Year: 2022

 Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Patrick H. Hannum and Frederick R. Kienle on George Washington’s Leadership Advice

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews  long-time JAR contributor Patrick H. Hannum and his co-author Frederick R. Keinle on George Washington’s leadership advice to  Col. William Woodford—and whether Woodford took heed. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and […]

by Editors
Documents Posted on

Orderly Book of the 5th Continental Infantry Regiment, New Hampshire Historical Society

In the summer and fall of 1776, the decrepit fortifications at Ticonderoga and the area surrounding it became one of the top five population centers in North America—ultimately numbering 12,000 or more. In early July, a brigade under the command of New Hampshire’s John Stark began building fortifications on the forested, 300-acre rocky peninsula across […]

by Michael Barbieri
10
Critical Thinking Posted on

The 27th Grievance of the Declaration of Independence

“He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.”[1] As with the 25th grievance in the Declaration of Independence, in the 27th grievance Thomas Jefferson carefully constructed […]

by James M. Deitch
Critical Thinking Posted on

The 25th Grievance of the Declaration of Independence

When Thomas Jefferson wrote the twenty-seven grievances against the King listed in the Declaration of Independence, he did so with the intention of encapsulating the sentiment and objections that colonists felt about their current situation. It was a collective account of their grievances and their interpretation of the unfairness of how they were being treated […]

by James M. Deitch
Critical Thinking Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Don N. Hagist on the British Soldiers who Marched to Concord

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews  JAR managing editor Don N. Hagist on the demographics of the British soldiers who marched to Concord on April 19, 1775. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. Dispatches […]

by Editors
Illness and Disease Posted on

French Military Hospitals in Rhode Island

Louis-Dominique Éthis de Corny (1736–1790),Commissioner of War, came to America aboard the French warship Hermione along with Maj. Gen. Marie Jean Paul Joseph du Motier Marquis de Lafayette in April 1780. Corny’s assignment was to procure everything necessary for the arrival of the expédition particulière, the army of about 5800 troops under Lieutenant General Jean Baptiste […]

by Norman Desmarais
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Travis Copeland on the Attack on North Carolina’s Fort Johnston

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Travis Copeland about a watershed moment in North Carolina’s independence movement, the attack on Fort Johnston. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. Dispatches can now be […]

by Editors
Critical Thinking Posted on

George Washington’s 1775 Leadership Advice to William Woodford: Did He Listen?

Gen. George Washington’s well-crafted November 10, 1775 letter to Col. William Woodford contains some timeless pearls of military wisdom, guidance, and advice.[1] Washington’s instructive response to an earlier letter from Woodford reveals a set of basic leadership principles that remain in official United States Army doctrine to this day. This enduring leadership lesson leads one […]

by Patrick H. Hannum and Frederick R. Kienle
2
Battles Posted on

Mismatch off Charleston: The Privateer Congress vs. HMS Savage

“One of the most creditable actions of this war in which an American privateer was engaged took place on September 6, 1781.”—Edgar Stanton Maclay, A History of American Privateers Comdr. Charles Stirling intently inspected the distant ship headed toward his command, HMS Savage, a sixteen-gun sloop of war cruising thirty-five miles off Charleston, South Carolina. […]

by William W. Reynolds
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Timothy C. Hemmis on Frontier Militia During the American Revolution

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews Timothy C. Hemmis, Assistant Professor of History, Texas A&M University–Central Texas, on his recent article about violence between militia and Native Americans on the western frontier during the American Revolution and its influence on the course of the war. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every […]

by Editors
2
Crime and Justice Posted on

Governor William Franklin: Sagorighweyoghsta, “Great Arbiter” or “Doer of Justice”

William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin, was the last Royal Governor of New Jersey, from 1763 to 1776. He is usually identified in U. S. History texts negatively as an ardent Loyalist and opponent of the American War of Independence. Historian Larry Gerlach offers a different view: “He was one of the most popular and […]

by Joseph E. Wroblewski
1
Autobiography and Biography Posted on

The Samuel Adams of North Carolina: Cornelius Harnett and the Burning of Fort Johnston

On a trip to the southern colonies in 1773, Josiah Quincy of Massachusetts visited the coastal region of North Carolina. He was introduced to North Carolina Patriot leadership, toured coastal Fort Johnston, and visually inspected the disposition and military capabilities of the South. It was on this southern tour that Quincy, a Boston born Patriot […]

by Travis Copeland
1
Critical Thinking Posted on

The Use of the Declaration of Independence as a Military Recruitment Tool

The Declaration of Independence, viewed by thousands each year, is one of the most revered documents in American history. Housed in a hermetically sealed glass enclosed frame located in the National Archives, it contains principles “both universal and eternal,” that are said to form the bedrock for American democracy. The first celebration of its importance took […]

by Marvin L. Simner
Books and Publications Posted on

These Distinguished Corps: British Grenadier and Light Infantry Battalions in the American Revolution

BOOK REVIEW: These Distinguished Corps: British Grenadier and Light Infantry Battalions in the American Revolution by Don N. Hagist. (Warwick, England: Helion & Company, Limited, 2021) Don N. Hagist, author of British Soldiers, American War: Voices of the American Revolution (2012) and Noble Volunteers: The British Soldiers Who Fought the American Revolution (2020), has given Revolutionary War […]

by Timothy Symington
1
Autobiography and Biography Posted on

John Greenwood: Adroit Multi-talented Patriot

This historical chronical is about an unusual multifaceted patriot: a musician, soldier, privateer, author, and dentist. On May 17, 1760, John Greenwood was born to Boston ivory artisan Isaac and Mary Greenwood. Before the lad turned thirteen years old, John was a witness to the so called “Boston Massacre” that killed eighteen-year-old Samuel Maverick, his […]

by Louis Arthur Norton
Culture Posted on

Benjamin Franklin’s East Florida Warning

On July 25, 1768, Benjamin Franklin set his friend, Charles-Guillaume-Frédéric Dumas, straight. Dumas, a man of letters who would later serve as an American diplomat in Europe, was interested in settling British East Florida. Franklin informed Dumas that his home in Philadelphia “being near 1000 Miles from Florida”[1] prevented his intimate acquaintance with that region. […]

by George Kotlik
1
Autobiography and Biography Posted on

The Last Royal Governors of the American Colonies

The last level of British authority at the colony level was the colonial governors. They came in various forms, military and civil, appointed and proprietary, and occasionally elected by the colonists. As British authority started to break down, the colonial governors were some of the most prominent people to be chased from their respective colonies. […]

by Richard J. Werther
Diplomacy Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Joseph Solis-Mullen on the First Partition of Poland on the Eve of the American Revolution

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Joseph Solis-Mullen on how the agreement between Austria, Russia, and Prussia to divide Poland in 1772 allowed France to confront Britain in the Americas without fear of a continental war. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) […]

by Editors
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Kenneth E. Lawson on George Whitefield’s Influence on Chaplains in the American Revolution

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews retired US Army chaplain and JAR contributor Kenneth E. Lawson on the influence of Rev. George Whitefield’s teachings on colonial ministers, including those who became chaplains in the Continental Army. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, […]

by Editors
1
Arts & Literature Posted on

Will the Real Caelia Shortface Please Stand Up

Silence Dogood, Anthony Afterwit, Fanny Mournful, Caelia Shortface. Dickens’ characters? No. They’re just a few of the many evocative pen names Benjamin Franklin used to wittily present a controversial or libelous issue or two sides of an argument while remaining anonymous. As a sixteen-year-old apprentice at his brother’s paper, the New England Courant, Franklin was privy […]

by Edna Gabler
Newspapers Posted on

William Hunter: Finding Free Speech—A British Soldier’s Son Who Became an Early American

BOOK REVIEW: William Hunter: Finding Free Speech—A British Soldier’s Son Who Became an Early American by Eugene A. Procknow (Mechanicsburg, PA: Sunbury Press, Inc., 2022) An unknown, virtually invisible figure finds his historical reputation established in William Hunter: Finding Free Speech—A British Soldier’s Son Who Became an Early American. Eugene A. Procknow, frequent contributor to the Journal […]

by Timothy Symington
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Alexander Lenarchyk on Washington’s Asylum

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews college student and JAR contributor Alexander Lenarchyk on his discovery that Washington mused on the idea of needing an “asylum” should the war go terribly wrong. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, […]

by Editors
2
Letters and Correspondence Posted on

Johnson Cook: Patriot Warrior

In the fall of 1796, just months before George Washington’s presidency ended, thirty-six-year-old Revolutionary War veteran Johnson Cook (1760-1848), a Connecticut native, petitioned the president for financial assistance and entreated him to spare Cook from living out his final days “neglected.” In his two-page manuscript letter to Washington, written on October 1, 1796, from Marietta […]

by Adrina Garbooshian-Huggins
Critical Thinking Posted on

A Demographic View of the Georgia Continental Line and Militia: 1775–1783

To complement my two studies of the North Carolina Continental Line and militia/state troops, I’ve researched the demographics of the Georgia Continental Line and militia using Federal pension applications.[1] The colony of Georgia at the beginning of the Revolutionary War consisted only of a series of counties along the Savannah River running from the Atlantic coast […]

by Douglas R. Dorney, Jr.