Unknown and forgotten: James Hogun
byGenerals appointed by the Continental Congress often owed their commissions to their state of residence as the congressmen tried to ensure that the rank…
Commodore Lewis/Louis Warrington, France’s Revolutionary Gift to America
byWhile France and the United States have always exchanged gifts representative of their support of democratic ideals, not all the gifts were between statesman…
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Patient Hero: John Henry and the Earliest American Account of Posttraumatic Stress
byIn 1871, Jacob Mendes Da Costa published a study of a condition he termed “Irritable Heart” that described a series of symptoms observed among…
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The 3rd New Jersey Regiment’s Ticonderoga Vendetta
byLt. Col. Anthony Walton White of the 3rd New Jersey Regiment had a very rocky 1776. His service was peppered with several episodes more…
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A Tale of Three Gunboats: Lake Champlain’s Revolutionary War Heritage
byBook Review: A Tale of Three Gunboats: Lake Champlain’s Revolutionary War Heritage by Philip Lundeberg, Arthur Cohn, Jennifer Jones, et al. (Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and the…
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Terror on the Frontier: The Grim Ordeal of Delilah Corbly
byMore often than not, the horrific realities of warfare are shielded by bland accounts and cold statistics. When it comes to the Revolutionary War,…
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Thomas Jefferson, the American Revolution, and the Creation of a Republican World
byIn popular understandings of the three Atlantic Revolutions of late eighteenth century, the American Revolution (1765-1783) is often regarded as the least radical and…
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The French Bread Connection
byIt was the letter that forced Washington to give up his dream of recapturing New York. Gen. Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau,…
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A Fresh Look at Major Patrick Ferguson
byIn the prior year there have been several articles in the Journal of the American Revolution reappraising certain participants involved with the southern campaign….
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Fire and Desolation: The Revolutionary War’s 1778 Campaign as Waged from Quebec and Niagara Against the American Frontiers
byBook Review: Fire and Desolation: The Revolutionary War’s 1778 Campaign as Waged from Quebec and Niagara Against the American Frontiers by Gavin K. Watt…
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Unfriendly to America? The Two Sides of Jacob Rogers
byJacob Rogers was scared. So scared, in fact, that he—a Loyalist and former lieutenant in the Royal Navy—traveled twelve miles to the Continental Army…
Tested Loyalties and Sense of Obligation: Two Maine Men and the American Revolution
byWhat do an American Revolution prisoner of war accused of being a spy, a first born scion of an established wealthy New England family,…
America’s First Black Ops
byPierre-Augustin de Caron, better known by his stage name, Beaumarchais, was a French playwright, financier, and confidant of King Louis XVI. In the spring…
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Strong Ground: Mount Independence and the American Revolution
byBook Review: Strong Ground: Mount Independence and the American Revolution by Donald H. Wickman and The Mount Independence Coalition (The Mount Independence Coalition, 2017) [BUY NOW]…
Top Articles of August 2017
byWe’re back! After celebrating our 1000th article and taking a summer break, we’re back in the saddle again with a healthy backlog of new…
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LaFayette, the American Experience
byI had the opportunity to visit the grave of the Revolutionary War hero the Marquise de LaFayette recently. As the American colonists were seeking…
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Did Benedict Arnold’s fleet plunder an American settlement?
byAs the sun set, Saturday, August 24, 1776, three American schooners, a sloop-of-war, and six gondolas sailed north from Crown Point toward the widest…
Casimir Pulaski’s Difficulties in Recruiting his Legion
byOn March 14, 1778, Gen. George Washington sent the following recommendation to Congress concerning Brig. Gen. Casimir Pulaski, who on February 28 had resigned…
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Revolution Against Empire: Taxes, Politics and the Origins of American Independence
byBook Review: Revolution Against Empire: Taxes, Politics and the Origins of American Independence by Justin du Rivage (Yale University Press, 2017) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] The…
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Sergeant Simon Giffin and his journal of the Revolution
byIn the early morning of May 30, 1777, my distant grandfather Sgt. Simon Giffin of Wethersfield, Connecticut left his home and followed the dirt…
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Continental Army Major Generals: The Best Biographies
byGeorge Washington biographies abound and the number continues to grow with at least fifteen new memoirs published in 2017. In fact, historian and Washington…
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Evolution of a Duel
byOn September 25, 1777, the day before British Gen. William Howe’s army triumphantly marched into the newly designated American capital of Philadelphia,[1] two of…
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The Tireless Pension Pursuit of Bristol Budd Sampson
byOn an October day in 1820, a fourteen-year-old African American boy trudged along a rural lane near the town of Barkhamsted, Connecticut. Two hundred…
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Celebrating 1,000 Articles (with a Holiday)
byThere are a lot of big numbers that demonstrate our exciting growth since publishing our first article in 2013. Four hardcover book series books published (and one…
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Bite the Bullet: An Impressive Collection from the Mohawk Valley Campaign
byI recently attended the Third Annual Conference of the American Revolution Mohawk Valley Conference in Fort Plain, New York where I met an eighty-seven-year-old…
Reamstown Provides: A Pennsylvania Town’s Contribution to Valley Forge
byIn a cemetery behind the Salem United Church of Christ, in Reamstown, Lancaster County, a boulder stands: This grinding bowl from East Cocalico is…
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Cornwallis and the autumn campaign of 1780 ― His advance from Camden to Charlotte
byAs events would prove, the autumn campaign was a very risky venture indeed, yet despite the operational difficulties attending it Cornwallis saw no option…
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Contributor Close-up: Joshua Shepherd
byAbout Joshua Shepherd Joshua Shepherd, a sculptor and freelance writer, has created over 20 public monuments. His articles, with a special focus on Revolutionary…
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Dunmore’s War: The Last Colonial Conflict of America’s Colonial Era
byBook review: Dunmore’s War: The Last Colonial Conflict of America’s Colonial Era by Glenn Williams (Westholme, 2017) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] In 1763, King…
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Offering of the Ladies: Esther Reed’s Sentiments, Washington’s Objections
byWashington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Franklin and, to a much greater extent, lesser notables such as Reed, Rush, Morris and dozens more profoundly understood what…
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King George III’s Twitter War
byIn 1775 London was the largest, most prosperous and economically important city in the world. [1] Though it was Britain’s capital, politically and economically…
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The Battle of Bennett’s Island: The New Jersey Site Rediscovered
byIt is not often the site of a Revolutionary War battle is rediscovered. It is even more unusual that the probable site is in…
Top 10 Articles of June 2017
byBefore we break for Independence Day, we want to extend a hearty welcome to several new writers who joined the JAR squad in June—Katie Turner…
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Five Walkers of Sandy River
byThe conflict in the south is often referred to as a civil war, pitting family members against each other. I haven’t really found too…
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The April 19, 1775 Civilian Evacuation of Lexington
by“This is My Little Girl That I Was So Afraid the Red Coats Would Get” One important aspect of the Battle of Lexington that…
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Avenging Francis Bradley, the Mecklenburg Marksman: A Family Story
byAs I summarized in The ‘Battle at McIntire’s Farm’, on October 3, 1780 Lord Cornwallis sent Maj. John Doyle on a foraging party north…
From Yorktown to England ― Cornwallis’s fraught passage home
byBased preponderantly on The Cornwallis Papers,[1] this article describes in part Cornwallis’s last days in Virginia, his brief sojourn in New York, and events…
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Theaters of the American Revolution: Northern, Middle, Southern, Western, Naval
byBook review: Theaters of the American Revolution: Northern, Middle, Southern, Western, Naval by James Kirby Martin, Mark Edward Lender, Edward G. Lengel, Charles Neimeyer, Jim…
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The Scandalous Divorce Case that Influenced the Declaration of Independence
byDuring the hot, humid Philadelphia summer of 1776, the writing of the Declaration of Independence was just another Congressional housekeeping chore which the delegates…