*** All JAR Articles ***

 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
3
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
7
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Fort Anne: Remembering the Continental Army’s First Stand Against Burgoyne   

Burgoyne’s campaign of 1777 has been termed a turning point in the American Revolution.[1]  Marked by the Continental Army’s victories at the battles of Bennington and Saratoga, the campaign came to show the limits of the British army and gave credence to and international recognition of the American cause. Hidden in these histories of Burgoyne’s […]

by Michael Jacobson
4
Prewar Conflict (<1775) Posted on

Country Crowds in Revolutionary Massachusetts: Mobs and Militia

Peter Oliver, the Crown-appointed Chief Justice of provincial Massachusetts, knew how to discredit popular protest. Mindless and incapable of acting on their own, crowds that opposed British imperial policies “were like the Mobility of all Countries, perfect Machines, wound up by any Hand who might first take the Winch.” They needed a director who could […]

by Ray Raphael
8
Reviews Posted on

From Slaves to Soldiers: The 1st Rhode Island Regiment in the American Revolution

Book review: From Slaves to Soldiers: The 1st Rhode Island Regiment in the American Revolution by Robert A. Geake (Westholme, 2016) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] Author Robert A. Geake, an established author of early Rhode Island history making his first foray into the Revolutionary War, writes of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment of the Continental Army, […]

by Christian McBurney
4
People Posted on

Lafayette: An acerbic tongue or an incisive judge of character?

A truly French and American hero, Marquis de Lafayette, a nineteen-year-old nobleman without significant military or political experiences, joined the fledgling American Revolution at a low point. He distinguished himself from other French officers by volunteering to serve in the Continental Army without commission and pay. Worldly beyond his years, Lafayette rapidly sized up the […]

by Gene Procknow
Reviews Posted on

The American Revolution Reborn

Book review: The American Revolution Reborn, edited by Patrick Spero and Michael Zuckerman (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] For decades, the American Revolution’s scholarship has mostly fallen within the same interpretive schools with little departure.  In The American Revolution Reborn, a collection of essays edited by Patrick Spero and Michael Zuckerman, […]

by Kelly Mielke
3
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

A ‘Heavenly Harvest’ of Vulnerable Women in North Carolina: Tory Troops as Sexual Predators

Strong in the memories of North Carolina veterans of the Revolution were images of Tory (Americans loyal to the British government) terrorists, mounted on horses (some stolen from Patriots) and flourishing guns and swords.[1] Few of these soldier veterans had been at home during a Tory raid. More often, what the men said in their […]

by Hershel Parker
Politics During the War (1775-1783) Posted on

Francis Dana and America’s Failed Embassy to Russia

  The war between Britain and her North American colonies shut off the availability of raw materials, specifically timber, tar, and pitch, for the British Royal Navy and her commercial fleet. This placed greater concern on protecting their second biggest supplier, the Baltic States. Part of that protection included confiscating all contraband and naval stores […]

by Bob Ruppert
2
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Preventing Slave Insurrection in South Carolina & Georgia, 1775-1776

As the colonies of South Carolina and Georgia moved closer to open rebellion against Great Britain in the summer of 1775, leaders of the revolutionary movement found themselves facing a host of potential threats. In addition to the numerous loyalists in both colonies, the tribes of pro-British Indians on their frontiers, and the possibility of […]

by Jim Piecuch
1
People Posted on

George Hanger ― His Adventures in the American Revolutionary War end

THE CHARLESTOWN CAMPAIGN Beginning with the siege of Charlestown, the southern campaigns would prove to be Britain’s last throw of the dice in the Revolutionary War. As preparations for the Charlestown campaign got under way, Hessian general orders on December 10, 1779 again sought volunteers for a chasseur company to accompany it under George Hanger’s […]

by Ian Saberton
People Posted on

Charles Carroll of Carrollton and Revolutionary Religious Toleration: The Making of a Founder

The prevailing academic theories that attempt to interpret the motivations of those American colonists who rebelled against British taxation of, and ultimately, British sovereignty over the Thirteen North American colonies during the American Revolutionary War tend to center their focus on one of two broad themes: either political ideology or economic self-interest. While proponents of […]

by Matthew Wigler
11
People Posted on

America’s First Continental Army Combat Casualty

Reflecting on the service of American soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines this past Veteran’s Day prompted an interesting question: Who was the first Continental soldier to die in combat during the American Revolution?  The death of the first general officer, Brigadier General Richard Montgomery, during the failed American assault on Quebec on December 31, 1775, […]

by Patrick H. Hannum
3
People Posted on

Elite Regiment, Delinquent Behavior

Its list of battle honors nearly constitutes a history of the Revolution itself. During seven years of service, the Delaware Regiment earned a staggering combat record at the most legendary engagements of the war, including Long Island, White Plains, Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Camden, Cowpens, Guilford Courthouse, Hobkirk’s Hill, Ninety-Six, and Eutaw Springs.[1] They were […]

by Joshua Shepherd
1
People Posted on

Those Who Could Not Serve

Armies are tasked with enforcing government policies. When it came time for the British military to enforce parliamentary policies concerning the American colonies, however, some members of the army and navy found themselves unable to answer the call because they disagreed with their government. A number of officers across all grades, who were distinguished for […]

by Bob Ruppert
6
People Posted on

Hugh Mercer: Doctor and Warrior

Many of those who served with George Washington in the French and Indian War also served during the Revolutionary War. Some of his former comrades, like Thomas Gage, served the British in both conflicts and were Washington’s enemies in the Revolution. Others, Horatio Gates and Adam Stephen for instance, later served with Washington against the […]

by Jeff Dacus
Reviews Posted on

Brothers at Arms

Book review: Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It (Knopf, 2016) by Larrie D. Ferreiro. [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] American students of the Revolutionary War may not like to hear it, but author Larrie D. Ferreiro, in his excellent new book, persuasively argues that the United States […]

by Christian McBurney