Brown’s Raid on Ticonderoga and Mount Independence
byThis story begins five weeks after Gen. John Burgoyne’s army forced the Americans to abandon positions on Lake Champlain in July 1777. On August…
Hell’s Half-Acre: The Fall of Loyalist Crean Brush
byOn October 18, 1777, New York provincial assemblyman, and tory, Crean Brush, penned his final will and testament from prison in Boston. After nineteen…
The JAR 2021 Book of the Year Award Finalists
byMany things remained slow and uncertain during 2021, but the publication of excellent new books on the American Revolution and founding era was not…
This Week on Dispatches: Scott M. Smith on Robert Rogers and the American Revolution
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Scott M. Smith on Robert Rogers, a legend for his service during the Seven Years’…
Charles Townshend: Architect of the Townshend Duties
byThe increasingly turbulent years preceding the American Revolution were fueled by an exchange of laws promulgated by Great Britain to maintain political and economic…
2
Blessing of the Flags
byDuring the era of the American Revolution, French and Spanish regiments were comprised primarily of Roman Catholics who customarily have objects and implements blessed…
2
Undeceived: Who Would Write the Political Story of the Revolution?
byIn July 1783 John Jay, one of the Americans negotiating a treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States, was sitting at…
March to Independence: The American Revolution in the Southern Colonies, 1775–1776
byBOOK REVIEW: March to Independence: The American Revolution in the Southern Colonies, 1775-1776 by Michael Cecere (Yardley, Pa.: Westholme Publishing for Journal of the American Revolution…
Jemima Howe: Two Competing Captivity Narratives
byJemima Howe (1724–1805), a pioneer woman of the early Vermont frontier wilderness, survived a 1755 abduction along with her seven children ranging from six…
Thaddeus Kosciuszko: “Patron Saint of West Point”
byIn Douglas S. Freeman’s biography of Robert E. Lee, he noted: Corps activities took a certain amount of Lee’s time that winter. Kosciuszko was…
7
An Absent Clause: The Exclusion of Madison’s 16th Amendment
byA separation of powers is a defining structural feature of the federal government established by the United States Constitution, yet an explicit statement of…
2
The Brethren: A Story of Faith and Conspiracy In Revolutionary America
byBook Review: The Brethren: A Story of Faith and Conspiracy in Revolutionary America by Brendan McConville (Harvard University Press, 2021) Recent scholarship on the Revolution…
5
The Frankford Advice: “Place Virginia at the Head of Everything”
bySince James Thomas Flexner’s 1974 Pulitzer recognition for his biography of George Washington, one of the axioms of the American founding is that the…
The Taking of the Shuldham, 1781
byThe fabulous news of the victory at Yorktown was announced in the small town of Stamford, Connecticut, on the coast of Long Island Sound…
5
Christmas Day: A Soldier’s Holiday?
bySoldiers’ celebrations depended on circumstances, personal beliefs, and family or community traditions. David DeSimone notes in his article “Another Look at Christmas in the…
4
A Demographic View of the North Carolina Continental Line, 1775–1783
byMany North Carolina soldiers served in both the North Carolina militia/state troops and one of the state’s Continental regiments. To complement my study of…
1
A Video Tour of Mount Vernon
byMount Vernon was George Washington’s lifetime project, from his inheritance of the property in the mid-1700s until his death in 1799. It was his prized…
The Management of Sequestered Estates in South Carolina, 1780–1782
byOn September 16, 1780, while at the Waxhaws on the northern border of South Carolina, Lt. Gen. Earl Cornwallis, the British General Officer commanding…
2
The Constitutional Authority of the Continental Congress
byOn July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress declared America’s Independence from the British Empire. Approximately five years later, on March 1, 1781, Congress…
1
North Carolina Colonel Joseph Williams in the Cherokee Campaign of 1776
by“We have every reason to believe,” proclaimed the North Carolina Council of Safety, that “the emissaries of [the British] government are making use of…
3
Cooch’s Bridge, Delaware’s Only Revolutionary War Battle
byOn December 5, 2018, the State of Delaware announced that it had acquired the historic property at Cooch’s Bridge, site of the only Revolutionary…
3
Governor Jonathan Trumbull, Who Supplied Washington’s Suffering Army . . . and the French
byJonathan Trumbull, Senior is the most important governor in Connecticut’s long history. This is not only because of the many key contributions he made…
This Week on Dispatches: Woody Holton on His New Book, Liberty is Sweet
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews Woody Holton, distinguished historian, professor at the University of South Carolina, and JAR contributor, about his…
3
Jemima Howe, Frontier Pioneer to Wealthy Widow
byJemima Howe (1724–1805) reflects the strength it took to endure the harsh realities of the Vermont frontier during the American colonial and Revolutionary War…
6
Daniel Shays’s Honorable Rebellion
byBOOK REVIEW: Daniel Shays’s Honorable Rebellion: An American Story by Daniel Bullen (Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2021) There is truth to the adage that history is told…
1
Virginian Ned Streater, African American Minute Man
byNed Streater (also spelled Streator) was a twenty-year-old man when he first served early in the American Revolution as a member of a Virginia…
3
The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of King George III
byBOOK REVIEW: The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of King George III by Andrew Roberts (New York: Viking, 2021) In 1774, a…
This Week on Dispatches: Bridget Barbara on Yorktown Videography
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews video producer, history enthusiast, and JAR contributor Bridget Barbara on her recent visit to the Yorktown…
5
The Fruits of Victory: Loyalist Prisoners in the Aftermath of Kings Mountain
byThe Battle of Kings Mountain was fought on October 7, 1780 in the upcountry of South Carolina near the border with North Carolina. As…
3
Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed
byFILM REVIEW: Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed. Directed by Chris Stearns. Executive Producers James Kirby Martin and Ray Raymond. (Talon Films Production, 2021) One of…
4
The Two Sieges of Louisbourg: Harbingers of American Discontent
byWhen they heard the news in 1757, some New Englanders smirked. Others grew angry. The British were mounting a major expedition against the powerful…
3
Thirteen Clocks: How Race United the Colonies and Made the Declaration of Independence
byBOOK REVIEW: Thirteen Clocks: How Race United the Colonies and Made the Declaration of Independence by Robert G. Parkinson (Williamsburg, VA: Omohundro Institute of Early…
This Week on Dispatches: James M. Smith on How America Declared Its Rights
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor James M. Smith on the political, legal, and philosophical influences considered by the First…
5
John Adams’s Love of Cider
byIt is not exactly a secret that John Adams was a fan of cider. The Massachusetts-born second President’s love of the drink has been…
4
Major Robert Rogers and the American Revolution
byAfter his exploits during the French and Indian War, Robert Rogers (1732-1795) was indisputably the most famous military leader born in the thirteen colonies;…
1
Review: The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton
byBOOK REVIEW: The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton by Andrew Porwancher (Princeton University Press, 2021). While Alexander Hamilton has attracted his fair share of attention…
This Week on Dispatches: Richard Werther on George Washington and the First Mandatory Immunization
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Richard Werther talks about his recent article about how small pox threatened to derail…
1
The Battle of Mamaroneck
byThe Battle of Mamaroneck, known to some as the “Skirmish of Heathcote Hill,” was one of the most obscure military engagements of the Revolution…
1
Edmund Burke and Thomas Jefferson on Citizen’s Duties
byIn 1790, when Edmund Burke published his Reflections on the Revolution in France, it triggered lots of backlash from people like Thomas Paine, Richard…