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Top Articles of May 2017

Last call for Fort Plain Museum’s 2017 American Revolution Conference! The sign-up deadline has been extended to Tuesday, June 6. It was a busy month so here is a quick recap. In May, we welcomed more than 75,000 unique readers and two new writers: Aaron J. Palmer and Kyle Dalton. Our 2017 collectible hardcover and our newest JAR […]

by Editors
2
Interviews Posted on

Contributor Close-up: Jeff Dacus

About Jeff Dacus Jeff Dacus is a retired U.S. Marine. He presently lives in Vancouver, Washington where he teaches middle school U.S. History. He’s earned three master’s degrees, including one in American history from University of Portland and one in military history from American Military University. What inspired you to start researching and writing about […]

by Editors
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The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

The 3rd New Jersey Regiment’s Plundering of Johnson Hall

The newly formed 3rd New Jersey Regiment, commanded by Col. Elias Dayton, was mustered into the Continental Army on May 2, 1776.  It was reviewed in New York City by Generals Washington, Putnam, Sullivan, and Greene.  The regiment’s Capt. Joseph Bloomfield noted in his personal journal that the generals claimed they were the “compleatest and […]

by Philip D. Weaver
2
People Posted on

“The Man Unmasked”:  Henry Laurens, Egerton Leigh, and the Making of a Revolutionary

Henry Laurens, one of colonial South Carolina’s wealthiest and most politically powerful planter-merchants, was a conservative by nature.[1]  When the imperial crisis began to drive Britain and its colonies apart, Laurens moved cautiously even when he disliked British policy.  When Laurens refused to join the Sons of Liberty in protest of the Stamp Act, a […]

by Aaron J. Palmer
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The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Unappreciated Allies: Choctaws, Creeks, and the Defense of British West Florida, 1781

Two months after Spain entered the American Revolutionary War on June 21, 1779, the governor of Spanish Louisiana, Don Bernardo de Galvez, launched an invasion of the British province of West Florida on August 27. The defenders, consisting of two British infantry regiments, a detachment of the Royal Artillery, two understrength provincial battalions, a regiment […]

by Jim Piecuch
Reviews Posted on

Thomas Jefferson — Revolutionary: A Radical’s Struggle to Remake America

Book review: Thomas Jefferson—Revolutionary: A Radical’s Struggle to Remake America by Kevin R. C. Gutzman (St. Martin’s Press, 2017) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] Few of the nation’s founding figures are as debated and controversial as Thomas Jefferson, the early American political figure chiefly remembered for penning the Declaration of Independence and the Louisiana Purchase.  In Thomas […]

by Kelly Mielke
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The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

The “Battle at McIntire’s Farm”: Joseph Graham as Historian of the Revolution

On September 25, 1780 as Lord Cornwallis entered North Carolina he was harassed by “a few light troops” commanded by Col. William R. Davie[1] and supported by Capt. Joseph Graham. Twenty-one if he lived until October 13, Graham had been assigned by the newly-created Brig. Gen. William L. Davidson because he was from Charlotte.[2] Rushing […]

by Hershel Parker
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The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

How many troops did Cornwallis actually bring to the Battle of Guilford?

  A re-evaluation in the light of The Cornwallis Papers Works about the Revolutionary War are littered with references to troop numbers, whether to rank and file or not, and betray some confusion between the two.  On analysing British and British American regimental returns I discovered that the proportion of officers, staff, non-commissioned officers and […]

by Ian Saberton
8
Interviews Posted on

Contributor Close-up: Gary G. Shattuck

About Gary G. Shattuck Gary Shattuck served over three decades in the Vermont law enforcement community as a supervising officer with the Vermont State Police, an Assistant Attorney General and as an Assistant United States Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice. He has also served as a legal advisor to governments in Kosovo and […]

by Editors
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Features Posted on

The Complex Character of John Paul Jones and his Polite Home Invasion

To British aristocracy, John Paul Jones was a thieving rebel and a Scotch-borne traitor to the Empire. To seacoast citizens of the British Isles, Jones was portrayed as Blackbeard the pirate, a renegade rogue cutthroat. “Chap-books depicted Paul Jones as a buccaneer, armed to the teeth, in highly colored pictures, bloody and terrifying. Mothers frightened […]

by John L. Smith, Jr.
News Posted on

Top Articles of April 2017

April was a short month for JAR as we returned from spring break with our “Runaway a Day” series. In short time we still welcomed four new writers—Bruce Ware Allen, Nichole Louise, Jason Glasser and R. Paul Mason—who contributed some excellent articles. The fine folks at Fort Plain Museum have announced the impressive line-up for their […]

by Editors
1
Interviews Posted on

Contributor Close-up: Christian McBurney

About Christian McBurney Christian McBurney resides in the Washington, D.C. area and is an independent historian who has authored the recently released Abductions in the American Revolution: Attempts to Kidnap George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and Other Military and Civilian Leaders (McFarland, 2016). His other Revolutionary War books include Kidnapping the Enemy: The Special Operations to […]

by Editors
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Places Posted on

Museum of the American Revolution: Dichotomy of a Fledgling Nation

Walking into the Museum of the American Revolution’s spacious rotunda, museum patrons will be met with polished terrazzo floors and an elegant curling staircase illuminated with the natural light from the George Washington standard flag six-pointed star skylight. At the start of the Museum experience, an orientation video depicts differing perspectives from founding mother Abigail […]

by Nichole Louise
Postwar Politics (>1783) Posted on

A Proposed Alliance of the Knights of Malta and the United States of America

On the face of it, there would seem no greater natural disparity between the two countries,  one an ancient aristocratic pan-European (but mostly French) Catholic military theocracy, the other a modern, egalitarian, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant confederation.  Nevertheless, during the American Revolution, a healthy number of Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem […]

by Bruce Ware Allen
Primary Sources Posted on

A Runaway a Day 4 (of 5)

Some advertisements revealed details about the person’s history and situation, as well as their physical characteristics and possessions. This affords an avenue for further research on the individual. Two Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber, living in Upper Salford township, Philadelphia county, on Friday, the 27th of August last, a Dutch servant Girl, named […]

by Editors
Primary Sources Posted on

A Runaway a Day 3 (of 5)

Some runaways took only the clothing they had on, and lacked even a complete ensemble. Running away without shoes shows either desperation or determination. Run away, the 13th of this instant July, from the subscriber, near Newtown, Bucks County, an Irish servant girl, named Judy Fagan, between 15 and 16 years old, of a dark […]

by Editors
Primary Sources Posted on

A Runaway a Day 2 (of 5)

For some reason not all advertisements included the name of the missing person. Whether this showed an impersonal knowledge on behalf of the master, or was a simple oversight by either the person placing the ad or the publisher, we can only wonder. RAN away from the subscriber in Newport, on the night of the […]

by Editors
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Primary Sources Posted on

A Runaway a Day 1 (of 5)

Throughout the eighteenth century, newspapers advertised servants, slaves, soldiers, spouses and others who had fled from contractual obligations. The advertisements give us remarkable textual descriptions of everyday individuals about whom little else is known. Each day this week, we’ll present an advertisement for a runaway woman, accompanied by an illustration of carefully researched, handmade clothing […]

by Editors
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Out of the Office: Returning April 10

Just as many schools are going on spring break now, so is Journal of the American Revolution. We will be taking a short hiatus to recover from all the exciting activity in our world and will return to our regular programming the week of April 10. Writers: Please continue to send your article submissions to ed****@al**************.com during […]

by Editors
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Top 10 Articles of March 2017

Did you hear the news? Two awesome American Revolution museums are opening in the next 30 days, providing the bookends of an epic Philadelphia to Yorktown family road trip itinerary this summer! The grand opening celebration of the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown is going on today, March 23, through April 4, officially launching the impressive new museum […]

by Editors