The story of the Boston Tea Party has been told and retold endlessly. It has become a part of American mythos. On the evening of December 16, 1773 in Boston a group of 100 to 150 citizens, dressed like Indians, descended on three ships loaded with tea from England. Politely, but firmly, they demanded the […]
Book Review: Spies in Revolutionary Rhode Island by Christian M. McBurney. History Press, 2014. ISBN 978-1626197244, softcover, 158 pages, illustrated. The last few years have seen a surge of interest in Revolutionary War spying, with several new books and even television shows being produced. Much of this new literature, whether factual or fanciful, is focused […]
The world has seen many a tyrant from Genghis Khan to Hitler. At all times, people have had an impression of what made one a tyrant. Americans living during the Revolutionary War were no exception to the matter and they too held a decided view on tyranny. Here is a list of ten quotes on […]
When historians think of Continental generals of the Revolutionary War, many familiar names come to mind. Henry Knox, who rose from a bookseller to the commander of the Continental Army’s artillery. Benedict Arnold, the dynamic battlefield leader whose name has become a synonym for traitor. Daniel Morgan, the “Old Wagoner” that defeated Britain’s best in […]
By the fall of 1777, the15th Virginia Regiment had been involved in some of the toughest fighting of the American Revolution—the engagements in northern New Jersey and the defense of Philadelphia that included major battles at Germantown and Brandywine in Pennsylvania. As part of the army with Washington, they spent weeks during the fall playing […]
From the intelligence provided by his New York and New Jersey spies, General Washington believed, early in 1777, that General Howe would eventually strike at Philadelphia though he knew not when or whether he would travel by land or sea. In a letter dated July 24, 1777, from Col. Matthias Ogden, he was informed that […]
There is never a dull month at Journal of the American Revolution. In February, we continued to experience impressive reader traffic and welcomed three new writers: Geoff Benton, A.K. Fielding and Jett Conner. Plus, we have been busy sorting out the details of a major announcement that will be shared in a few weeks. And then there […]
Historians have long praised newspapers for the role they played during the American Revolution, but they don’t always zero in on specific papers that were particularly important during this time. Rather, they give deserving praise to all of the press for the help they gave in winning independence. But there are particular newspapers that should […]
Does saying so make it so? Perhaps, if said convincingly and repeatedly. But sometimes it’s fair to ask: Who says so? And how do they know? It is said that George Washington ordered the first number of Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis series to be read to his ragged troops before boarding boats to cross […]
The Royal Governor’s April 21, 1775 removal from Williamsburg’s Powder Magazine of gunpowder essential to Virginia’s defense caused an immediate furor among Virginians as news spread throughout the colony. The governor’s action was in response to George III’s direction to colonial governors to take control of arms and powder throughout the colonies, direction which had […]
It’s one thing to make speeches about declaring independence, or to assemble militias and discuss battle tactics against the enemy. It’s quite another thing to pay for it all. So how do you pay for a war that no one expected to last eight years? Great Britain possessed world-wide colonies, tremendous wealth, the ability to […]
Book Review: James Madison and the Making of America by Kevin R. C. Gutzman (St. Martin’s Press, 2012) In James Madison and the Making of America Kevin R. C. Gutzman energetically debunks the mythical James Madison. Gutzman asserts that Madison was not the “Father of the Constitution” but a man who felt the Constitution was […]
On August 25, 1777 General William Howe with 17,000 men landed at Head of Elk, Maryland; he was 57 miles south of the city of Philadelphia. Over the next month, he battled the Continental Army at Brandywine Creek and the South Valley Hills before marching into Philadelphia on September 26. Because he planned to spend […]
From the outset, it was a military operation whose strategic goals were combined with a fierce quest for vengeance. On January 3, 1778, Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark received a congratulatory note from Virginia’s executive council, which had approved a campaign into the far reaches of the Illinois country. Although the British post at Kaskaskia […]
In 1758, just before returning home from the French and Indian War, George Washington ran for a seat in Virginia’s House of Burgesses. Given his social standing and renown, the office was his for the taking, and on the day of the election he treated the 397 men who showed up at the poll to […]
Book Review: Blood of Tyrants: George Washington and the Forging of the Presidency by Logan Beirne (Encounter Books, 2013) On a May morning in 1754, a young George Washington commanding a handful of Virginia militia and some barely-clothed native allies fell upon some French troops in the Pennsylvania wilderness. An inexperienced Washington, keen on bending […]
New Jersey Governor William Franklin is one of the forgotten major players in the American Revolution. By the fall of 1775, he was the only royal governor in the thirteen rebellious colonies who had not fled or been chased from his post by the mounting tension between the Americans and the mother country. But William’s […]
Since 1874 a growing assumption, indeed an assumption expanding to the status of “fact,” has arisen that a document known as “The Sale of the Hessians” was a piece of propaganda written by Benjamin Franklin. A quick online search using the search terms of “Sale of the Hessians” and “Franklin” will bring up many books, […]
We sometimes use the phrase “at the right place at the right time” when describing the circumstances of someone’s good fortune. In war, the “right place” is often the place where the most important events were not happening. That sounds convoluted, but the case of George Shall will clarify the point. Shall, a native of […]
Book review: William Washington, American Light Dragoon: A Continental Cavalry Leader in the War of Independence by Daniel Murphy (Westholme Publishing, 2014). William Washington, the Revolutionary War cavalry commander, is relatively unknown. However, he played an important role in the War especially in the South, and should be recognized for his skills and accomplishments. Virtually […]
Most early portraits of George Washington represent him as serious and even dour, and more than a few contemporaries described the man as aloof. It is thus perhaps surprising to learn that he actually possessed a fine sense of humor. David Humphreys, Washington’s own secretary and official biographer, wrote c. 1788 that “grave & majestic […]
Joseph Paugenit, Jonas Obscow, Anthony Jeremiah, Simon Peney, Obadiah Wicket, and Alexander Quapish. These are not household names to the average history enthusiast. But they are among the two hundred Indians from eastern Massachusetts who fought in the Revolutionary War. Few people are aware of the contributions that these and another thousand or more Native […]
Because of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride,” most people think that Revere was critical to the start of the Revolutionary War. In trying to dispel Longfellow’s myth of a lone hero, modern scholars have portrayed Revere as just one rider among dozens on 18-19 April 1775, and argued that his previous rides […]
Henry Livingston, or Harry as he was more commonly known, was born on November 9, 1750. He was a son of Judge Robert Livingston and his wife Margaret Beekman Livingston. Harry was the namesake of Margaret’s father Colonel Henry Beekman. As a child Henry was prone to uncontrolled fits of rage. As he matured to […]
Sound the alarm! Journal of the American caught fire in January with a record-setting 495,000 views by 327,000 users! The surge in traffic was primarily caused by three major events: 1) Our “Ages of Revolution” article going viral; 2) Inquiring minds wanting to discover the truth behind History Channel’s Sons of Liberty series; and 3) […]
Book Review: Brandywine: A Military History of the Battle that Lost Philadelphia but Saved America, September 11, 1777 by Michael C. Harris (Savas Beatie, 2014). Author Harris was a former Brandywine Battlefield Museum educator and battlefield guide who quickly became frustrated with a lack of ready sources with which to explain this important battle. The […]
Vice-Admiralty jurisdiction was established in the American colonies in 1697[1]; Vice-Admiralty courts were created in Maryland (1694), New York (which included Connecticut and New Jersey) and South Carolina (1697), Pennsylvania (which included Delaware) and Virginia (1698), Massachusetts (1699), New Hampshire (1704), Rhode Island (1716), North Carolina (1729), and Georgia (1754).[2] They were not effective in […]
Benjamin Franklin’s Revolutionary War diplomatic successes have been well chronicled. He was instrumental in persuading King Louis XVI to enter into a military alliance with the fledgling United States and for negotiating the Treaty of Paris with the British ending the Revolutionary War. Less remembered is Franklin’s first diplomatic mission after the onset of hostilities. […]
In the aftermath of General Burgoyne’s defeat at Saratoga, many Loyalists in the New York and Hampshire Grant regions chose to flee to the safety of Canada rather than face the prospects of poor treatment, forfeiture of property and imprisonment at the hands of local rebels. When loyalists left their communities and traveled north to […]
Thanks to the History Channel, I was granted an early-access screening of the series Sons of Liberty (premiering 25 January at 9 p.m. ET). I binge-watched it for almost 5 hours and also reviewed tons of online content, press releases, and character biographies from the website. Previously, I had only seen and heard about the […]
I plan to write about how the Tory guerrilla David Fanning changed after being made a Loyalist Colonel and given his own red coat, but I keep being lured down Carolina bypaths. For this present detour, on Fanning’s official adversary, Brigadier General John Butler of the North Carolina Militia, I compiled first-hand statements from men […]
Being ten unexpected and edifying quotations from the third winter encampment. I – “We live uncommonly well for Camp…We have Milk and sugar in plenty…I have my hair powdered every day.…”Samuel Ward, Jr. to Phebe Ward, Valley Forge, 5 May 1778.[1]The letters of “Sammy” Ward, who had been married only a month when he came […]
Journal of the American Revolution, the popular online magazine and annual book, today announced its 2014 Book of the Year Award winner. The annual honor goes to the non-fiction volume that best mirrors the journal’s mission, which is to deliver passionate, creative and smart content that makes American Revolution history more palatable for a broad […]
Dear Mr. History: Please tell me if Continental Navy Captain John Paul Jones was as tough as folklore makes out. I’ve read that he did not really shout “I have not yet begun to fight!” during his famous sea battle, and that he probably said something else. What did Jones really say? Sincerely, Pondering JPJ […]
Book Review: Renegade Revolutionary: The Life of Charles Lee by Phillip Pappas (New York University Press, 2014). Prior to 2013, there had not been a major biography of Charles Lee since 1968. Then, within the span of a year, from 2013 to 2014, two major biographies of Lee were released, as well as my book, […]
The image of a rattlesnake was used as a symbol of the American colonies from the beginning of the French and Indian War to the end of the War for Independence. It appeared in printed caricatures, newspapers, and paper money, in addition to other media including flags, buttons and even on a cemetery monument. The […]
Sometimes taking a closer look at an iconic and widely accepted primary source artifact can lead to unanticipated insights. And sometimes those unanticipated insights call for re-examination of long held beliefs. Such is the case of the watercolor of Yorktown viewed from Gloucester Point during the 1781 siege of Yorktown shown above.[1] For almost a […]
I often caution researchers that data tells us what, not why. This is particularly true of material like muster rolls that give us information about individual soldiers moving through their careers – when they enlisted, transfers between companies and regiments, and eventual departure from the army. We see, for example, that a man deserted on […]
After two years of publishing at a vigorous pace, we are finally taking a short vacation. Although it won’t be much of a vacation as we’ll be busy working on our Annual Volume 2015, selecting our Book of the Year Award winner(s) and editing new article submissions. While we’re away, we have two important assignments […]
