August 2016 - Journal of the American Revolution

Prewar Politics (<1775) Posted on August 30, 2016August 28, 2016

How John Adams Won the Hancock Trial

Historian Oliver Morton Dickerson was studying American colonial newspapers when he noticed identical articles appearing in newspapers in New York, Pennsylvania, Boston, elsewhere in the colonies and in England. It was an anonymous column called A Journal of the Times. The Journal covered daily events in Boston from September of 1768 through August of 1769 […]

by Neal Nusholtz

People Posted on August 29, 2016August 28, 2016

Sir John Johnson, The Hard Luck Baronet

John Johnson was the only white son of the Anglo-Irish immigrant William Johnson, the superintendent of Northern Indians, who gained considerable fame, fortune and a knighthood by commanding the 1755 action at Lake George, defeating a French and Canadien expedition and capturing its commander. William gained further recognition and notoriety by assuming command of the […]

by Gavin K. Watt

Economics Posted on August 25, 2016February 20, 2018

What Do Bond Prices Tell Us about the Early Republic?

America’s early finances were, in a word, messy. The states took on enormous debt to fund the Revolutionary War while the national government chartered by the Articles of Confederation issued bonds, took out foreign loans, and even benefitted from personal gifts, all while it had no power to collect taxes. “It was the price of […]

by Richard Sambasivam

The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on August 23, 2016August 28, 2016

Daniel McGirth, Banditti on the Southern Frontier

The story repeated itself time and again across the southern districts of Georgia. Alarms raised loudly across a broad area with tales of imminent Indian raids and McGirth’s banditti coming from every direction against every plantation. The men would arm themselves and hunker down to protect home and family from these raiders. However, while the […]

by Wayne Lynch

The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on August 22, 2016August 28, 2016

Stern Measures: Thomas Jefferson Confronts the “Hair Buyer”

For a high ranking British official about to be captured by Rebel forces, it was an ominous portent of future treatment. Surrounded at the frontier outpost of Fort Sackville on the Wabash River, Detroit Lt. Gov. Henry Hamilton received a less than cordial demand for surrender on the morning of February 24, 1779. In an […]

by Joshua Shepherd

People Posted on August 18, 2016August 28, 2016

Top 10 Banastre Tarleton Myths

He was arguably the greatest “anti-Hero” produced by either side during the Revolutionary War. From Washington Irving to Mel Gibson, so much has been written about the career of Banastre Tarleton that it is difficult, even today, to separate man from myth. Yet many of the most persistent and damning indictments of him are also […]

by John Knight

People Posted on August 17, 2016August 28, 2016

Who Killed General Agnew? Not Hans Boyer.

Part of the highly revisionist history of the American Revolution that developed in nineteenth century was an apparent obsession with identifying individual sharpshooter heroes who had brought down key individuals during the war’s important battles. Never mind that no one made any such claims when the events actually occurred, no forensic techniques existed to analyze […]

by Don N. Hagist

Reviews Posted on August 16, 2016August 2, 2016

Valiant Ambition

Book review: Valiant Ambition. George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick (Viking Books. 2016) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] Nathaniel Philbrick’s most recent offering, Valiant Ambition, tackles the difficult task of constructing a dual study of two very dissimilar men: George Washington, who led and personified the cause of independence, and […]

by Richard F. Welch

People Posted on August 15, 2016August 28, 2016

William Maxwell, New Jersey’s Hard Fighting General

Brig. Gen. William “Scotch Willie” Maxwell usually receives scant attention in books covering the American Revolution. If the author mentions Maxwell at all, the cursory biographical sketch usually focuses on his nickname, his heavy drinking, and his Irish origin. This colorful portrayal does not give credit to Maxwell’s many contributions during the war, most significantly […]

by Thomas Thorleifur Sobol

People Posted on August 11, 2016August 28, 2016

General Israel Putnam: Reputation Revisited

Entering the American Revolution, Israel Putnam enjoyed an esteemed reputation as a courageous warrior and an accomplished military officer. Putnam earned this repute through over ten years of military experience including serving in the French and Indian War and with the Connecticut militia. During French and Indian War, he rose from a captain to a […]

by Gene Procknow

Religion Posted on August 10, 2016August 28, 2016

The Great Awakening and the American Revolution

America’s Colonial Odd Couple Scholars of Jonathan Edwards have continually compared him with Benjamin Franklin. Both were born in the early eighteenth century (Edwards in 1703, only three years earlier than Franklin), and both distinguished themselves as bright young thinkers. Yet the similarities stop there, as the two have come to embody very different kinds […]

by Daniel N. Gullotta

People Posted on August 9, 2016August 28, 2016

Exploring Thomas Jefferson’s Love of Wine

Thomas Jefferson is said to have quipped that, “Good wine is a necessity of life for me.”[1] It was more than his beverage of choice though. Based on a foundation of love and a refined expertise, wine consciously assumed other diverse functions for him. Among these, it was an inviting target for scientific inquiry and […]

by Geoff Smock

Food & Lifestyle Posted on August 8, 2016August 28, 2016

Revolutionary War Olympics: The Games Our Founders Played

They may not have enjoyed major league baseball, college football, or competitive ice dancing, but the Revolutionary generation was unquestionably an athletic bunch. Colonial sportsmen practiced a number of obscure games that have largely lost currency in America, including cricket, shinny, and whirl, but also participated in contests that would look more familiar, such as […]

by Joshua Shepherd

Politics During the War (1775-1783) Posted on August 4, 2016August 28, 2016

How Article 7 Freed 3000 Slaves

The American Peace Commissioners, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Jay, and Henry Laurens, signed the preliminary articles of peace in Paris with Richard Oswald, the British Commissioner, at the Hotel de York on November 30, 1782. The French Foreign Minister, Count de Vergennes, learned of the treaty and wrote to the French minister to the […]

by Bob Ruppert

People Posted on August 2, 2016August 28, 2020

Alexander Hamilton’s Extramarital Escapades

There’s a legend that in the Continental Army winter camp of Morristown, Martha Washington, who spent many winters with her husband,[1] had a prowling tomcat nearby that she named “Hamilton.”[2] The myth isn’t true, but it’s not too much off the mark of the real Alexander Hamilton. But libido aside, if there was ever a […]

by John L. Smith, Jr.

Reviews Posted on August 1, 2016July 8, 2016

Abductions in the American Revolution

Book review: Abductions in the American Revolution: Attempts to Kidnap George Washington, Benedict Arnold and Other Military and Civilian Leaders by Christian McBurney (McFarland, April 2016) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] It is always exciting when historians innovate new ways to write about the American Revolution. The dual biographies that focus on the relationship between two […]

by Michael Tuosto

Month: August 2016