*** All JAR Articles ***

 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
2
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
3
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
2
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
39
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
2
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
3
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
4
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
Autobiography and Biography Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: David Price on Thomas Knowlton’s Revolution

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews author and JAR contributor David Price on the brief, but memorable, contribution of Thomas Knowlton to the American cause. 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 now […]

by Editors
1
Critical Thinking Posted on

A Further Evaluation of the Carlisle Peace Commission’s Initiative

In March, 1778, Lord North, the British Prime Minister, authorized the Carlisle Peace Commission to negotiate with the Continental Congress, terms for reconciliation rather than independence, in an effort to end the war with the American colonies. According to a number of accounts, the arrangements that England was willing to offer were extremely generous.[1] Nonetheless, […]

by Marvin L. Simner
1
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Jonathan Curran on Public Opinion and the Whiskey Rebellion

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews USMA instructor and JAR contributor Jonathan Curran on his research into how public opinion about those protesting the taxes on whiskey in Western Pennsylvania changed over the course of the conflict. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, […]

by Editors
3
Letters and Correspondence Posted on

The Varick Transcripts and the Preservation of the War

Five years into the war, with his papers piling up and stuffed into overflowing trunks that followed the general from headquarters to headquarters, George Washington took the extraordinary step of asking for help to organize and preserve these papers, seeing them for what they were, “valuable documents” of public importance, living histories of the fight […]

by Justin McHenry
Constitutional Debate Posted on

Stranger Citizens: Migrant Influence and National Power in the Early American Republic

BOOK REVIEW: Stranger Citizens: Migrant Influence and National Power in the Early American Republic by John McNelis O’Keefe (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2021) The infamous decision that Chief Justice Roger B. Taney authored in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) is widely considered to be one of the most notorious to have been issued from the United States’ Supreme […]

by Timothy Symington
1
Battles Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Dean Snow on Continental and Militia Cavalry at the Battle of Saratoga

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews emeritus professor and JAR contributor Dean Snow on his research into the Continental and militia cavalry at the Battle of Saratoga, both of which were critical to the American victory. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, […]

by Editors
Critical Thinking Posted on

Jefferson and Burke on Marat, Danton, and Robespierre

Thomas Jefferson is well-known for his so-called “Frenchified” stance.[1] On the topic of the relationship between Jefferson and French Revolution, scholarly accounts often stop at depicting Jefferson’s “sympathy for the French Revolution and his aspirations for a democratic republicanism,”[2] merely focusing on Jefferson’s so-called “radicalism.”[3] Scholars tend to describe Jefferson’s enthusiasm for the French Revolution […]

by Haimo Li
19
People Posted on

10 Amazing Women of the Revolutionary War

“I desire you would remember the ladies”—March 31, 1776, Abigail Adams to her husband, John Adams After reading the “Most Overrated Revolutionary” and the “Most Underrated Revolutionary,” and the amazing contributions by each and every person, it started me thinking about “the ladies” that I feel, in their own ways, helped achieve independence. The impact that […]

by Pamela Murrow