*** All JAR Articles ***

People Posted on November 7, 2017November 5, 2017

Slavery through the Eyes of Revolutionary Generals

Generally when people think about slavery in the United States, they harken back to the Civil War period when Northern states had abolished slavery and slavery was the center of the southern plantation economy. However, during the Revolutionary era, the noxious institution of slavery prospered in both Northern and Southern states. While there were substantially […]

by Gene Procknow

Features Posted on November 6, 2017November 5, 2017

Norfolk, Virginia, Sacked by North Carolina and Virginia Troops

If the headline of a January or February 1776 edition of any North American Tory newspaper read, “Norfolk, Virginia, Sacked by North Carolina and Virginia Troops,” it would not have constituted propaganda. Loyalists in Tidewater Virginia, under the leadership of Lord Dunmore, Virginia’s Royal Governor, were under siege by rebel Whig or Patriot troops from […]

by Patrick H. Hannum

Features Posted on November 2, 2017February 16, 2022

Evans & Bean of the Hampshire Grants

Immediately following the taking of Fort Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys in early May 1775, Capt. John Visscher raised a company of seventy-five men, at the request of the Albany County (New York) Committee of Safety, Correspondence, and Protection. His company was ordered to proceed to that post and defend it […]

by Philip D. Weaver

Features Posted on November 1, 2017October 29, 2017

The Connecticut Captivity of William Franklin, Loyalist

War, an odious invention of man, attempts to portray the enemy as subhuman, unworthy of normal sympathy. Civilized societies respected the sanctity of human life; but enemy prisoners were a byproduct of conflict and open to abuse via military policies designed to debase and dehumanize. Historically, prisoner-of-war internment facilities were harsher than those used for […]

by Louis Arthur Norton

Features Posted on October 31, 2017October 29, 2017

James Henry Craig: The Pocket Hercules

James Henry Craig, an officer in the British army, fought in the Revolutionary War from the beginning to the end. He was at Bunker Hill, battled the Americans in Canada, assisted in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, and negotiated the British surrender at Saratoga. In 1779, Craig took part in the British occupation of Penobscot […]

by Chaim M. Rosenberg

Features Posted on October 26, 2017October 26, 2017

Jacob’s Land: Revolutionary War Soldiers, Schemers, Scoundrels and the Settling of New York’s Frontier

Book Review: Jacob’s Land: Revolutionary War Soldiers, Schemers, Scoundrels and the Settling of New York’s Frontier by Charles Yaple (CreateSpace Independent Publishing, March 2017) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] Jacob’s Land by Charles Yaple is a fascinating, multigenerational narrative history of an immigrant family, their migration into the wilderness, and of the native tribes who populated […]

by Phillip R. Giffin

Features Posted on October 25, 2017October 22, 2017

Luke Ryan: Premier Privateer

Luke Ryan was born in the County Dublin coastal village of Rush on February 14, 1750. His parents were Michael and Mary Ryan. As a twelve year old boy, Luke worked in John Grimes’ boatyard in Skerries and then at age sixteen began his shipwright apprenticeship under Edward King in Ringsend. It is unclear if […]

by Bob Ruppert

Features Posted on October 24, 2017October 22, 2017

Analyzing the Founders: A Closer Look at the Signers of Four Founding Documents

Writing about Roger Sherman, the only man to sign our four most important founding documents – the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution – got me wondering why there weren’t more who had done so, and in particular why our most famous Founding Fathers hadn’t. I decided it […]

by Richard J. Werther

Features Posted on October 23, 2017October 22, 2017

An American Perspective on the Guard Boats of the Hudson

Sgt. Benjamin Gilbert of the 5th Massachusetts Regiment awoke near Verplanck Point on May 31, 1779 with cause to celebrate: it was his birthday, and he was now “four and Twenty Years of Age.” He didn’t celebrate too long, for British “Shipping appeard in sight this Morning and came & [played] upon” Fort Lafayette, the […]

by Michael J. F. Sheehan

Features Posted on October 19, 2017October 26, 2017

Interview with John Maass, author of George Washington’s Virginia

Historian and author John Maass goes beyond the archives in his study of history, which gives his work a refreshing originality. He brings an element of investigative journalism to the field that is compelling. In his new book George Washington’s Virginia, Maass takes the reader on a tour of George Washington’s life in Virginia, including […]

by Michael Tuosto

The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on October 18, 2017October 15, 2017

From Fence to Fence: The Battles of Prudence Island

The American Revolution was fought from Maine to Illinois, hundreds of military encounters occurring in what eventually became the United States of America. Among those events were two skirmishes on Prudence Island, a large island in Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, on January 12 and January 13, 1776. Although small events that did not alter […]

by Robert Grandchamp

People Posted on October 17, 2017October 7, 2017

Joseph Bettys: Revolutionary War Patriot, Traitor, and “Desperado”

The Revolutionary War’s human landscape was populated by the famous, the infamous, and a vast number who have been forgotten. Some like Joseph Bettys were both infamous and largely forgotten. What little that has been remembered and written about him is often sprinkled with a liberal mixture of half truths and falsehood born from the […]

by Michael Aikey

People Posted on October 16, 2017October 7, 2017

From Wannabe Redcoat to Rebel: George Washington’s Journey to Revolution

From the ministry’s point of view, affairs in America really were quite appalling. The unpardonable brashness of a cocksure young provincial had instantly escalated a minor diplomatic dispute in the wilderness fringe of North America into a war between the world’s two great powers – a war for which His Majesty’s government was woefully unprepared. […]

by Geoff Smock

Reviews Posted on October 13, 2017October 7, 2017

What Remains: Searching for the Memory and Lost Grave of John Paul Jones

Book Review: What Remains: Searching for the Memory and Lost Grave of John Paul Jones by Robert Hornick (University of Massachusetts Press, 2017) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] The title Robert Hornick selected for his recent analytic and meticulously researched and documented book on John Paul Jones says it all, “What Remains.” John Paul Jones’s journey into […]

by Patrick H. Hannum

The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on October 12, 2017October 7, 2017

Whale Boats on the Hudson

By March of 1778 Maj. Gen. Israel Putnam, “Old Put” to his men, was exhausted.[1] He had been writing to General Washington for months begging for retirement. His wife had died recently in his encampment and the general was worn out from his impossible assignments. His two under-strength brigades had been working in the ice, […]

by Phillip R. Giffin

People Posted on October 11, 2017October 7, 2017

General John Dagworthy: George Washington’s Forgotten American Rival

Every summer, millions of tourists flock to the beaches and resorts on the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia (Delmarva) peninsula sandwiched between the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. Those headed for Bethany Beach, Fenwick Island, or the state parks that line the Atlantic shores of Delaware may well pass by Prince George’s Chapel in Dagsboro. Authorized in 1755 by […]

by Eric Sterner

Advertising Posted on October 6, 2017October 3, 2017

Innovative Game Capturing Spirit of Revolutionary War Needs Support

Patriots & Redcoats is a card game of hidden identities and social deduction that plays in 20 minutes. In it, 4–10 players take on the roles of the Americans fighting to win independence and the British fighting to stop the rebellion. Watch out—there are spies and turncoats among you, and war by its nature can take […]

by Advertising

People Posted on October 5, 2017October 2, 2017

Displaced: The Donation People of 1775

In late November 1775, just as the bone-chilling New England winter started to settle upon Massachusetts, British General Howe loaded three hundred poor, sick inhabitants of Boston onto transport ships with no provisions or firewood.[1] They were landed on windswept Point Shirley peninsula, a narrow, beachy finger of land situated in between the gentle waves […]

by Katie Turner Getty

The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on October 4, 2017October 3, 2017

The Affair At Egg Harbor: Massacre Of The Pulaski Legion

On the Topographic-Bathymetric Series Map, Eastern United States, 1:250,000, Wilmington: NJ 18-2 (1972) prepared by the United States Geological Survey located at grid WU5.5, 8.0 is a symbol for a landmark labeled, “Pulaski Monument.” This monument indicates the site of the “massacre” of the Pulaski Legion in the pre-dawn hours of October 15, 1778.[1] In […]

by Joseph E. Wroblewski

People Posted on October 3, 2017October 3, 2017

General Robert Howe’s Alleged Treason

What if another Continental general had changed sides at the same point in the war as Benedict Arnold? During the Revolutionary War, and as late as 1991, there was speculation that Robert Howe, one of five generals from North Carolina in the Continental Army, was a traitor. Did the general attempt to change sides in […]

by Jeff Dacus

Prewar Conflict (<1775) Posted on October 2, 2017September 3, 2017

This Licentious Republic: Maritime Skirmishes in Narragansett Bay 1763-1769

As a British colony located on the Atlantic Ocean, Rhode Island’s wealth grew by utilizing the ocean’s vast resources. Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay is roughly two hundred and fifty square miles, which includes small islands and bays. Hundreds of ships carrying both raw materials from the colonies and manufactured products from England traveled through Narragansett […]

by Michael R. Derderian

News Posted on September 29, 2017

Roger Sherman: The Only Man Who Signed All Four Founding Documents

Thomas Jefferson stood outside the halls of congress late one afternoon. And with the hand that penned the Declaration of Independence, he pointed across the steps and said in a loud voice to those assembled around him “There goes a man who never said a foolish thing in his life”.[1] The Federalist Fisher Ames once […]

by Richard J. Werther

People Posted on September 27, 2017September 3, 2017

The Widow’s Apron: Life, Death, and a Forgotten Skirmish Along the Old Blackstock Road

This is the story, such as it can be told, of one long forgotten woman in the midst of the revolutionary war, a weaver of homespun cloth who, burdened with crushing grief and guilt, showed a spark of decency, if only for one brief moment, following a deadly skirmish on a hot July day in […]

by Conner Runyan

People Posted on September 26, 2017September 3, 2017

James Lafayette (James Armistead), American Spy

Just as Nathan Hale is the best known spy of the American Revolution, so James Lafayette is the best known African-American spy of the conflict. However, the “facts” so often repeated in histories of the era regarding both these individuals are heavily based on folklore and oral stories passed along with little or no documented […]

by Ken Daigler

Prewar Politics (<1775) Posted on September 25, 2017September 3, 2017

Benjamin Franklin’s Mission to London, 1757-1762

Thomas Penn, the son of founder William Penn, inherited majority control of the proprietorship of the colony of Pennsylvania in 1746. At the time the colony’s legislative body was called the Assembly; it was unicameral, made up of thirty-four popularly elected members and had been autonomous for the first half of the eighteenth century. Penn […]

by Bob Ruppert

Reviews Posted on September 22, 2017September 3, 2017

The Dog Head Sword of Succasunna: Forgotten Family Patriots and Loyalists in the Revolutionary War

Book Review: The Dog Head Sword of Succasunna: Forgotten Family Patriots and Loyalists in the Revolutionary War by John Lawrence Brasher (Shelby Printing, 2016) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] Artifacts hold a special place in our appreciation for history. When we see, or better still, touch, an object that came from another era, we feel connected to that […]

by Don N. Hagist

People Posted on September 21, 2017September 3, 2017

Unknown and forgotten: James Hogun

Generals appointed by the Continental Congress often owed their commissions to their state of residence as the congressmen tried to ensure that the rank of general be equally spread among the colonies based upon population. Five generals were appointed from the state of North Carolina during the Revolution: Francis Nash, James Moore, Robert Howe, Jethro […]

by Jeff Dacus

People Posted on September 20, 2017September 3, 2017

Commodore Lewis/Louis Warrington, France’s Revolutionary Gift to America

While France and the United States have always exchanged gifts representative of their support of democratic ideals, not all the gifts were between statesman or quite as intentional. The romantic and intimate relations between a French Army officer and a young American woman during the winter of 1782 provided the young U.S. with an excellent […]

by Patrick H. Hannum

People Posted on September 19, 2017September 3, 2017

Patient Hero: John Henry and the Earliest American Account of Posttraumatic Stress

In 1871, Jacob Mendes Da Costa published a study of a condition he termed “Irritable Heart” that described a series of symptoms observed among soldiers during the American Civil War that he believed were the result of a cardiac condition stemming from combat.[1] The symptoms that included nightmares, palpitations, headaches and digestive problems were later […]

by Bradley Sussner

The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on September 18, 2017February 16, 2022

The 3rd New Jersey Regiment’s Ticonderoga Vendetta

Lt. Col. Anthony Walton White of the 3rd New Jersey Regiment had a very rocky 1776. His service was peppered with several episodes more indicative of a trouble-making non-commissioned officer than the second highest ranked officer in the regiment. He was a primary instigator of a duel between two junior officers. Granted the duel was […]

by Philip D. Weaver

Reviews Posted on September 15, 2017September 3, 2017

A Tale of Three Gunboats: Lake Champlain’s Revolutionary War Heritage

Book 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 Smithsonian National Museum of American History, 2017) [BUY NOW] Sitting on the shore of Lake Champlain a few miles south of Burlington, Vermont, is the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (LCMM). Like […]

by Michael Barbieri

People Posted on September 14, 2017September 3, 2017

Terror on the Frontier: The Grim Ordeal of Delilah Corbly

More often than not, the horrific realities of warfare are shielded by bland accounts and cold statistics. When it comes to the Revolutionary War, affairs on the frontier suffer egregiously in that regard, and the grim cost of the conflict is often overshadowed by the epic sweep of affairs on the eastern seaboard. But in […]

by Joshua Shepherd

Postwar Politics (>1783) Posted on September 13, 2017March 10, 2022

Thomas Jefferson, the American Revolution, and the Creation of a Republican World

In popular understandings of the three Atlantic Revolutions of late eighteenth century, the American Revolution (1765-1783) is often regarded as the least radical and transformative. If the American Revolution was, as Carl Becker put it in 1909, just as much about “who should rule at home,” as it was “home rule,” observers were quick to […]

by Zachary Brown

Food & Lifestyle Posted on September 12, 2017September 3, 2017

The French Bread Connection

It was the letter that forced Washington to give up his dream of recapturing New York. Gen. Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, encamped with his French army at Phillipsburg on the Hudson River, received it on August 14, 1781 and showed it immediately to Gen. George Washington, whose headquarters was nearby. Written on […]

by Tom Shachtman

People Posted on September 11, 2017September 3, 2017

A Fresh Look at Major Patrick Ferguson

In the prior year there have been several articles in the Journal of the American Revolution reappraising certain participants involved with the southern campaign. One article included mention of Patrick Ferguson but that piece was general in nature and could not go into detail as to how conclusions were drawn or what evidence might exist […]

by Wayne Lynch

Reviews Posted on September 8, 2017September 3, 2017

Fire and Desolation: The Revolutionary War’s 1778 Campaign as Waged from Quebec and Niagara Against the American Frontiers

Book Review: Fire and Desolation: The Revolutionary War’s 1778 Campaign as Waged from Quebec and Niagara Against the American Frontiers by Gavin K. Watt (Dundurn, 2017) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] With the thousands of works written on the American Revolution, there are still areas where, remarkably, the surface has hardly been scratched. Increasingly, modern studies […]

by Kelly Mielke

People Posted on September 7, 2017September 3, 2017

Unfriendly to America? The Two Sides of Jacob Rogers

Jacob 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 camp in Cambridge in a frantic bid to gain the protection of Gen. George Washington. In a distressed series of letters, he implored the Committee of Safety and the Massachusetts General […]

by Katie Turner Getty

Slavery through the Eyes of Revolutionary Generals

Norfolk, Virginia, Sacked by North Carolina and Virginia Troops

Evans & Bean of the Hampshire Grants

The Connecticut Captivity of William Franklin, Loyalist

Top 10 Articles of October 2017

James Henry Craig: The Pocket Hercules

Jacob’s Land: Revolutionary War Soldiers, Schemers, Scoundrels and the Settling of New York’s Frontier

Luke Ryan: Premier Privateer

Analyzing the Founders: A Closer Look at the Signers of Four Founding Documents

An American Perspective on the Guard Boats of the Hudson

Interview with John Maass, author of George Washington’s Virginia

From Fence to Fence: The Battles of Prudence Island

Joseph Bettys: Revolutionary War Patriot, Traitor, and “Desperado”

From Wannabe Redcoat to Rebel: George Washington’s Journey to Revolution

What Remains: Searching for the Memory and Lost Grave of John Paul Jones

Whale Boats on the Hudson

General John Dagworthy: George Washington’s Forgotten American Rival

Innovative Game Capturing Spirit of Revolutionary War Needs Support

Displaced: The Donation People of 1775

The Affair At Egg Harbor: Massacre Of The Pulaski Legion

General Robert Howe’s Alleged Treason

This Licentious Republic: Maritime Skirmishes in Narragansett Bay 1763-1769

Top 10 Articles of September 2017

Roger Sherman: The Only Man Who Signed All Four Founding Documents

The Widow’s Apron: Life, Death, and a Forgotten Skirmish Along the Old Blackstock Road

James Lafayette (James Armistead), American Spy

Benjamin Franklin’s Mission to London, 1757-1762

The Dog Head Sword of Succasunna: Forgotten Family Patriots and Loyalists in the Revolutionary War

Unknown and forgotten: James Hogun

Commodore Lewis/Louis Warrington, France’s Revolutionary Gift to America

Patient Hero: John Henry and the Earliest American Account of Posttraumatic Stress

The 3rd New Jersey Regiment’s Ticonderoga Vendetta

A Tale of Three Gunboats: Lake Champlain’s Revolutionary War Heritage

Terror on the Frontier: The Grim Ordeal of Delilah Corbly

Thomas Jefferson, the American Revolution, and the Creation of a Republican World

The French Bread Connection

A Fresh Look at Major Patrick Ferguson

Fire and Desolation: The Revolutionary War’s 1778 Campaign as Waged from Quebec and Niagara Against the American Frontiers

Unfriendly to America? The Two Sides of Jacob Rogers