BOOK REVIEW: The Stamp Act and the American Revolution by Ken Shumate. (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2025) $29.95 hardcover. The American Revolution as a process of separation from Great Britain started long before April 1775 as once-proud English colonists in North America struggled with their place in the early empire. The story of that struggle […]
If one were to create a soundtrack for the day the Declaration of Independence was read in Philadelphia, what music would accompany the event? While “Yankee Doodle” might immediately come to mind, only two tunes, the “Liberty Song” sung to the British tune “Heart of Oak” printed in 1768, and the 1770 hymn “Chester” by […]
In early 1792, President George Washington was in search of a general. For the last six years, the United States had been battling Native American forces of the Western Confederacy in the modern state of Ohio, and the Americans were losing the war. Led by Little Turtle (Miami), Blue Jacket (Shawnee), and Buckongahelas (Lenape), Native […]
On August 17, 1775 Capt. James Wood returned to his home in Winchester, Virginia from a month-long diplomatic mission to the Native American nations west of the Appalachian Mountains and north of the Ohio River.[1] Wood’s mission was vital. In one of its last official acts, the Virginia House of Burgesses appointed George Washington, Thomas […]
Gen. George Washington has long stood at the center of the American Revolution’s intelligence story, but every commander, British and American, in North America understood the importance of intelligence gathering and the impact of information. His use of spies and long-established techniques such as coded messages and invisible ink is well documented, and for many, […]
The 1781 defeat of British forces at Yorktown Virginia is often cited as the pivotal battle of the American Revolution, winning American independence. General George Washington with the support of French ground and naval forces under General Rochambeau and Admiral de Grasse, along with the expertise of French engineers, conducted a siege at Yorktown forcing […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Gene Procknow on wealthy Irish landowner Apollos Morris’s little-known attempt to broker peace between the American colonies and England before hostilities escalated. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and […]
The death of Col. Christopher Greene of the Rhode Island Regiment during the Loyalist raid at Pine’s Bridge on the Croton River in May 1781 represents one of the most brutal and dramatic episodes of irregular warfare in the American Revolution. Drawing upon contemporary correspondence, eyewitness testimony, military reports, and later historical compilations, this surprise […]
BOOK REVIEW: Fire and Freedom: The American Revolution in New York, edited by Thomas S. Wermuth, Devin Lander, Jennifer Lemak, Robert Chiles. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2026) $29.95 hardcover What region of the nation do people picture when they think of the setting of the American Revolution? It is certainly no surprise that New […]
John Adams is a singular figure in the history of the American Revolution. No founder contributed more to the Revolution while drawing less attention from future generations, both historians and the public, searching for meaning in the American Revolution. Throughout his life Adams was aware of his reputation—“obnoxious, suspected and unpopular”—and the impact it would […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews musician Andrew Scott Wills of the band Hawken Horse. Through his love of history and music, Nashville’s Wills has brought the Revolutionary frontier back to the 21st century. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, Stitcher, Google […]
In the midst of the French and Indian War, with dusk settling over the Loyalhanna Creek and volunteer soldiers firing at shadows in the dark, George Washington confronted an “inexcusable but understandable military blunder.”[1] Mistaking their fellow soldiers for enemy combatants in the midst of heavy fog and failed communication, two battalions of Virginians fired […]