Month: May 2023

4
Battles Posted on

Eutaw Springs and the Ambiguity of Victory

The Battle of Eutaw Springs, South Carolina, on September 8, 1781 was the last major open-field battle of the Revolutionary War and perhaps its most savage. The close-quarter fighting that occurred there ranks among the bloodiest and most intensely contested military encounters in young America’s quest for independence.[1] It has, however, been eclipsed in historical […]

by David Price
Battles Posted on

The Battle of Upper Sandusky, 1782

BOOK REVIEW: The Battle of Upper Sandusky, 1782  by Eric Sterner. Small Battles Series. (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2023) Eric Sterner’s recent release, The Battle of Upper Sandusky, 1782, provides a readable and interesting account of one of the lesser known and studied battles of the American Revolution. The battle, often referred to as Crawford’s Campaign […]

by Patrick H. Hannum
Autobiography and Biography Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Shawn David McGhee on George Washington’s “Rules of Civility”

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian and JAR contributor Shawn David McGhee on the mystery of George Washington’s “Rules of Civility.” 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 easily accessed on […]

by Editors
3
Autobiography and Biography Posted on

Remembering John Adams

BOOK REVIEW: Remembering John Adams: The Second President in History, Memory and Popular Culture by Marianne Holdzkom (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co, 2023) Marianne Holdzkom does not hide her fascination with John Adams anywhere in her book, Remembering John Adams: The Second President in History, Memory and Popular Culture. She starts off in the Preface explaining […]

by Timothy Symington
Battles Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Eric Sterner on the Engagement Between the Glasgow and the Fledgling Continental Navy

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews author and JAR contributor Eric Sterner on the April 1776 engagement between the British vessel Glasgow and the raw Continental navy off Block Island. The battle had surprising implications. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, […]

by Editors
3
Arts & Literature Posted on

George Washington’s “Rules of Civility”: An Early American Literary Mystery

Tucked away in George Washington’s papers rests a thirty-five-page handwritten folio labeled “Forms of Writing.”[1] In Washington’s neat and ornate cursive, the first roughly two-thirds of this artifact are comprised of carefully copied examples of legal mechanisms such as promissory notes, bills of exchange, short- and long-form wills, and, ominously, a “Form of a Servants […]

by Shawn David McGhee
2
Battles Posted on

Danger at the Breach

American Patriots won a pivotal victory at Charlestown, South Carolina, on June 28, 1776, six days before the Declaration of Independence. The Battle of Sullivan’s Island was the Patriots’ first defeat of a joint attack by the British army and navy and one of their most decisive victories of the entire war. The astonishing win […]

by Doug MacIntyre
2
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Don N. Hagist on the new JAR annual volume and the Website

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews author and JAR managing editor Don N. Hagist on the new 2023 Annual Volume and updates on the forthcoming JAR website facelift. 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
3
Battles Posted on

Engaging the Glasgow

On April 18, 1776 Captain Tyringham Howe of His Majesty’s Ship Glasgow arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Two weeks prior, the twenty-gun sloop had engaged a task force from the Continental Navy and given better than she received. Vice Admiral Molyneux Shuldham, who briefly commanded Royal Navy in American waters, expected Glasgow to be carrying dispatches from […]

by Eric Sterner
3
Reviews Posted on

Victory Day—Winning American Independence: The Defeat of the British Southern Strategy

BOOK REVIEW: Victory Day—Winning American Independence: The Defeat of the British Southern Strategy by Kenneth Scarlett (North Charleston, SC: Palmetto Publishing, 2023) In his recent book, Victory Day, Winning American Independence, The Defeat of the British Southern Strategy, Kenneth Scarlett addresses the Southern theater of the American Revolution, highlighting several themes. It is important to point out […]

by Patrick H. Hannum
8
Autobiography and Biography Posted on

Remember Baker: A Green Mountain Boy’s Controversial Death and Its Consequences

Despite the imperative nature of his unusual name, Remember Baker has garnered significantly less historical attention than fellow Green Mountain Boys Ethan Allen and Seth Warner. Baker seemed destined for an important role in the Revolutionary War, but his life was cut short in an August 22, 1775 incident across the Quebec border. As a result of […]

by Mark R. Anderson
Interviews Posted on

The Week on Dispatches: John Settle on Col. Abraham Buford’s Virginia Battalion

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews history teacher and JAR contributor John Settle on the fascinating story of Col. Abraham Buford and his Virginia Battalion in 1780 and 1781 . 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 […]

by Editors
2
Constitutional Debate Posted on

American Inheritance: Liberty and Slavery in the Birth of a Nation, 1765–1795

BOOK REVIEW: American Inheritance: Liberty and Slavery in the Birth of a Nation 1765-1795 by Edward J. Larson (New York, NY: WW Norton & Company, Inc., 2023) The 1619 Projectundeniably makes the case that American history can only be properly understood if slavery is a central pillar (perhaps THE central pillar). The peculiar institution was always […]

by Timothy Symington