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Documents Posted on

Thirteen Clocks: How Race United the Colonies and Made the Declaration of Independence

BOOK REVIEW: Thirteen Clocks: How Race United the Colonies and Made the Declaration of Independence by Robert G. Parkinson (Williamsburg, VA: Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture; Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2021) The final grievance that Thomas Jefferson included in the Declaration of Independence used blatantly racist language, making it […]

by Timothy Symington
Documents Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: James M. Smith on How America Declared Its Rights

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor James M. Smith on the political, legal, and philosophical influences considered by the First Continental Congress in the formulation of their Declaration of Rights, a 1774 draft that declared the American colonies independent, yet was never brought up for a full vote in that congress. […]

by Editors
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Richard Werther on George Washington and the First Mandatory Immunization

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Richard Werther talks about his recent article about how small pox threatened to derail the American cause by depleting troops strengths and George Washington’s realization that ordering universal inoculation for his army was necessary to prosecute the war. New episodes of Dispatches are available for […]

by Editors
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Battles Posted on

The Battle of Mamaroneck

The Battle of Mamaroneck, known to some as the “Skirmish of Heathcote Hill,” was one of the most obscure military engagements of the Revolution but noteworthy for being the first time in the war that organized infantry units composed entirely of Americans—including Continental Army soldiers—encountered each other. To that extent, it might be regarded as […]

by David Price
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Battles Posted on

Review: Decision at Brandywine: The Battle on Birmingham Hill

BOOK REVIEW: Decision At Brandywine: The Battle on Birmingham Hill by Robert M. Dunkerly (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2021) Historian and National Park Ranger Robert M. Dunkerly begins his book with an admission that the Battle of Brandywine is his passion: “Brandywine has fascinated me since I was young” (page ix). What follows is an unusual […]

by Timothy Symington
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Rand Mirante on John Marshall’s and Mercy Otis Warren’s Differing Views of Benedict Arnold’s Legacy

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Rand Mirante on John Marshall’s and Mercy Otis Warren’s differing views of Benedict Arnold in their postwar writings. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. Dispatches can […]

by Editors
People Posted on

Falcon Fans the Flames of Revolution: The Misadventures of Captain John Linzee

At the onset of the Revolutionary War, coastal towns north of Boston such as Salem, Marblehead, Beverly, and Gloucester were patrolled by British naval vessels supporting troops stationed ashore and looking for smugglers. The fourteen-gun sloop-of-war Falcon commanded by Capt. John Linzee was one of these vessels.[1] Having arrived in America early in the year, it […]

by Louis Arthur Norton
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Engineering and Technology Posted on

Review: Surveying in Early America

BOOK REVIEW: Surveying in Early America: The Point of Beginning, An Illustrated History by Dan Patterson and Clinton Terry (Cincinnati, OH: University of Cincinnati Press, 2021) One of the first things that people may learn about George Washington is that his earliest professional experience was in the field of surveying. He did this briefly, until his half-brother […]

by Timothy Symington
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Gregory J. W. Urwin on the American Slave Roundup after the British Surrender at Yorktown

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews distinguished historian and writer Gregory J. W. Urwin about his recent JAR article, “The Yorktown Tragedy,”  examining George Washington’s order following the American and French victory at Yorktown to round up enslaved persons who had fled to the British, and return them into bondage. New episodes of Dispatches […]

by Editors
News Posted on

March to Independence, the Latest in the JAR Book Series, Now Available

March to Independence: The American Revolution in the Southern Colonies, 1775–1776 by Michael Cecere chronicles this crucial twelve-month period in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida both politically and militarily. This latest book in the JAR Books Series is illustrated with six original maps, including the battles of Great Bridge, Virginia, and […]

by Editors
Features Posted on

Cavalry in the Wilderness: Cavalry in the Western Theater of the American Revolutionary War and the French and Indian War

Book Review: Cavalry in the Wilderness: Cavalry in the Western Theater of the American Revolutionary War and the French and Indian War by Stephen L. Kling, Jr. (St. Louis, MO: THGC Publishing, 2021) As author Steven L. Kling, Jr., notes in the preface to Cavalry in the Wilderness, until recently cavalry operations in the American Revolution […]

by Jim Piecuch
Arts & Literature Posted on

Justice, Mercy, and Treason: John Marshall’s and Mercy Otis Warren’s Treatments of Benedict Arnold

In the early years of the nineteenth century, the founders of the new American Republic were lurching forward from the shockingly successful outcome of their increasingly remote Revolution, and finding themselves immersed in the uncharted waters of nation-building. The political landscape was inflamed by passionate partisanship and varying, often vituperatively expressed visions of what course […]

by Rand Mirante
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Politics During the War (1775-1783) Posted on

Review: The Cause: The American Revolution and Its Discontents, 1773–1783

BOOK REVIEW: The Cause: The American Revolution and its Discontents, 1773-1783 by Joseph J. Ellis (New York, NY: Liveright Publishing, 2021) Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph J. Ellis’s examines the evolving meaning of the American Revolution in his newest work, The Cause: The American Revolution and its Discontents. The events that history refers to as the Revolution […]

by Timothy Symington
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Patrick Hannum on the Meeting of the Three Commanders

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian, decorated Marine veteran, and JAR contributor Patrick Hannum on the historic meeting between George Washington, French admiral, Comte de Grasse, and French general Comte de Rochambeau during the Yorktown campaign. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, […]

by Editors
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Features Posted on

Review: Redemption from Tyranny: Herman Husband’s American Revolution

Book Review: Redemption from Tyranny: Herman Husband’s American Revolution by Bruce E. Stewart (Charlottesville, VA and London: University of Virginia Press, 2020) On a spring day in 1775, two Pennsylvania judges placed an exorbitant bond on a participant in a public protest against the British government. The judges were not simply Loyalists trying to put […]

by Christopher Walton
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Historiography Posted on

The Yorktown Tragedy: Washington’s Slave Roundup

On October 19, 1781, Gen. George Washington attained his apex as a soldier. Straddling a spirited charger at the head of a formidable Franco-American army, Washington watched impassively as 6,000 humiliated British, German, and Loyalist soldiers under the command of Lt. Gen. Charles, Second Earl Cornwallis, emerged from their fortifications to lay down their arms […]

by Gregory J. W. Urwin
Autobiography and Biography Posted on

Review: Mind and Hearts: The Story of James Otis Jr. and Mercy Otis Warren

BOOK REVIEW: Minds and Hearts: The Story of James Otis Jr. and Mercy Otis Warren by Jeffrey Hacker (Amherst, MA: Bright Leaf/University of Massachusetts Press, 2021) James Otis and his sister Mercy Otis Warren belong on any list of underappreciated founding-era Americans. James was described by none less than John Adams as being “the earliest and […]

by Alec D. Rogers
Battles Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Michael C. Harris and Gary Ecelbarger on the Numerical Strength of Washington’s Army During the Philadelphia Campaign

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historians and JAR contributors Michael C. Harris and Gary Ecelbarger on their important work to better determine the numerical strength of the Continental Army during the 1777 Philadelphia Campaign. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, […]

by Editors
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Battles Posted on

Skirmish at James’s Plantation: Victory and Defeat for Benedict Arnold in Virginia

A recent home improvement project led to the Home Depot located at 2324 Elson Green Avenue, Virginia Beach, Virginia. The area is in the middle of the expansion of the old narrow two-lane country Princess Anne Road, into a modern six lane highway with access lanes needed to support the growing private and commercial vehicle […]

by Patrick H. Hannum and Christopher Pieczynski
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Critical Thinking Posted on

Terrain and Tactics: Detailed Perspectives From William Howe’s War Plan of 1776

The objective of the 1776 British campaign was straightforward: capture New York and crush the American rebellion. The plan was the brainchild of British commander-in-chief Gen. William Howe and the Secretary of State for the American Department George Germain. Howe had every reason to think he would make quick work of it. His invasion was […]

by Ronald S. Gibbs, Courtney Spikes, and Thomas Paper
Autobiography and Biography Posted on

Review: George Washington: The Political Rise of America’s Founding Father

BOOK REVIEW: George Washington: The Political Rise of America’s Founding Father by David O. Stewart (New York, NY: Dutton, Penguin Random House, 2021) One of the most recent biographies of the first president got this reviewer comparing the majestic and physically intimidating George Washington with the short but brilliant fictional character Tyrion Lannister from the series […]

by Timothy Symington
Critical Thinking Posted on

Edmund Burke and Thomas Jefferson on Montesquieu

Antoine Louis Claude Destutt, comte de Tracy (1754–1836) was a famous French Enlightenment philosopher. Thomas Jefferson admired him, and was so impressed with his writings that he translated one of his works into English and published it. In 1811, Jefferson completed his translation of Destutt de Tracy’s Commentary on Montesquieu, writing in thepreface: Montesquieu’s immortal […]

by Haimo Li
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Critical Thinking Posted on

The Numerical Strength of George Washington’s Army During the 1777 Philadelphia Campaign

Introduction Perhaps the most important facet for understanding and appreciating a military campaign is a solid grasp of the composition of the armies engaged in it; the quantity of troops shares equal importance to the identity and quality of them. The multitude of books and monographs dedicated to the 1777 Philadelphia campaign, whether in part […]

by Michael C. Harris and Gary Ecelbarger
Frontier Posted on

Ill-Fated Frontier

BOOK REVIEW: Ill-Fated Frontier: Peril and Possibilities in the Early American West by Samuel A. Forman (Guilford, CT: Lyons Press, 2021) Samuel A. Forman, author of Dr. Joseph Warren: The Boston Tea Party, Bunker Hill, and the Birth of American Liberty, was asked if he was related to Samuel S. Forman, who chronicled a trek to the western […]

by Timothy Symington