Following the campaign of 1776, New York City and environs were occupied by British forces. For the rest of the war, George Washington threatened, planned, and hoped to retake the city, although that did not happen until the British evacuation in 1783. New Jersey, particularly the eastern region of the state, became the front lines […]
In the male-dominated historical record of East Florida during the era of the American Revolution, a few women stand out as noteworthy. Most women in eighteenth-century East Florida were from the working classes, of whom there are scant records of individuals or their accomplishments. A few had sufficient wealth and status, enough to leave behind […]
Colonel Hamilton and Colonel Burr: The Revolutionary War Lives of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr by Arthur S. Lefkowitz (Stackpole Books, 2020) Students of history (and fans of Broadway) know Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton as one of America’s fiercest political rivalries. What began as an intense competition in the hurly-burly of New York politics […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews writer, researcher, historian, and JAR contributor John Rees on his series of articles about nineteenth-century remembrances of Black Revolutionary War veterans, including Hannah Till, Thomas Carney, Edward Hector, Jacob Francis, and Oliver Cromwell. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States […]
John Rutledge had been prominent in South Carolina politics virtually since establishing his Charleston law practice in 1761. He served in the General Assembly, tousled with the governor over colonial governance, represented the colony in the Stamp Act Congress, then again in the First and Second Continental Congresses. A moderate, he was instrumental in drafting […]
John Rutledge was born into Charleston’s elite in 1739 and by April 1775 had established himself as a defender of English rights in the colonies. A British-educated lawyer, he served in South Carolina’s General Assembly and represented the colony in the Stamp Act Congress, the First Continental Congress, and the early days of the Second […]
John Rutledge is one of those members of the founding generation who often get overlooked. Yet, for every Jefferson, Adams, or Washington, there were many like Rutledge who focused on the nitty gritty work of building a new country. Rutledge was born in 1739 to an Irish father and his fifteen-year-old bride. The oldest in […]
Valley Forge to Monmouth: Six Transformational Months of the American Revolution by Jim Stempel (McFarland, 2021) Captivated by the short preface, it was evident this was just not another history addressing a brief period of conflict during the American Revolution, but an effort by the author to place the events of a formative six-month period (December […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews researcher, writer, and JAR contributor Todd Braisted on loyalist Benjamin Thompson—later Count Mumford—and the provincial mounted regiment that included free Blacks and men freed from slavery he organized. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and the JAR Dispatches web site. […]
The Fifth Virginia Convention convened in Williamsburg in May 1776 with a weighty agenda before it. The 169-year-old colony declared its independence from Britain and proposed that Congress do the same. It adopted a new constitution and a Declaration of Rights that would immediately be the model for the Declaration of Independence and later provide […]
When the American Revolution began, the Virginia Colony faced not one military-territorial contest, but four. Its ousted Royal governor, Lord Dunmore, was in the Chesapeake actively plotting a forcible return to power. A longstanding dispute with Pennsylvania over the headwaters of the Ohio had turned violent. A formal peace with the Shawnee on the northwest […]
A New England Quaker in his late thirties was not the ideal candidate for the job, according to the Continental Congress. Instead, Congress chose Gen. Horatio Gates. Gen. George Washington dithered and dissented in his gentlemanly way with Congress, but to no avail. General Gates was appointed commander of the southern theatre of the War […]
Within the pantheon of Founding Fathers, only George Washington was more impenetrable than was Thomas Jefferson—then and now. The man who would come to be known as the “Sage of Monticello” was also the man who slouched in the back of every session of the Continental Congress; a spectator outwardly disinterested in opening his mind […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian and JAR contributor Andrew Zellers-Frederick on the impeachment of Senator William Blount of Tennessee, the first conducted in American history, and a crucial episode in establishing the legal strength of the United States government over elected officials. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every […]
One of the more intriguing limited actions of the Revolutionary War was the Battle of the Clouds on September 16, 1777, a meeting of the armies of Gen. Sir William Howe and Gen. George Washington in the Great Valley of Chester County, Pennsylvania. Although more than 25,000 soldiers were present to battle, a tremendous eighteen-hour […]
Captain Robert Bisset arrived in East Florida in 1767. Immediately upon his coming, he set to work on establishing himself as a planter. For seventeen years, between 1767 and 1784, he and his son established and managed several plantations around East Florida. Apart from colonizing the frontier province, Bisset’s presence in the historical record is […]
“They are remarkably stout and hardy men,” thought army surgeon James Thacher, “Dressed in white frocks, or rifle shirts, and round hats.” The robust constitutions and rugged appearance of the reinforcements that arrived at Boston in the summer of 1775 occasioned no small stir in the army camps ringing Boston. Dressed in a curious amalgam […]
Thomas Read (1740-1788) began his seafaring career as a merchant captain, sailing for the Philadelphia firm of Willing and Morris in the ship Aurora, alongside his friend John Barry in Black Prince, as we read in Part 1 of this series. In the early stages of the revolution he served as de facto commodore of […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews writer, historian, and twenty-five year US Army veteran Mark Sullivan on his recent JAR article about the fluidity of identifying as a Patriot or Loyalist during the course of the American Revolution, in this case, the Otto brothers of upstate New York. New episodes of Dispatches are […]
Thomas Read (1740-1788) of New Castle, Delaware, as we read in the first part of this series, began his seafaring career as a merchant captain, sailing for the Philadelphia firm of Willing and Morris in the ship Aurora, alongside his friend John Barry in Black Prince. After fighting had erupted around Boston, in May 1775 […]
In March 1777, while Andrew Turnbull was away in England, several Minorcans escaped New Smyrna and fled to St. Augustine, East Florida. They hiked seventy to eighty miles from Mosquito Inlet to the colony’s capital. Arriving there safely, they complained to East Florida Gov. Patrick Tonyn about the struggles and depravations they endured at New Smyrna. After […]
Thomas Read (1740-1788) was the middle son of the Read family of New Castle, Delaware. His older brother George was a delegate to the Continental Congress, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a member of the Marine Committee.[1] His younger brother James was, over the years, paymaster for the first ships of the Continental […]
New York City, November 16, 1783. It was finally here, Evacuation Day. The British, who had occupied Manhattan for seven long years, were finally leaving town. General George Washington and his troops paraded down Broadway, terminating their triumphant return at Fraunces Tavern at the southern tip of Manhattan. A raucous 120-person celebration, hosted by New […]
