Editor’s Note: This is part two of a five-part series. Part one. Part three. The portion of James McMichael’s journal covering November 1, 1776 through June 3, 1777 begins after his participation in the Battles of Brooklyn and White Plains.[1] McMichael participated in the “Long Retreat” from New York, across New Jersey, and into Pennsylvania. […]
Book Review: American Sanctuary: Mutiny, Martyrdom, and National Identity in the Age of Revolution by A. Roger Ekirch (New York: Pantheon Books, 2017) BUY FROM AMAZON This is a quirky and fascinating three-part story, set not during the Revolution proper, but somewhat later, focusing on the years 1797 to 1800. The three parts, each occupying […]
Journal of the American Revolution today announced its winner and runner-up for the 2017 Journal of the American Revolution Book of the Year Award. The annual award goes to the non-fiction volume that best mirrors the journal’s mission: to deliver engaging, creative, and intelligent content that makes American Revolution history accessible to a broad audience. […]
In January 1775, James Dole of Troy, New York, joined a company of minutemen commanded by James Wells. It was armed and equipped in order to be ready in a moments warning. Nothing particularly happened until that May, when the company received orders from the Committee of Safety, Correspondence, and Protection in Albany to march […]
In 1782, six months after Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown, Patriot militiamen committed one of the most heinous war crimes of the Revolutionary War. On March 8, between 100 and 200 militia and frontiersmen from western Pennsylvania slaughtered nearly 100 peaceful Indians at the small village of Gnadenhutten, on the Tuscarawas River in present day Ohio.[1] […]
Editor’s Note: This is part one of a five-part series. Part two. Part three. The “Diary” of Lieutenant James McMichael first appeared in 1890 in the Pennsylvania Archives series 2, volume 15. It reappeared in volume 16 of The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography in 1892. Both versions are available online at Hathitrust and […]
Book Review: Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom by Russell Shorto (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2017) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] That the Revolution produced winners and losers is hardly news. Factors such as geography, ethnicity, race, religion, and political inclination were central to any individual’s response to the upheaval. Studies examining […]
It was August 1775 and Belcher Noyes, worried about his son Nathaniel, was writing to him from Boston for a third time. “My dear son: Have received no letter from you since May 27, which I duly answered 3d June … I wrote you May 25, both of which I hope came safe to your […]
After the fall of New York in 1776 Long Island became occupied territory for combined British and Loyalist forces during the remaining years of the Revolutionary War. The island became an important supply resource for the British army in New York City and a defensive front line to the American forces in New England. The […]
George Washington closed a July 31, 1788 letter to Noah Webster noting that Webster’s “desire of obtaining truth is very laudable, I wish I had more leizure to gratify it . . . the knowledge of innumerable things, of a more delicate and secret nature, is confined to the perishable remembrance of some few of […]
During the Revolutionary War, there were numerous attempts to entice leaders of the American rebels to return to their British heritage. Members of Congress were the objects of British efforts to entice America’s leaders to join the British side.[1] Benedict Arnold and Col. Rudolphus Ritzema turned traitor, Robert Howe was accused of treason,[2] Philip Schuyler […]
Book review: The Strategy of Victory: How George Washington Won the American Revolution by Thomas Fleming (Da Capo Press, 2017) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] Thomas Fleming’s recent and likely last book, The Strategy of Victory: How George Washington Won the American Revolution, is a more of a narrative history of the revolution than a true […]
Long before he became the father of his country, a young George Washington copied out 110 maxims governing appropriate conduct for young gentlemen. Handwritten in the back of his notebook, the proverbs originally appeared in French in 1595; a standard English version was published in 1640.[1] By the time Washington was a young teenager, the […]
In the years prior to the American Revolution, plenty of opportunities awaited young Massachusetts men on the down east frontier, especially for those who needed to get out of Boston. This may have been the case for twenty-year-old Francis Archibald III. In 1770, he decided to leave Boston and take up service as a soldier […]
In the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, the United States Congress ordered the Department of Defense to conduct a study aimed at wholesale overhaul of its military officer promotion policies.[1] Issues to be considered include reordering promotion lists so that officers “of particular merit” will be placed at the front of the line and modifying […]
The name Valley Forge evokes strong emotions and memories that are indelibly embedded on the collective American psyche with legendary stories of immense misery, starvation and suffering amidst great heroic patriotism and dedication. The hilly site outside of British-held Philadelphia served as the winter cantonment—one of seven such large-scale military facilities during the American Revolution—for […]
Book review: George Washington: A Life in Books by Kevin J. Hayes (Oxford University Press, May 2017) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] In the introduction to George Washington: A Life in Books, historian Kevin Hayes discusses an encounter during a vacation to Australia before he began graduate school. Hayes met an Australian couple, and they asked […]
Benjamin Franklin made two missions to London prior to the Revolution; the first from 1757 to 1762, the second from 1764 to 1775. In the final four months of his second mission he became involved in three efforts to secure a peaceful solution to the constitutional divergence that was growing between England and her American […]
As the battered Continental Army encamped in Valley Forge for the winter of 1777-1778 after a year of setbacks and defeats, Gen. James Varnum, the commander of the Rhode Island troops, proposed to George Washington that his state’s two depleted regiments be combined into a single formation, and that the extra officers be sent home […]
Hidden in the Nineteenth Century histories of Georgia is a likely answer to a question that has puzzled students of the American Revolution in the South for decades; why was General Andrew Williamson, acting in the same manner as so many around him, singled out as a traitor, loathed by so many as the “Arnold […]
The pension and land bounty claim system in place for Revolutionary War veterans was wrought with problems; the tributes bestowed upon thousands of veterans simply stolen from them. Countless early records had been lost to fire and abuse of the system was inherent. As early as 1809 Congress heard testimony on the issue in the […]
In recent decades, scholarship on the American Revolution has grown to include those largely excluded from the main narrative. Women, Native Americans, those of African descent (enslaved and otherwise), and especially loyalists have all been the subject of the some of the best and most recent studies. For example, Kathleen duVal’s Independence Lost: Lives on […]
In late May 1777 the new recruits in Col. Samuel Blachley Webb’s 9th Connecticut Regiment of the Continental Army mustered in a rough formation on the village green in Wethersfield, Connecticut. General Washington had ordered his recruiters to forward all available men immediately, “even in groups of 20,” to join his Army at Morristown, New […]
On May 9, 1751, Benjamin Franklin published a satirical article in the Pennsylvania Gazette commenting on British laws that allowed convicted felons to be shipped to the American colonies. As an equal trade, Franklin wryly suggested that the colonists should send rattlesnakes to Great Britain and carefully distribute them among “Places of Pleasure.”[1] Although these […]
General Mercer was down, bludgeoned and bayoneted. Colonel Haslet was down too, shot through the head. Captain Shippin of the Continental Marines had fallen, as had Captain Fleming of Virginia. Captain Neil of the New Jersey militia artillery was also down, his two-gun battery overrun and turned against them. The previously untested and now panicked […]
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 […]
