From 1952 until 1967, a popular American television show featured a panel of celebrities trying to guess a secret about a non-celebrity guest. The guest’s secret might be a remarkable or unusual talent, achievement or other attribute. On April 26, 1961, the show hosted Delia and Bertie Harris, sisters from Knoxville, Tennessee.[1] They were both […]
On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews history teacher and JAR contributor Matthew Reardon on the Loyalist raid up the Connecticut River in 1782 when the war was essentially over. The Connecticut coastline was contested for the duration of the American Revolution in what is called the “whaleboat wars.” Thousands of readers like you enjoy the […]
The exceedingly rare mezzotint of His Excellency George Washington Esqr (above) listed by Charles Hart as no. 1 in his Catalogue of the Engraved Portraits of Washington, a seminal work published in 1904, has long been considered by collectors as the most prized of all the portraits of Washington. Among other reasons, it is the first engraved […]
George Washington’s Nemesis: The Outrageous Treason and Unfair Court-Martial of Major General Charles Lee during the Revolutionary War by Christian McBurney (El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2019) It is interesting that popular culture can effectively present an inaccurate version of history. Paul Revere sent the misleading picture of Capt. Thomas Preston ordering his forces to […]
“A Most Dreadful Voyage” was how the captain of British supply ship Blue Mountain Valley described his mission to North America in the fall and winter of 1775–1776. The ship’s young Scottish captain, James Dempster, was an experienced merchant sailor with voyages to China, India, and the West Indies.[1] The mission Dempster embarked on when Blue […]
Just weeks after war broke out at Lexington and Concord, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, working in grudging consort,captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, as well as the settlement of Skenesborough (now Whitehall) at the southern end of the lake. Under orders from Arnold, Eleazer Oswald also captured a small vessel there. Oswald reported: “We […]
On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews historian and JAR contributor George Kotlik on the British invasion of Spanish Bahamas at the close of the American Revolution. 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 writing in […]
An epidemic that violently attacks public health—that sickens and takes lives; that cripples our economy; that forces us into our homes; that turns cities into ghost towns—may be unprecedented to the present generation of Americans, but was as commonplace to the Revolutionary generation as was revolution itself. The War of Independence, Shays’ Rebellion, the French […]
If January and February 1778 was Brig. Gen. Casimir Pulaski’s “Winter of his Discontent,”[1] then October through December 1778 was his “Autumn of Despair.” Following what has been called the “Massacre of the Pulaski Legion” at Egg Harbor, New Jersey, on October 15, 1778,[2] the Legion returned to Trenton, awaiting orders. On October 26, Pulaski […]
This story is the unfortunate flip side of “Top Ten Revolutionary War Patriot Homes in Connecticut”: the most significant Connecticut houses demolished in the 1800s or 1900s. Not included, of course, are the plethora of homes burned by the British in their raids on the Connecticut coast, including New Haven and Fairfield, in July 1779; […]
The Rebel and the Tory: Ethan Allen, Philip Skene, and the Dawn of Vermont by John J. Duff, H. Nicholas Muller III, and Gary G. Shattuck (Vermont Historical Society: Barre, VT, 2020) Every polity requires a founding saga to help form its societal identity. Oft recounted, Vermont’s foundation story starts with a group of democratic, yeoman […]
On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer speaks with electrical engineer and JAR contributor Stephen John Katzberg on the significance of the Battle of Eutaw Springs, South Carolina. During his research he applied geographical information systems (GIS) to correct the famous 1822 map of the battle produced by William Johnson. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the […]
French naval officer La Pérouse (Jean Francois de Galaup, Comte de la Pérouse) was one of many who actively supported the American Patriots in their war for independence from Britain. La Pérouse’s assignments included patrolling the North Atlantic where he directed the capture of numerous British merchant vessels.[1] His early 1781 outbound voyage from France […]
Restrictions on travel and gather due to the coronavirus pandemic have had a significant impact on historic sites and institutions dedicated to the American Revolution. We asked our contributors to recommend sites and organizations for our readers to consider supporting. The list is in the order received. Brady J. Crytzer Historic Hanna’s Town, Greensburg, PA: […]
Major General Charles Lee visited Newport, Rhode Island, in late December 1775, where he—controversially—insisted that local Loyalists take an oath of allegiance to the Continental Congress. This approach, and a similar one he took in New York City shortly thereafter, created concern in Congress on how best to handle Loyalists. But by mid-1778, Lee had changed […]
On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor and writer Eric Sterner on the Siege of Fort Henry on the Virginia frontier in 1782. The siege is notable for the bravery of Elizabeth “Betty” Zane, who risked her life to bring much needed gunpowder back to the fort. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the […]
There are many ways to reach Jamaica, Queens, via public transit. From Brooklyn or Manhattan one could catch a Queens-bound F Train and remain aboard until getting off at Parsons Boulevard near the end of the line. Hundreds of thousands of commuters pass through Jamaica every day, either on the F Train, via the many […]
1774: The Long Year of Revolution by Mary Beth Norton (Knopf, 2020) Although previous works have tried to draw attention to “The Missing 16 Months” between the Boston Tea Party in December of 1773 and the Battle of Lexington and Concord in April of 1775, Cornell history professor Mary Beth Norton argues in her latest […]
Leaving Colonel Francis Lord Rawdon to command in the field from Georgetown to Augusta, Lt. Gen. Charles Earl Cornwallis, the British General Officer Commanding in the South, marched from Winnsborough, South Carolina on January 8, 1781 at the start of his second campaign to conquer North Carolina.[1] With him were 1,147 rank and file present […]
On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews active US Army Major and JAR contributor Patrick Naughton on the narrative created by the Provincial Congress following the events at Lexington and Concord in order to control the message about the American rebellion and the initial British response. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published […]
Buried within the papers of Lt. Col. John F. Grimké are names of hundreds of artillerymen who fought in the 4th South Carolina Regiment of Artillery during the American Revolution. Most of the men can be found in well-known military records or other revolutionary sources and are hailed as Patriots. For fifty-four, however, the Grimké […]
“The number of sick increasing every day, in all the different Camps of the army,” wrote Capt. John Peebles in his diary on September 5, 1779.[1] Encamped on Manhattan Island eight miles north of the city of New York, at the time rural farmland, the army was beginning to suffer from the consequences of an […]
Gen. George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, arrived at the American defenses at West Point “very much fatigued.” He had ridden one his two beloved mounts, either Nelson or Blueskin, nearly fourteen miles over rugged hills. It was late afternoon on July 19, 1779, and Washington was just getting settled after “returning from Stony […]
On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews historian and JAR contributor Andrew Zellers-Frederick on the 0ccupation of Easton, Pennsylvania, by Continental forces gathering for the 1779 invasion of Iroquois territory in New York in order to quell Indian and Tory attacks along the New York and Pennsylvania frontiers. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the […]
The Philadelphia Campaign of 1777 took definitive shape when Gen. William Howe successfully landed his 16,000 officers and men near Head of Elk (now Elkton), Maryland, on August 25, 1777, the very day that Washington set up his headquarters at a house atop Quaker Hill in the southwestern portion of Wilmington, Delaware, while his advanced […]
The history of the American Revolution is rife with heroic tales and amazing myths of patriotic American heroes that offer inspiring and entertaining stories. Sadly however, many of these stories have little basis in fact or documentation to support their occurrence. Some are completely fabricated while others are the result of misreported or misunderstood accounts. […]
By April 1782, the war in America was supposed to be over. It had been nearly six months since Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army to Generals Washington and Rochambeau at Yorktown. The previous February, the British Parliament had voted to stop funding the war. Peace negotiations between British and American representatives had begun in Paris. […]
On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews archivist and JAR contributor Justin McHenry about the heated rivalry between John Morgan and William Shippen over control of the Continental Medical Department. Their professional feud provides an insight into the petty politics and personalities that were as much a part of the Revolutionary era as the great decision […]
We often hear about intelligence activities which take place during times of war. Having good intelligence is indeed critical to military and diplomatic success. But there is also intelligence work that goes into the decision to enter a war in the first place, either as a primary combatant or as a participant in an alliance. […]
With our popular podcast Dispatches now in its second year, we asked our contributors a whimsical question: Which person from the American Revolution and the founding era would you like to hear give a podcast, and on what topic? The responses reflect the range of interests of our readers, and how much remains unknown about this […]
Receiving orders from Sir Henry Clinton, British commander in chief in North America, Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis led his troops to a position between Virginia’s York and James Rivers. On August 1, 1781 his army started building earthworks with both ends anchored on the York River. American Maj. Gen. Marquis de Lafayette, possibly alerted by […]
On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Brian Patrick O’Malley on the social and medical response to the Yellow Fever epidemic that ravaged Philadelphia in 1793 and how the city and community ultimately prevailed. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of the American Revolution. Dispatches is a free […]
Tucked away in a small corner of history and buried deep beneath mountains of text lie brief mentions of the British invasion of the Bahamas in 1783.[1] As far as major battles are concerned, it does not make the list. It was not really a battle at all. Action is the more appropriate word. Whatever word […]
SiriusXM Radio announced today that they will be offering their programs for free through May 15. This means JAR readers who don’t have a SiriusXM radio subscription can hear the monthly program, Revolution Road, featuring JAR contributors interviewed by legendary radio host David Nemo. Revolution Road with guests provided by JAR has been a regular […]
Adam Smith, considered by many to be the Father of Modern Economics, was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, on June 16, 1723. His father, also Adam Smith, was a senior solicitor and judge advocate; his mother, Margaret Douglas, was the daughter of a well-landed gentleman. Smith entered the University of Glasgow when he was fourteen years […]
On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews military veteran and history professor Patrick H. Hannum on Lord Dunmore’s proclamation to emancipate slaves who joined the British military. 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 writing in […]
“I often thought that the situation of a people in a bombarded city, was not much worse, and on some accounts not so bad; we had no respite night nor day.” Writing to a friend in his native Massachusetts, newspaper publisher John Fenno was trying to convey the effect of the 1793 yellow fever outbreak […]
The so called “whistleblower law” had a salty source. It did not emanate from the shrill sound of a boatswain’s pipe, but rather a Revolutionary War naval episode.[1] Its origin can be traced to the Continental Congress’s 1775 appointment of Esek Hopkins, formerly a merchantman and privateer, as commander-in-chief of the Continental Navy. As a […]
On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews history teacher and JAR contributor Kevin A. Conn on his recent research on the Lenape and how their role in Pontiac’s Rebellion may have presaged the coming conflict between American colonists and Great Britain. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of the […]
