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Historic Sites Posted on

The American Revolution in Alexandria, Virginia: Upheaval in George Washington’s Hometown

Alexandria, Virginia, is well known as George Washington’s hometown, but its role during the American Revolution is not widely understood. Like the rest of Northern Virginia, Alexandria was largely spared the fierce warfare that raged across the country. Nonetheless, the Revolution profoundly affected the community. Founded in 1749 along the Potomac River, Alexandria was a […]

by Kieran J. O'Keefe
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Robert Scott Davis on Margaret Eustace and the American Revolution

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews historian, author, and JAR contributor Robert Scott Davis on Georgian socialite and possible British spy, Margaret Eustace, and how she and her family navigated the American Revolution. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of the American Revolution. Dispatches is a free podcast […]

by Editors
Features Posted on

“Virginia Makes the Poorest Figure of Any State”: The Virginia Infantry at the Valley Forge Encamplent, 1777–1778

“Virginia Makes the Poorest Figure of Any State”: The Virginia Infantry at the Valley Forge Encampment, 1777-1778 by Joseph Lee Boyle (Clearfield, 2019) Joseph Lee Boyle is a man with a mission, one which his thirty-two years of service with the National Park Service has prepared him nicely for. The former park historian at one of […]

by Michael Cecere
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Law Posted on

Colonel Henry Jackson Accused by His Junior Officers of Misconduct at the Battle of Monmouth Court House

In my study of Major General Charles Lee, who commanded Continental Army troops at the fascinating Battle of Monmouth Court House, I argue that his post-battle convictions for failing to attack the enemy and for an unwarranted retreat were unjustified. I further argue that most of the blame for the retreat should have fallen on […]

by Christian McBurney
Audiovisual Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Bridget Barbara on Retracing the Steps of Benedict Arnold and John André

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews video producer and JAR contributor Bridget Barbara on her recent video following footsteps of John André and Benedict Arnold through the modern landscape. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of the American Revolution. Dispatches is a free podcast that puts a voice […]

by Editors
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Critical Thinking Posted on

A Demographic View of North Carolina Militia and State Troops, 1775–1783

After nearly a quarter of a millennium, what do we really know about the militia and state troops that served during the Revolutionary War? Historians and researchers over the past century have dedicated entire volumes to addressing this question with numerous publications of militia rosters. While this research has proven invaluable, what does it really […]

by Douglas R. Dorney, Jr.
Features Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Damien Cregeau on Ten Revolutionary War Patriot Graves

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews historian and JAR contributor Damien Cregeau about ten notable graves and memorials honoring Patriots, from George Washington to Joseph Plumb Martin. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of the American Revolution. Dispatches is a free podcast that puts a voice to the […]

by Editors
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Critical Thinking Posted on

The Mysterious March of Horatio Gates

Following the American surrender at Charleston on May 12, 1780, the Continental Army’s “Southern Department” was in disarray. Taken prisoner that day were 245 officers and 2,326 enlisted, including Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, the Southern Department’s commander-in-chief, along with militia and armed citizens, the most American prisoners surrendered at one time during the American Revolution.[1] […]

by Andrew Waters
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Illness and Disease Posted on

The British Invade Nicaragua: The San Juan Expedition

According to Andrew Jackson O’ Shaughnessy, the San Juan Expedition was among “the most ambitious enterprises of the American Revolutionary War.”[1] In 1779, after Spain’s formal entry into the war, the British aimed at striking Spanish interests in Central America. They would invade by first securing control of the San Juan River in present-day Nicaragua. Their […]

by George Kotlik
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Illness and Disease Posted on

What Killed Prisoners of War?—A Medical Investigation

Editor’s Note: This article contains graphic medical descriptions. Throughout the Revolutionary War, prisoners learned that dysentery accompanied starvation. Confined to the prison ship Jersey in 1781, Christopher Hawkins described rations “not sufficient to satisfy the calls of hunger.” In the next two sentences, Hawkins mentioned that “the bloody flux or dyssenterry” prevailed on the Jersey, from […]

by Brian Patrick O'Malley
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Constitutional Debate Posted on

The First Efforts to Limit the African Slave Trade Arise in the American Revolution: Part 3 of 3, Congress Bans the African Slave Trade

In October 1774, in a stunning and radical move, delegates of the First Continental Congress signed a pledge for the thirteen mainland colonies not to participate in the African slave trade. Perhaps equally astounding, Americans largely complied, turning the pledge into an outright ban. Congress’s ban and widespread compliance with it during the Revolutionary War […]

by Christian McBurney
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Constitutional Debate Posted on

The First Efforts to Limit the African Slave Trade Arise in the American Revolution: Part 2 of 3, The Middle and Southern Colonies

The first article of this series discussed the increasing chorus of American Patriots in New England raising their voices against the African slave trade. This article focuses on the Middle and Southern Colonies, as well as a few select thinkers from Philadelphia. Those who opposed the African slave trade in colonies ruled by royal governors […]

by Christian McBurney
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Constitutional Debate Posted on

The First Efforts to Limit the African Slave Trade Arise in the American Revolution: Part 1 of 3, The New England Colonies

The American Revolution changed the way Americans viewed one of the world’s great tragedies: the African slave trade. The long march to end the slave trade and then slavery itself had to start somewhere, and a strong argument can be made that it started with the thirteen American colonies gaining independence from Great Britain, then […]

by Christian McBurney
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Engineering and Technology Posted on

Volunteer Overload: Foreign Support of the American Cause Prior to the French Alliance

Aside from being outmanned by the best army in the world when the American Revolution started, it was clear that the American forces were lacking specific skill sets, gaps which had to be addressed in order to assure victory. Early on, Congress identified several functions, the major ones being engineering and artillery, in which a […]

by Richard J. Werther
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Letters and Correspondence Posted on

Margaret Eustace and Her Family Pass through the American Revolution

John L. Smith, Jr. introduced readers of the Journal of the American Revolution to Margaret Eustace in his article, “The Scandalous Divorce Case that Influenced the Declaration of Independence.” She had a second act in the American Revolution. In Georgia, late in the war, she made a name for herself. In November 1772, Thomas Jefferson represented Eustace’s […]

by Robert Scott Davis
Interviews Posted on

This Week on Dispatches: Michael Cecere on Patrick Henry’s March on Williamsburg

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor, author, and educator Michael Cecere on his recent article about Patrick Henry’s March on Williamsburg and how that event averted a military confrontation in Virginia. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of the American Revolution. Dispatches is a free podcast that […]

by Editors
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Historic Sites Posted on

Minorcans, New Smyrna, and the American Revolution in East Florida

Beyond Florida’s state boundaries the history of New Smyrna is seldom mentioned.[1] Well known to the locals of New Smyrna Beach, the region’s settlement by European colonists dates to 1768 when Scottish physician Andrew Turnbull led a colonization effort to Britain’s far flung outpost in North America. After a trip to Asia Minor and the Mediterranean, […]

by George Kotlik
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Letters and Correspondence Posted on

L’Expédition Particuliere: Winter 1780 and the Battle of Cape Henry

In July 1780, after three and half months at sea, nearly 6,000 thousand men[1] and supplies crammed on four frigates, seven ships of the line, and thirty-six transport vessels, sailed into Narragansett Bay. Ludwig von Closen of the Royal Deux-Ponts was dispatched to alert Gen. George Washington that the French allies had arrived. Washington quickly […]

by Kim Burdick