Month: October 2016

News Posted on

Top Articles of October 2016

JAR had another busy few weeks welcoming three new writers — Gregory J. W. Urwin, Alex Colvin, C. E. Pippenger —and making great progress on our 2017 Annual Volume (the cover art is featured here for the first time). The annual hardback will publish in spring and feature about four dozen articles by scores of JAR contributors, including […]

by Editors
5
Reviews Posted on

Hector Maclean: The Writings of a Loyalist-Era Military Settler in Nova Scotia

Book review: Hector Maclean: The Writings of a Loyalist-Era Military Settler in Nova Scotia by Jo Currie, Keith Mercer, John G. Reid (Gaspereau Press, 2015) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] Recent scholarship has placed more focus on the plight of Loyalists who were displaced from their homes and livelihoods in the United States, and the struggles they […]

by Don N. Hagist
4
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

With Cornwallis to the Dan: Deconstructing the “Forbes Champagné Letter”

The American War of Independence produced many dramatic episodes, but none surpassed the campaign that Lt. Gen. Charles, Second Earl Cornwallis, conducted in North Carolina during the first three months of 1781 for hair-raising suspense and heartbreak. Things got off to a bad start for the British on January 17, 1781, at the Battle of […]

by Gregory J. W. Urwin
3
Religion Posted on

Religious Liberty in Virginia: How “Dissenters” Parlayed Oppression into Freedom

Virginia’s role in helping to spearhead disestablishment and religious freedom has not received the treatment it deserves although it was, itself, a moving force behind Virginia’s entrée into the revolution. It was, in fact, Virginia which ultimately spearheaded and codified separation of church and state, after a reform movement which itself played a significant role […]

by Alex Colvin
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Skirmish at the Thomas House: America’s First Sniper Team?

Even under the strange, somewhat inept leadership of Loyalist Col. John Moore, the task of hampering Spartanburg’s Fair Forest role as a Patriot stronghold should have been straightforward. What could not have been known is what would happen when the frontier’s best sharpshooter teamed up with three lovely, most remarkable of women along with a […]

by Conner Runyan
6
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Was the Revolutionary War in the south winnable by the British?

A re-evaluation from a British perspective in the light of The Cornwallis Papers Relying mostly on inferences drawn from my commentary in The Cornwallis Papers,[1] I shall seek to demonstrate that Britain’s grand strategy for reducing the southern colonies was at least in part sound and it may well have achieved a lasting measure of success […]

by Ian Saberton
1
Reviews Posted on

George Washington’s Secret Spy War

Book review: George Washington’s Secret Spy War: The Making of America’s First Spymaster by John A. Nagy (St. Martin’s Press, September 2016) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] Revolutionary War era spying has received a great deal of attention over the past decade. The “Culper Ring,” which provided George Washington with intelligence operating out of New York City […]

by Alec D. Rogers