Year: 2017

 News Posted on

Top Articles of April 2017

April was a short month for JAR as we returned from spring break with our “Runaway a Day” series. In short time we still welcomed four new writers—Bruce Ware Allen, Nichole Louise, Jason Glasser and R. Paul Mason—who contributed some excellent articles. The fine folks at Fort Plain Museum have announced the impressive line-up for their […]

by Editors
1
Interviews Posted on

Contributor Close-up: Christian McBurney

About Christian McBurney Christian McBurney resides in the Washington, D.C. area and is an independent historian who has authored the recently released Abductions in the American Revolution: Attempts to Kidnap George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and Other Military and Civilian Leaders (McFarland, 2016). His other Revolutionary War books include Kidnapping the Enemy: The Special Operations to […]

by Editors
7
Places Posted on

Museum of the American Revolution: Dichotomy of a Fledgling Nation

Walking into the Museum of the American Revolution’s spacious rotunda, museum patrons will be met with polished terrazzo floors and an elegant curling staircase illuminated with the natural light from the George Washington standard flag six-pointed star skylight. At the start of the Museum experience, an orientation video depicts differing perspectives from founding mother Abigail […]

by Nichole Louise
Postwar Politics (>1783) Posted on

A Proposed Alliance of the Knights of Malta and the United States of America

On the face of it, there would seem no greater natural disparity between the two countries,  one an ancient aristocratic pan-European (but mostly French) Catholic military theocracy, the other a modern, egalitarian, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant confederation.  Nevertheless, during the American Revolution, a healthy number of Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem […]

by Bruce Ware Allen
Primary Sources Posted on

A Runaway a Day 4 (of 5)

Some advertisements revealed details about the person’s history and situation, as well as their physical characteristics and possessions. This affords an avenue for further research on the individual. Two Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber, living in Upper Salford township, Philadelphia county, on Friday, the 27th of August last, a Dutch servant Girl, named […]

by Editors
Primary Sources Posted on

A Runaway a Day 3 (of 5)

Some runaways took only the clothing they had on, and lacked even a complete ensemble. Running away without shoes shows either desperation or determination. Run away, the 13th of this instant July, from the subscriber, near Newtown, Bucks County, an Irish servant girl, named Judy Fagan, between 15 and 16 years old, of a dark […]

by Editors
Primary Sources Posted on

A Runaway a Day 2 (of 5)

For some reason not all advertisements included the name of the missing person. Whether this showed an impersonal knowledge on behalf of the master, or was a simple oversight by either the person placing the ad or the publisher, we can only wonder. RAN away from the subscriber in Newport, on the night of the […]

by Editors
3
Primary Sources Posted on

A Runaway a Day 1 (of 5)

Throughout the eighteenth century, newspapers advertised servants, slaves, soldiers, spouses and others who had fled from contractual obligations. The advertisements give us remarkable textual descriptions of everyday individuals about whom little else is known. Each day this week, we’ll present an advertisement for a runaway woman, accompanied by an illustration of carefully researched, handmade clothing […]

by Editors
News Posted on

Out of the Office: Returning April 10

Just as many schools are going on spring break now, so is Journal of the American Revolution. We will be taking a short hiatus to recover from all the exciting activity in our world and will return to our regular programming the week of April 10. Writers: Please continue to send your article submissions to ed****@al**************.com during […]

by Editors
News Posted on

Top 10 Articles of March 2017

Did you hear the news? Two awesome American Revolution museums are opening in the next 30 days, providing the bookends of an epic Philadelphia to Yorktown family road trip itinerary this summer! The grand opening celebration of the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown is going on today, March 23, through April 4, officially launching the impressive new museum […]

by Editors
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The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Fort Anne: Remembering the Continental Army’s First Stand Against Burgoyne   

Burgoyne’s campaign of 1777 has been termed a turning point in the American Revolution.[1]  Marked by the Continental Army’s victories at the battles of Bennington and Saratoga, the campaign came to show the limits of the British army and gave credence to and international recognition of the American cause. Hidden in these histories of Burgoyne’s […]

by Michael Jacobson
4
Prewar Conflict (<1775) Posted on

Country Crowds in Revolutionary Massachusetts: Mobs and Militia

Peter Oliver, the Crown-appointed Chief Justice of provincial Massachusetts, knew how to discredit popular protest. Mindless and incapable of acting on their own, crowds that opposed British imperial policies “were like the Mobility of all Countries, perfect Machines, wound up by any Hand who might first take the Winch.” They needed a director who could […]

by Ray Raphael
8
Reviews Posted on

From Slaves to Soldiers: The 1st Rhode Island Regiment in the American Revolution

Book review: From Slaves to Soldiers: The 1st Rhode Island Regiment in the American Revolution by Robert A. Geake (Westholme, 2016) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] Author Robert A. Geake, an established author of early Rhode Island history making his first foray into the Revolutionary War, writes of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment of the Continental Army, […]

by Christian McBurney
4
People Posted on

Lafayette: An acerbic tongue or an incisive judge of character?

A truly French and American hero, Marquis de Lafayette, a nineteen-year-old nobleman without significant military or political experiences, joined the fledgling American Revolution at a low point. He distinguished himself from other French officers by volunteering to serve in the Continental Army without commission and pay. Worldly beyond his years, Lafayette rapidly sized up the […]

by Gene Procknow
5
Advertising Posted on

Must See! Massive New American Revolution Museum at Yorktown Opens March 2017

Mark your calendars! The grand opening celebration of the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown is March 23-April 4, 2017, officially launching the impressive new museum that replaces the Yorktown Victory Center. Through comprehensive indoor exhibits and outdoor living history, the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown offers a truly national perspective, conveying a sense of the transformational […]

by Advertising
Reviews Posted on

The American Revolution Reborn

Book review: The American Revolution Reborn, edited by Patrick Spero and Michael Zuckerman (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] For decades, the American Revolution’s scholarship has mostly fallen within the same interpretive schools with little departure.  In The American Revolution Reborn, a collection of essays edited by Patrick Spero and Michael Zuckerman, […]

by Kelly Mielke
News Posted on

Top Articles of February 2017

In February, we welcomed two new writers, Matthew Wigler and Douglas J. Gladstone, and announced our online magazine’s 2017 advertising rates. If you missed it, we also recently launched pre-orders of our 2017 annual hardcover edition and hosted our ninth group interview. Last call for one of the biggest American Revolution conferences of the year. If you’re free the weekend of […]

by Editors
3
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

A ‘Heavenly Harvest’ of Vulnerable Women in North Carolina: Tory Troops as Sexual Predators

Strong in the memories of North Carolina veterans of the Revolution were images of Tory (Americans loyal to the British government) terrorists, mounted on horses (some stolen from Patriots) and flourishing guns and swords.[1] Few of these soldier veterans had been at home during a Tory raid. More often, what the men said in their […]

by Hershel Parker
Politics During the War (1775-1783) Posted on

Francis Dana and America’s Failed Embassy to Russia

  The war between Britain and her North American colonies shut off the availability of raw materials, specifically timber, tar, and pitch, for the British Royal Navy and her commercial fleet. This placed greater concern on protecting their second biggest supplier, the Baltic States. Part of that protection included confiscating all contraband and naval stores […]

by Bob Ruppert
2
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Preventing Slave Insurrection in South Carolina & Georgia, 1775-1776

As the colonies of South Carolina and Georgia moved closer to open rebellion against Great Britain in the summer of 1775, leaders of the revolutionary movement found themselves facing a host of potential threats. In addition to the numerous loyalists in both colonies, the tribes of pro-British Indians on their frontiers, and the possibility of […]

by Jim Piecuch
1
People Posted on

George Hanger ― His Adventures in the American Revolutionary War end

THE CHARLESTOWN CAMPAIGN Beginning with the siege of Charlestown, the southern campaigns would prove to be Britain’s last throw of the dice in the Revolutionary War. As preparations for the Charlestown campaign got under way, Hessian general orders on December 10, 1779 again sought volunteers for a chasseur company to accompany it under George Hanger’s […]

by Ian Saberton