2025 - Page 2 of 2 - Journal of the American Revolution

The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on January 20, 2025January 20, 2025

William Howe: Taking the Slow Boat to Philadelphia

Wars are seldom won or lost due to a single event. Rather, the ultimate result is often preceded by a series of (sometimes) lesser connecting events. Pennsylvania loyalist Joseph Galloway criticized Sir William Howe and Lord Richard Howe for many of their military strategies in a blizzard of pamphlets written between 1780 and 1782. In […]

by Richard J. Werther

Reviews Posted on January 20, 2025February 5, 2025

The Constitution’s Penman

BOOK REVIEW: The Constitution’s Penman: Gouverneur Morris and the Creation of America’s Basic Charter by Dennis C. Rasmussen (University Press of Kansas, 2023) The Constitution stands as the foundation of the United States’ government and political system, a point on which all Americans can agree even as they dispute how the document should be interpreted. […]

by Jim Piecuch

Battles Posted on January 16, 2025January 15, 2025

Morgan’s Victory at the Cowpens: Brilliant Tactics or Fortunate Volley?

Gen. Daniel Morgan’s defeat of Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton at the Cowpens is generally attributed to his arrangement of troops into three lines, with two lines of militia in front to wear down the advancing enemy. Morgan, however, mentioned only a single line, and he attributed his victory to a “fortunate volley.” Did Morgan not […]

by Conner Runyan and C. Leon Harris

Autobiography and Biography Posted on January 13, 2025

George Washington as Parent

George Washington was a colonel in the Virginia militia, master of Mount Vernon, founding father, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, first president of the United States, and Father of his Country. The nation’s capital, many other towns and thousands of streets carry the Washington name. Yet, George Washington “was far less powerful in the tiny […]

by Chaim M. Rosenberg

The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on January 9, 2025January 8, 2025

Rhode Island Soldiers of Color at Red Bank, Monmouth, and Valley Forge

The 1st Rhode Island Regiment, famously known as the “Black Regiment,” is renowned for its key role in helping to repel three enemy charges at the Battle of Rhode Island on August 29, 1778. What is not widely appreciated is that Rhode Island’s two Continental Army regiments were multi-racial before the famous “Black Regiment” was […]

by Christian McBurney

The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on January 7, 2025January 3, 2025

Joseph Trumbull and the Challenge of Feeding an Army

The saying that “an army marches on its stomach” has been attributed to both Napolean Bonaparte and Frederick II, King of Prussia, known as “Frederick the Great.”[1] If this observation is correct, it can be argued that nobody did more to keep the Continental Army on the move during perhaps its time of greatest travail, […]

by David Price

Reviews Posted on January 6, 2025January 3, 2025

Backcountry War: The Rise of Francis Marion, Banastre Tarleton, and Thomas Sumter

BOOK REVIEW: Backcountry War, The Rise of Francis Marion, Banastre Tarleton and Thomas Sumter by Andrew Waters (Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2024) $34.95 Cloth In his Epilogue to Backcountry War, The Rise of Francis Marion, Banastre Tarleton and Thomas Sumter, Andrew Waters states he wrote the book for himself to better understand his childhood exposure to […]

by Patrick H. Hannum

The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on January 2, 2025

The Short War of James Wilcox, 33rd Regiment of Foot

The British army did a lot of recruiting in 1775 and 1776. After the government committed to using force to quell the rebellion in America, the War Office increased the authorized size of each regiment deployed overseas by 50 percent—from 360 private soldiers to 540. Part of this increase was accomplished by transferring soldiers from […]

by Don N. Hagist

Year: 2025