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 […]
November was packed with fascinating articles, intriguing interviews and a much-requested review of the Broadway musical Hamilton. Our readers took a Revolutionary tour of Arlington Cemetery and our editors shared a few gift ideas for fellow history geeks. Later in the month, Journal of the American Revolution officially surpassed 3 million pageviews and 2.5 million unique readers. Not bad for three years of […]
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 […]
We realize that finding the perfect Revolution-themed holiday gift is not easy. For the past three years Journal of the American Revolution has been guiding readers through the difficult process of finding gifts inspired by our nation’s birth or relating to the era. Here are our favorite picks this year. Revolution!: The Brick Chronicle of the American […]
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 […]
The must-attend American Revolution conference of 2016 is being hosted by America’s History, LLC, one of the nation’s leading history tour and conference companies. The conference will take place the weekend of March 18-20, 2016, at the Colonial Williamsburg Woodlands Hotel in Williamsburg, Virginia. Friday, March 18 (7 pm) – Sunday, March 20 (Noon) Colonial Williamsburg Woodlands […]
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 […]
