March 2020 - Journal of the American Revolution

Diplomacy Posted on March 31, 2020March 30, 2020

An Economist’s Solution to the War: Adam Smith and the Rebelling Colonies

Adam Smith, considered by many to be the Father of Modern Economics, was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, on June 16, 1723. His father, also Adam Smith, was a senior solicitor and judge advocate; his mother, Margaret Douglas, was the daughter of a well-landed gentleman. Smith entered the University of Glasgow when he was fourteen years […]

by Bob Ruppert

Features Posted on March 28, 2020March 28, 2020

This Week on Dispatches: Patrick H. Hannum on Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews military veteran and history professor Patrick H. Hannum on Lord Dunmore’s proclamation to emancipate slaves who joined the British military. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of the American Revolution. Dispatches is a free podcast that puts a voice to the writing in […]

by Editors

Critical Thinking Posted on March 26, 2020March 25, 2020

The Yellow Fever Outbreak of 1793: Nine Observations and Lessons

“I often thought that the situation of a people in a bombarded city, was not much worse, and on some accounts not so bad; we had no respite night nor day.” Writing to a friend in his native Massachusetts, newspaper publisher John Fenno was trying to convey the effect of the 1793 yellow fever outbreak […]

by Brian Patrick O'Malley

Law Posted on March 24, 2020March 21, 2020

The Revolutionary War Origin of the Whistleblower Law

The so called “whistleblower law” had a salty source. It did not emanate from the shrill sound of a boatswain’s pipe, but rather a Revolutionary War naval episode.[1] Its origin can be traced to the Continental Congress’s 1775 appointment of Esek Hopkins, formerly a merchantman and privateer, as commander-in-chief of the Continental Navy. As a […]

by Louis Arthur Norton

Features Posted on March 21, 2020March 20, 2020

This Week on Dispatches: Kevin A. Conn on the Lenape Origins of an Independent America

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews history teacher and JAR contributor Kevin A. Conn on his recent research on the Lenape and how their role in Pontiac’s Rebellion may have presaged the coming conflict between American colonists and Great Britain. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of the […]

by Editors

Features Posted on March 19, 2020March 19, 2020

Journal of the American Revolution, Annual 2020 Now Available

The Journal of the American Revolution, Annual 2020 is now available. Our sixth annual uniform volume is a jacketed hardback, with 356 pages, composed of thirty-seven articles, and retails for $35.00. Each annual volume presents a selection of the finest writing and research over the past year, weaving a common narrative thread that is impossible to […]

by Editors

The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on March 19, 2020March 19, 2020

The Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Misfortune: The Fall of Fort Motte

The Revolutionary War in the Carolinas after the fall of Charleston was a great arena of war with hundreds of small battlefields. Some were battles involving a few dozen men, Tory or Whig Americans fighting each other or Whigs fighting British regulars. Other engagements involved hundreds of men, with dozens of casualties. Today, most of […]

by Jeff Dacus

Features Posted on March 18, 2020March 17, 2020

Tea in 18th Century America

Tea in 18th Century America by Kimberly K. Walters. (K. Walters at the Sign of the Gray Horse, 2019) Best-selling author Lucinda Brant offers enthusiastic praise in her Foreword for Kimberly K. Walters’s Tea in 18th Century America, citing their shared interest in “all things 18th century.” Brant briefly describes the contents of the book and […]

by Timothy Symington

Politics During the War (1775-1783) Posted on March 17, 2020March 17, 2020

Trading Generals

During the American Revolution, many players were removed from the chess board of war as a result of capture. From individual soldiers and sailors to entire armies, captives fell into the hands of the enemy, the largest numbers usually after defeats. Negotiations to repatriate these men varied from fairly successful to complete failures. In fact, […]

by William M. Welsch

Features Posted on March 14, 2020March 14, 2020

This Week on Dispatches: Katie Turner Getty on Combating the Spread of Disease Eighteenth-Century Style

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews attorney and JAR associate editor Katie Turner Getty on the use of smoke to fumigate refugees from Boston in 1775 in an attempt to stop the spread of the deadly virus, smallpox. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of the American Revolution. […]

by Editors

Critical Thinking Posted on March 12, 2020March 11, 2020

Teaching the American Revolution with Simulations

What most Americans know about the Revolutionary War they learned when they were in elementary or middle school. The curricular timing is fortunate in some ways, unfortunate in others. On the one hand, fifth or sixth graders are at the peak of their learning curve. They are delightfully curious, and they read and converse intelligently. […]

by Ray Raphael

Features Posted on March 11, 2020March 17, 2020

Two Reviews: Journal of the Hessian Jäger Corps and The Disaffected

Journal of the Hessian Jäger Corps 1777-1779 by W. Steedman, translator, and Ian Saberton, translator and editor (Tolworth, Surrey, UK: Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd., 2018) The Disaffected: Britain’s Occupation of Philadelphia During the American Revolution by Aaron Sullivan (Philadelphia PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019) Recently this reviewer had the good fortune to tackle two books at once. […]

by Timothy Symington

Critical Thinking Posted on March 10, 2020March 9, 2020

Aggressive-Minded Gamblers: Washington, Howe, and the Days Between Battles, September 12–16, 1777

On Tuesday afternoon, September 16, 1777—five days after the Battle of Brandywine—George Washington and most of his 11,000-member Continental army stood atop the South Valley Hills in Chester County, Pennsylvania, ill-prepared to repel the approach of 14,000 British, Hessians and Loyalists composing Sir William Howe’s Crown Forces. Aside from skirmishing on the flanks, a fierce, […]

by Gary Ecelbarger

Features Posted on March 7, 2020March 6, 2020

This Week on Dispatches: Matthew Skic on “Cost of Revolution, The Life and Death of an Irish Soldier”

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews Museum of the American Revolution Associate Curator Matthew Skic on the development, installation, and writing the accompanying book for the recent exhibition, “Cost of Revolution, The Life and Death of an Irish Soldier.” Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of the American […]

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Espionage and Cryptography Posted on March 5, 2020March 4, 2020

How to Write Like a Revolutionary War Spy

Congratulations! You’ve been commissioned as an officer in the Continental Army, and General Washington has given you command of an important position near the front lines. You’ve assessed information gathered from patrols, deserters, prisoners, and local inhabitants, and you realize that something very important is about to happen. You must send a message to Washington […]

by Don N. Hagist

Features Posted on March 4, 2020

Revolutionary Brothers: Thomas Jefferson, the Marquis de Lafayette, and the Friendship That Helped Forge Two Nations

Revolutionary Brothers: Thomas Jefferson, the Marquis de Lafayette, and the Friendship That Helped Forge Two Nations by Tom Chaffin (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2019) There are countless streets, monuments, and other features in the United States named for the Marquis de Lafayette. However, despite this prevalence of tributes, Tom Chaffin asserts that most Americans know […]

by Kelly Mielke

Critical Thinking Posted on March 3, 2020March 4, 2020

Mapping the Battle of Eutaw Springs: Modern GIS Solves a Historic Mystery

When dealing with available sources to investigate questions related to historical events, the researcher has at his disposal a limited set from which to choose. Contemporaneous accounts, reports, maps, plats, legal filings, and location evidence exist in a more or less complete record. Nevertheless, linking the elements bearing witness to one event or another is […]

by Stephen John Katzberg

Espionage and Cryptography Posted on March 2, 2020March 4, 2020

This Week on Dispatches: Douglas R. Dorney, Jr. on Captain John De Treville—Continental Officer and British Spy

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews architect and JAR contributor Douglas R. Dorney, Jr., on his research about Capt. John La Boularderie De Treville, a South Carolina Continental artillery officer and British spy, and his surprising decision after the British surrender. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of […]

by Editors

Month: March 2020