Journal of the American Revolution founder Todd Andrlik has moved on to other pursuits. Some of JAR’s early contributors reflect on his influence: The number of people who Todd influenced through the founding and management of the Journal of the American Revolution would be hard to guess. I would conservatively estimate it to be in […]
A chapter in Henrietta Overing Auchmuty’s life has been overlooked by history. Perhaps she would’ve wanted it that way, for it is a story of romance turned into heartbreak and bitterness. Born on June 13, 1760, Henrietta Overing was the daughter of prominent Newport distiller and sugar refiner Henry John Overing.[1] As a member of […]
After five years at the helm of the Journal of the American Revolution Todd Andrlik is pleased to announce that Bruce H. Franklin and Westholme Publishing will be carrying the journal forward. Since its founding in 2013, the Journal of the American Revolution has established itself as a premier destination for original research about the […]
After another busy and exciting year, Journal of the American Revolution is taking a vacation to tackle a few other projects. Look for us again on January 8, 2018. While we’re away, here are some great reads: People, politics, culture, economics, conflict and war, critical thinking Archive of interviews Archive of book reviews Our book series books All archives (More than 1000 articles)
Historians are aware that imperial China had ties to the American Revolution. Indeed, James Fichter wrote that “tea, though an Asian commodity, helped bring about American independence.” Tea, which was shipped from China into Britain and then re-exported to Britain’s American colonies, formed part of Britain’s controversial taxation agenda for the said colonies during the […]
Around 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 17, 1780, four year old Melinda Gordon, asleep in bed with her parents Lt. Col. James Gordon, the local militia commander, and his wife Mary, was abruptly awakened by loud noises. Melinda later recalled, We were awakened by the breaking of both the windows in the room and looking […]
Whig or Tory, which side to support in the coming Revolutionary War? Every adult in the thirteen British colonies of North America faced the task of declaring allegiance. The drama played out even among the Mayflower descendants in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the first successful British settlement in North America, which by 1775 had grown to 2,000 […]
We at JAR are very thankful for all our readers and expert writers. In November, we welcomed two new writers: Charles R. Foy and Nick DeLuca. We also formally announced our newest JAR book, John Adams vs Thomas Paine: Rival Plans for the Early Republic by Jett B. Conner. It’s available for pre-order now with […]
Book review: The Revolutionary War Lives and Letters of Lucy and Henry Knox by Phillip Hamilton (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] When we think of famous couples of the American Revolution, we often first think of John and Abigail Adams. Their correspondence was one of wit and intellect, spanning the crucial years […]
In the early summer of 1775, South Carolinia patriots outfitted the schooner Liberty (formally the Elizabeth) as what historian Charles C. Jones called as the first privateer of the American Revolution. They gave command of the ship to Oliver Bowen and Joseph Habersham of Georgia for the mission of intercepting a cargo of munitions coming […]
An interview with Lin Olsen, Executive Director, Great Bridge Battlefield and Waterways History Foundation Question: Why is preserving the Great Bridge Battlefield important? We have been blessed with one of the most important pieces of our American heritage and the beginning of our great nation. It is our responsibility to share the legacy of this […]
Nothing is better than the gift of knowledge, so consider some of these books for that special history lover on your shopping list. Here are three links that will provide plenty of great book options. Happy reading! The 100 Best American Revolution Books of All Time Journal of the American Revolution Annual Volumes Journal of […]
Everyone loves pie, everyone loves Martha Washington, and everyone loves… well, two out of three will have to do. But if you do love calves’ feet, this recipe from Martha Washington’s cookbook is for you. The directions are bit sparse, leaving a lot of latitude for adaptation and experimentation. Sack, a Spanish wine akin to […]
Wool production was critical to the early American economy, and if there were sheep in the fields there were bound to be sheep dishes on the table. The recipes in Martha Washington’s cookbook show that no part of these utilitarian animals was wasted. The directions for the pie featured today include the wise advice to […]
We are very happy to announce our newest JAR book is now available for sale. John Adams vs Thomas Paine: Rival Plans for the Early Republic by Jett B. Conner [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] How Paine’s Common Sense and Adams’s Thoughts on Government shaped our modern political institutions. Initially admiring Thomas Paine’s efforts for independence, John Adams nevertheless was […]
We’ve all heard the expression, “eat humble pie.” It’s used at a metaphor, but humble pie was a real thing and Martha Washington had a recipe for it. It’s a type of savory meat pie, but it may seem less appealing when one learns that “humbles” are the heart, kidneys, liver and other organs of […]
Pie is a perennial favorite at Thanksgiving, and the more varieties the better. Pie was also an eighteenth century staple, with far more types than we’re familiar with today. This week we feature pie recipes from the cookbook of Martha Custis Washington, wife of America’s most famous founding father. Entertain your guests with some daring […]
During the three months that the Earl of Dartmouth, Secretary of State for the Colonies, was on holiday from August to November 1773, the Secretary of State’s office received only routine dispatches from the colonies. Shortly after he returned in November, he was faced with another colonial issue -the Boston Tea Party. In 1772, the […]
Though grey autumnal rain soaked his uniform, and the monotonous, deadly shriek of enemy mortar fire filled the air, Charles Cochrane was the only British officer with a spring in his step that dreary October morning. Promoted on arrival at Yorktown to “acting Aide de camp” to Gen. Charles Earl Cornwallis, his service, bravery and […]
John Adams had a nose for good character. He could sniff out individuals of talent and integrity like a bloodhound. He famously nominated George Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental army in 1775, urged Thomas Jefferson to spearhead the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, appointed John Marshall as secretary of state and chief justice […]
For many Americans, their only knowledge of galleys and the men who rowed them comes from movies such as Ben-Hur. Suffice it to say, movies’ depictions of galleys and their crews are often historically inaccurate. But there is a more significant historiographical gap regarding galleys than movies having presented a false depiction of galley crews: […]
Book review: The Martyr and the Traitor: Nathan Hale, Moses Dunbar, and the American Revolution by Virginia DeJohn Anderson (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] How did two young men from Connecticut who supported opposing sides in the American Revolution meet the same fate only months apart? Why is one hailed […]
William Legge, the second Earl of Dartmouth, had three interests: his family, his estates, and his religion. He was known by many as “the good Lord Dartmouth.” It is very likely that he would never have entered politics if he had not been related by marriage to Frederick, Lord North. When he became the Secretary […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Happy Halloween to all our readers! Before we look back at our most popular articles of the month, please join us in welcoming three new JAR writers: Michael R. Derderian, Robert Grandchamp and Michael Aikey. Last month, we also welcomed a new JAR advertiser, a Kickstarter campaign for Patriots & Redcoats, the hidden-identity card game capturing the […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 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, […]
