The First Four Days at Valley Forge
byThe following timeline narrative attempts to unite previously disjointed events and occurrences regarding the first four days of the Continental army’s six-month stay at…
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Unreasonable Searches and Seizures: The Common Law Origins of the Fourth Amendment
by“The great end for which men entered in society was to secure their property. That right is preserved sacred and incommunicable in all instances…
The Benedict Family of Salem, New York
byDavid Williams was one of the three New York State Militiamen who captured Major John André on September 23, 1780.[1] In June 1780, Williams left…
This Week on Dispatches: Jett Conner on the Evolution of Thomas Paine’s Thoughts on Democracy
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews political scientist and JAR contributor Jett Conner on how Thomas Paine, once opposed to some of John…
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Charles Lee—The Continental Army’s Most Prolific Essayist General
byMaj. Gen. Charles Lee’s substantial literary contributions to the American independence movement have been overshadowed by his challenging Gen. George Washington for Continental Army…
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Thomas Paine on Popular Government in America: Evolution of a Radical’s Thinking
byIt would be hard to find a more strident, vocal supporter of popular government during America’s founding period than Thomas Paine. The proposals put…
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This Week on Dispatches: John E. Happ on Benjamin Franklin and the American Legacy in Paris
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor John E. Happ on the commemorations to Benjamin Franklin and the American Revolution that can…
Days of Thanksgiving
byDays of Thanksgiving were frequently declared in colonial and early America. We asked our contributors for their favorite proclamation of Thanksgiving between 1765 and…
This Week on Dispatches: Chip Langston on Captain James Morris
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Chip Langston on the life of Captain James Morris of the Connecticut Light Infantry who…
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Eleven Patriot Company Commanders at Great Bridge, December 9, 1775
byDuring August 1775, the Third Virginia Convention replaced the Volunteer Militia Companies, authorized in March 1775 by the Second Virginia Convention, with a new…
Benjamin Franklin and the American Legacy in Paris
byFrance has an extraordinary way of commemorating the glorious past through landmarks and monuments. Benjamin Franklin had been an off and on resident of…
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Smallpox by Inoculation: The Tragedy of New York’s Rosewell Beebe
byThe day following the legendary taking of Fort Ticonderoga on May 10, 1775, Lt. Col. Ethan Allen reported the successful mission to New York’s…
Captain James Morris of the Connecticut Light Infantry
byIn 1812 when the British attacked the United States for the second time, Captain James Morris of the South Farms District of Litchfield, Connecticut,…
“No Man Knows the Country Better”: The Frontier Life of John Gibson
byBOOK REVIEW: No Man Knows This Country Better”: The Frontier Life of John Gibson by Gary S. Williams (University of Akron Press, 2022) The…
This Week on Dispatches: David Otersen on Algernon Sidney and the American Revolution
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor David Otersen on the influence of political philosopher Alergnon Sidney on Thomas Jefferson, John Adams,…
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The Battle of Green Spring: A Footnote on the Road to Yorktown
byEnsign Ebenezer Denny calculated that he went from a green officer to a combat veteran in all of four minutes. Yet in those harsh…
John Joachim Zubly: PART 3, A Patriot Essayist Whose Cause Was Lost
byIn the 1760s and through 1775 John J. Zubly was the leading Whig in Georgia. He wrote a number of sermons and political tracts…
John Joachim Zubly: PART 2, A Patriot Congressman Whose Cause Was Lost
byGeorgia did not send a delegation to the first Continental Congress in 1774. The least populous colony of the thirteen British colonies in North…
John Joachim Zubly: PART 1, A Patriot Minister Whose Cause Was Lost
byMaurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961), a French philosopher, once said that the definition of a traitor was “a patriot whose cause was lost.” In the time…
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Vermont’s Grave of the Unknown Soldier
byThose who study the Revolution in the northeast have some familiarity with the Crown Point Road that ran from the Fort at #4 in…
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Algernon Sidney and the American Revolution
byAlgernon Sidney was a seventeenth-century British political theorist, Member of Parliament, and Whig politician who was executed for treason on December 7, 1683, during…
Dark Voyage: An American Privateer’s War on Britain’s Slave Trade
byBOOK REVIEW: Dark Voyage: An American Privateer’s War on Britain’s African Slave Trade by Christian McBurney (Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2022) In Dark Voyage: An American…
This Week on Dispatches: Eric Sterner on Britain, Russia, and the Armed Neutrality of 1780
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews author and JAR contributor Eric Sterner about an important international repercussion of the British war in America:…
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One Man’s Campaign against Smallpox: James Thacher, M.D., Continental Army Physician
byJames Thacher’s contribution to the history of smallpox and to the Revolutionary War has not been fully appreciated. In the historical scholarship, his tireless…
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The Motion to End the War with the American Colonies, February 22, 1782
byOn December 12, 1781, a motion to end the war with the American colonies and to grant them their independence was introduced in the House…
Britain, Russia, and the Armed Neutrality of 1780
byLike a rock dropped into a smooth pond, the American Revolution spread ripples across the European world. French and Spanish entry into the war…
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Providence Merchant John Brown Gets Rich Privateering in 1776 and 1777
byThroughout the churning tides of 1776 and 1777, John Brown, a prominent a prominent merchant from Providence, Rhode Island, amassed a fortune by investing…
This Week on Dispatches: Shawn David McGhee on the First Partisan Application of the Electoral College
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian and JAR contributor Shawn David McGhee explains how a plot was devised to unseat Vice President…
The British Entry Into, and Occupation of Charlotte, September 26 to October 14, 1780
byThe first objective in Lt. Gen. Earl Cornwallis’s first invasion of North Carolina was the capture of Charlotte. He intended to establish a post…
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The American Revolutionary War in the West Museum Exhibit
byRecently, JAR interviewed author Stephen L. Kling, Jr. about the American Revolutionary War in the West Museum Exhibit at the St. Charles County Heritage…
This Week on Dispatches: Patrick H. Hannum on Virginia’s 1775 Regular Company-Level Military Structure
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Patrick H. Hannum on his research to determine the leadership and deployment of Virginia’s military…
“Characters Pre-eminent for Virtue and Ability”: The First Partisan Application of the Electoral College
byScholars typically cast the outcome of the second presidential election as either a forgone conclusion or a non-event.[1] After all, George Washington ran unchallenged…
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Anthony Wayne’s Repulse at Bull’s Ferry, July 21, 1780
byGeneral Anthony Wayne was one of the most capable generals in the Continental Army and is perhaps best remembered for his successful surprise attack that…
This Week on Dispatches: Sarah Swift on Searching for Samuel Babcock’s Military Service
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews actor, research, and JAR contributor, Sarah Swift on her research on the service record of Loyalist Samuel…
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The Strange Affair of the King and the Repeal of the Stamp Act
by“The King had evidently consented to the repeal, and then disavowed his Ministers.”—Horace Walpole, Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Third In…
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Searching for Samuel’s Service: Stories of the Revolution Revealed Through One Man
byThe American Revolution was perhaps America’s first civil war—a dispute that forced neighbors to choose between country and King; to declare themselves Patriots or…
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The Sewing Girl’s Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America
byBOOK REVIEW: The Sewing Girl’s Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America by John Wood Sweet (New York: Henry Holt and Company,…
This Week on Dispatches: William W. Reynolds on the Yorktown Surrender Documents
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor William W. Reynolds on his examination of the surrender documents from Yorktown discovering differences between…
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The Significance of John Cadwalader
byIn 1776, John Cadwalader was a thirty-four-year-old merchant and prominent member of the Philadelphia gentry who had risen to command the volunteer militia known…