2021 - Page 7 of 7 - Journal of the American Revolution

Features Posted on January 25, 2021February 1, 2021

Review: To the End of the World: Nathanael Greene, Charles Cornwallis, and the Race to the Dan

To the End of the World: Nathanael Greene, Charles Cornwallis, and the Race to the Dan by Andrew Waters (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2020) “In a place like Salisbury,” writes Andrew Waters of the North Carolina town that witnessed the 1781 Race to the Dan, “you can live among its ghosts and still not know […]

by Gabriel Neville

Critical Thinking Posted on January 24, 2021

This Week on Dispatches: Brian Gerring on “La Petite Guerre” and Native American Irregular Warfare

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews retired Special Forces soldier and educator Brian Gerring on his comparison of European La Petite Guerre, “small war,” and military tactics favored by Native Americans in the eighteenth century. Did the Continental army or militia incorporate tactics used by Native Americans? New episodes of Dispatches are available for […]

by Editors

Crime and Justice Posted on January 21, 2021January 19, 2021

Thou Shalt Not Steal: Plunder, Theft, and Sticky Fingers

“The cunning man steals a horse, the wise man lets him alone.”[1] It had been less than three months since Congress had adopted a Declaration of Independence, but George Washington was already warning that the Articles of War governing the behavior of troops was in desperate need of an update, “otherwise the Army, but for […]

by Joshua Shepherd

Features Posted on January 20, 2021January 25, 2021

Review: All at Sea: Naval Support for the British Army During the American Revolution

All At Sea: Naval Support for the British Army During the American Revolutionary War by John Dillon. (Warwick, England: Helion & Company Limited, 2019) The rebels in the American colonies were nervous about facing the might of the British Empire when the war began in 1775. The British army was disciplined and well-supplied with war materiel. […]

by Timothy Symington

People Posted on January 19, 2021January 17, 2021

The Most Unlucky Man: Patrick Ferguson’s Early Years

Into a house at 333 High Street in what is now Edinburgh’s “Old Town” was born the strange adventurer Patrick Ferguson on June 4, 1744.[1] The city in that year was still medieval in appearance, its skyline dominated by Edinburgh Castle atop an ancient volcanic bluff. From there, shops and residences cascaded down High Street along the […]

by Andrew Waters

People Posted on January 18, 2021January 18, 2021

African Americans in the American Revolution

Editor’s note: Originally published in JAR in May 2013, this important article about the contribution of African Americans to our nation’s liberty was written by the late Thomas Fleming (1927–2017). African Americans participated in the American Revolution from its first day. That is another reason why it is shameful that for a long time, they […]

by Thomas Fleming

Features Posted on January 16, 2021January 16, 2021

This Week on Dispatches: Greg Aaron on Lord Dartmouth’s War of Words

Dispatches returns for another season, and on this week’s episode host Brady Crytzer interviews cybersecurity expert and JAR contributor Greg Aaron on Lord Dartmouth, Secretary of the State for the Colonies, and his fateful order to Gen. Thomas Gage, “to arrest and imprison the principal actors & abettors in the Provincial Congress” in Massachusetts, a group that […]

by Editors

Battles Posted on January 14, 2021January 12, 2021

The British Naval Signals Missions of 1781

Richard Peters’ letter of October 19, 1781, to Gen. George Washington mentioned two missions to obtain copies of certain British naval signals and convey them to French Adm. Francois Joseph Paul, Comte de Grasse. These signals have been discussed in numerous books and articles on Revolutionary War clandestine activities. During the five-plus years he was […]

by William W. Reynolds

Features Posted on January 13, 2021January 25, 2021

Review: Noble Volunteers: The British Soldiers Who Fought the American Revolution

Noble Volunteers: The British Soldiers Who Fought the American Revolution by Don Hagist. Foreword by Rick Atkinson. (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2020) Back in the 1950s, respected military commentator Walter Millis (1899-1968) stated that British soldiers at the time of the American Revolution represented “a class apart.” They were, “generally speaking, from the least productive elements […]

by James Kirby Martin

Espionage and Cryptography Posted on January 12, 2021January 10, 2021

Congress’s “Committee on Spies” and the Court-Martial Policies of General Washington

In the weeks before it declared independence, the Continental Congress was already hard at work building the institutions it would need to maintain the new republic. In June 1776, a committee was appointed to explore articles that would link the thirteen provincial legislatures in a loose confederation. A second was tasked to consider how the […]

by Richard Willing

Features Posted on January 11, 2021January 9, 2021

The Finalists for the 2020 JAR Book-of-the-Year Award

The pandemic of 2020 caused disruption and delays in the publishing industry just as it did to so many other facets of the global economy. There were nonetheless many noteworthy new titles released concerning the American Revolution and Founding era. During 2020, our dedicated contributors reviewed thirty-two titles. From these distinguished books, the Journal of […]

by Don N. Hagist

Patriots Posted on January 7, 2021January 6, 2021

Plight of the Seamen: Incarceration, Escape, or Secured Freedom

During the Revolutionary War, the British were particularly sensitive to challenges to their maritime sovereignty. Members of the Continental Navy, states’ navy sailors or letter of marque privateers, when taken prisoner, were usually interned onboard prison hulks moored in Wallabout Bay in New York harbor. Seamen captured far from North American shores were often incarcerated […]

by Louis Arthur Norton

Features Posted on January 6, 2021January 5, 2021

Contributor Question: My Favorite Year

With the start of a new year, this month we asked our contributors: Which year of the American Revolution and the founding era (circa 1765-1805) is your favorite, and why? The responses are presented chronologically. Ken Shumate 1764 was the first year of the American Revolution. In the Sugar Act and the related resolution to […]

by Editors

People Posted on January 5, 2021January 3, 2021

James Lovell: Schoolteacher, Prisoner, Patriot

James Lovell, delegate from Massachusetts to the Second Continental Congress and the Confederation Congress from 1777 to 1782, the only member of Congress to be continuously present during those years,[1] is known for being the Secretary for the Committee for Foreign Affairs; for his expertise in cryptography, earning him Edmund Burnett’s description of “decipherer extraordinary to […]

by Jean C. O'Connor

Features Posted on January 4, 2021January 25, 2021

Review: Fourteenth Colony: The Forgotten Story of the Gulf South During America’s Revolutionary Era

Fourteenth Colony: The Forgotten Story of the Gulf South During America’s Revolutionary Era by Mike Bunn. (Montgomery, AL: NewSouth Books, 2020) In Fourteenth Colony, Mike Bunn sheds light on the forgotten British colony of West Florida. The book seeks to “put West Florida back on the map of our historical consciousness” (page xi). Comprising parts of […]

by George Kotlik

Features Posted on January 2, 2021January 2, 2021

Best of Dispatches: Colin G. Calloway and The Indian World of George Washington

In this week’s program from the Dispatches archives, recorded in February 2019, host Brady Crytzer interviews distinguished historian Colin G. Calloway about his book, The Indian World of George Washington, winner of the 2018 Journal of the American Revolution Book of the Year. Later this month, the 2020 Journal of the American Revolution Book Award will be […]

by Editors

Year: 2021