary soldier; interspersed with anecdotes of incidents that occurred within his own observation. Written by himself. Authored anonymously by an impoverished Maine farmer and relic of the Revolution, its author has since been […]
If Samuel Adams was Boston’s “leading agitator” and “engineer of rebellion,” as textbooks and popularizations commonly proclaim, we might assume he engineered the rebellion that swept through Massachusetts in the late summer and fall of 1774. He did in fact play a role in that uprising, but not the one commonly granted him.[i] In 1772, working […]
