Top 10 Articles of February 2015
byThere is never a dull month at Journal of the American Revolution. In February, we continued to experience impressive reader traffic and welcomed three…
February, 2015
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Top 10 Revolutionary War Newspapers
byHistorians have long praised newspapers for the role they played during the American Revolution, but they don’t always zero in on specific papers that…
8
The American Crisis Before Crossing the Delaware?
byDoes saying so make it so? Perhaps, if said convincingly and repeatedly. But sometimes it’s fair to ask: Who says so? And how do…
3
Reaction to the 1775 Gunpowder Episode by the Independent Company of Albemarle County
byThe Royal Governor’s April 21, 1775 removal from Williamsburg’s Powder Magazine of gunpowder essential to Virginia’s defense caused an immediate furor among Virginians as…
41
How was the Revolutionary War paid for?
byIt’s one thing to make speeches about declaring independence, or to assemble militias and discuss battle tactics against the enemy. It’s quite another thing…
1
8
James Madison and the Making of America
byBook Review: James Madison and the Making of America by Kevin R. C. Gutzman (St. Martin’s Press, 2012) In James Madison and the Making…
3
Fortifying Philadelphia: A Chain of Redoubts and Floating Bridges
byOn August 25, 1777 General William Howe with 17,000 men landed at Head of Elk, Maryland; he was 57 miles south of the city…
4
George Rogers Clark at Vincennes: “You May Expect No Mercy”
byFrom the outset, it was a military operation whose strategic goals were combined with a fierce quest for vengeance. On January 3, 1778, Lieutenant…
6
Why Did George Washington Become a Revolutionary?
byIn 1758, just before returning home from the French and Indian War, George Washington ran for a seat in Virginia’s House of Burgesses. Given…
37
7
Blood of Tyrants: George Washington and the Forging of the Presidency
byBook Review: Blood of Tyrants: George Washington and the Forging of the Presidency by Logan Beirne (Encounter Books, 2013) On a May morning in…
1
Governor Franklin Makes His Move
byNew Jersey Governor William Franklin is one of the forgotten major players in the American Revolution. By the fall of 1775, he was the…
5
“The Sale of the Hessians” and the Franklin Legend
bySince 1874 a growing assumption, indeed an assumption expanding to the status of “fact,” has arisen that a document known as “The Sale of…
6
A Dutiful Soldier Misses the Battle
byWe sometimes use the phrase “at the right place at the right time” when describing the circumstances of someone’s good fortune. In war, the…
8
William Washington, American Light Dragoon: A Continental Cavalry Leader
byBook review: William Washington, American Light Dragoon: A Continental Cavalry Leader in the War of Independence by Daniel Murphy (Westholme Publishing, 2014). William Washington,…
7
George Washington’s Use of Humor during the Revolutionary War
byMost early portraits of George Washington represent him as serious and even dour, and more than a few contemporaries described the man as aloof….
1
Indian Patriots from Eastern Massachusetts: Six Perspectives
byJoseph Paugenit, Jonas Obscow, Anthony Jeremiah, Simon Peney, Obadiah Wicket, and Alexander Quapish. These are not household names to the average history enthusiast. But…
11
How Paul Revere’s Ride was Published and Censored in 1775
byBecause of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride,” most people think that Revere was critical to the start of the Revolutionary War….
4
Henry Beekman Livingston, Black Sheep of the Livingston Clan
byHenry Livingston, or Harry as he was more commonly known, was born on November 9, 1750. He was a son of Judge Robert Livingston…