On March 7, 1774 the motion to consider the Boston Port Bill was presented to the House of Commons. On March 14, the first official reading of the bill took place. It was followed by a debate that lasted all day. During the debates members of the House mainly expressed their opinions for or against […]
BOOK REVIEW: Declarations of Independence: Indigenous Resilience, Colonial Rivalries, and the Cost of Revolution by Christopher R. Pearl (University of Virginia Press, 2024. $33.95 Paperback) Christopher Pearl’s Declarations of Independence seeks to highlight diverse experiences, motivations, and differing views on independence. Historians have examined these topics before from an ideological and theoretical point of view, […]
Military history has taken a variety of forms, one of which is the lasting trend of social or “from the bottom-up” history. One aspect of this brand of historiography that historians of the Revolution have not explored in thorough detail is the impact of religion on the daily lives of the war’s participants. Historians have […]
For Maj. Arent Schuyler De Peyster, his assignment as commandant of British forces at Detroit was growing increasingly frustrating. For years, British officers at Detroit had encouraged Indian allies to strike the American backcountry, rendering the frontier a scorched arc stretching from Pennsylvania to Kentucky. But by the late summer of 1782, De Peyster was […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian and JAR contributor Blake McGready on how Continental soldiers attempted to master the unfamiliar environment of the Hudson Highlands in order to secure the area from British control. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google […]
Quotes about indigenous Native Americans are brimming with paradoxes. Benjamin Franklin praised their martial skills and the political structure of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy yet labeled them “ignorant savages.” John Adams chastised the French utilization of native warriors in the French and Indian Wars while Philip Schuyler wooed Oneida warriors with false promises of equality and […]
In the fall of 1776, Patriots were desperate for ways to defend the Hudson River from British attacks, entertaining even the wildest ideas. Henry Wisner, a member of the Continental Congress from Goshen, suggested revolutionary soldiers hurl stones at approaching ships from the cliffs north of Peekskill. “Ten men on the top,” he claimed, “might […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Paul B. Elmore about why James Easton attempted to discredit Benedict Arnold during the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, setting off a long-standing feud. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and […]
No front of the American War of Independence was more consistently violent than the northern frontier in what is today central New York State. Relative to the size of the forces involved, the costliest battle of the war took place at Oriskany near present-day Rome, New York, where the Patriot casualty rate exceeded 50 percent. […]
I recently came across the recollections of Simeon Thayer, who served from 1777 to 1781 as a major in Rhode Island Continental Army regiments. He was one of the outstanding military figures from Rhode Island during the war. His recollections start with him as a teenager during the French and Indian War serving in Maj. […]
The origins of the famous Pułaski Legion’s banner, a rare relic from the American Revolutionary War, reveal a significant yet overlooked Hungarian contribution to the fight for U.S. independence. Created under the guidance of Karcag, Hungary-born Colonel Michael Kováts, this flag not only symbolized the strength of an important cavalry unit of the American Revolution, […]
BOOK REVIEW: Thomas Jefferson and the Fight Against Slavery by Cara Rogers Stevens (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2024. Cloth, $54.99) Thomas Jefferson, although a mind-bogglingly prolific writer, strangely published only one book during his lifetime: Notes on the State of Virginia. From this reviewer’s experience, every mention of this book has been about […]
