Month: May 2025

Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Elizabeth Reese on Eleanor Parke Custis

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian JAR Contributor Elizabeth Reese about the life of George Washington’s granddaughter, Eleanor “Nelly” Parke Custis, whose life began to spiral after the President’s passing. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening  (Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon […]

by Editors
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

The Army of Observation Forms: Spring 1775 in Massachusetts

The fighting that raged over miles of Massachusetts countryside on April 19, 1775 finally subsided with the approach of evening. Thousands of Massachusetts militia had converged upon retreating British troops as they made their way back from Concord that fateful spring day and the casualties suffered by the redcoats were shocking. Two hundred and seventy-two […]

by Michael Cecere
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The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Colonel Michael Kovats: The Hungarian Co-founder of the American Cavalry

Among the foreign-born leaders who played crucial roles in the American Revolution, Hungarian-born Colonel Commandant Michael Kovats de Fabriczy stands out for his significant, yet often overlooked, contributions to the Continental Army.[1] Kovats played a key role in the establishment and development of the cavalry, overseeing the recruitment, training, and organization of regular cavalry units. […]

by Zoltán Pintér and Anna Smith Lacey
Autobiography and Biography Posted on

A Granddaughter’s Grief: Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis and George Washington

The life of Eleanor “Nelly” Parke Custis Lewis was one of privilege and loss. After the premature death of her father, John “Jacky” Parke Custis, in 1781, Nelly and her younger brother, George Washington “Wash” Custis, were sent to Mount Vernon to live with their paternal grandmother, Martha, and her husband George Washington. Under the […]

by Elizabeth Reese