About an hour’s drive west from Raleigh, in North Carolina’s Moore County, the traffic thins out, the roads narrow, and the suburban sprawl of the Triangle area softens into farmland, ringed by trees, unrolling across the horizon. While only a little over fifty miles from one of the country’s fastest-growing metropolitan areas, this is still […]
On April 17, 1783, a dispatch arrived at Fort Rensselaer along the western bank of the Mohawk River, around two miles northwest of modern Canajoharie, New York. The messenger carried directions from Gen. George Washington to send “an Officer To the British Garrison at Oswago To announce a Cessation of Hostilities on the frontiers of […]
On February 6, 1778, the American colonies signed a Treaty of Amity and Commerce and a Treaty of Alliance with the country of France. The former treaty recognized the absolute sovereignty and independence of the colonies and established commercial rights in direct opposition to England’s Navigation Acts; the latter guaranteed financial and military support. On […]
BOOK REVIEW: Enemies to Their Country: The Marblehead Addressers and Consensus in the American Revolution by Nicholas W. Gentile. (Amherst and Boston, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2025) Paperback, $32.95. The first book by independent historian Nicholas W. Gentile brings to light an almost completely unknown incident that occurred in the coastal town of Marblehead, […]
In the months prior to the Revolutionary War’s culminating siege at Yorktown and Gloucester Point, Virginia in 1781, the embattled Old Dominion was the scene of an intense campaign of maneuvers and raids. These operations pitted the young Maj. Gen. the Marquis de Lafayette, commanding a small, hard-pressed but determined American force, against Lt. Gen. […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR Contributor Patrick H. Hannum about a little known, but important river crossing during the 1775 campaign in Virginia that eventually led to Royal Governor Lord Dunmore’s departure from the state. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on […]
Georgia’s legendary John Twiggs had a distinguished public career during and after the American Revolution, but he left almost no other information about himself, as reflected in the extremely concise and brief text on his tombstone and obituary. The family descends from the Twiggs family of Devonshire, England, reportedly including Thomas Twiggs (died 1614) of […]
Nowhere in the struggle that was the American Revolution was outside assistance more significant than at the siege of Yorktown during the autumn of 1781.[1] The French provided significant support from land troops, but it was the French Navy that really clinched the affair with their naval blockade that ultimately trapped the British army of […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR Contributor Richard Gardiner. For the last two centuries historians have speculated as to the identity of George Washington’s first teacher. Richard Gardiner provides compelling new evidence. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, […]
As his London Packet approached the colonies in November 1774, Thomas Paine was not scanning for land. After turning northwards towards Philadelphia in Delaware Bay, the former privateer was not visualizing where, during the Seven Years War, French privateer ships awaited English prey within the folds of the eastern shore.[1] Stricken with typhus fever that […]
In the spring of 1775, after war broke out at Lexington and Concord, a British garrison in Boston was surrounded by militia troops from all over New England. News of British reinforcements enroute made it clear that further violence was likely. Doctor Joseph Warren, a widower and one of the key organizers of the American […]
The Culper Spy Ring. An espionage network composed primarily of civilians funneling military intelligence to Gen. George Washington out of British-occupied New York City and Long Island. Washington once referred to it as “the channel upon which I most depend.”[1] It has been the subject of several books and a television show, so many would […]
River crossings during the American Revolution were common events. Historians, patriotic organizations and living history enthusiasts focus on several of these crossings with commemorations and reenactments. The most celebrated of all crossings is Washington’s Crossing of the Delaware on December 25, 1776. State parks, in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, recognize the crossing and events of […]
