*** All JAR Articles ***

6
Techniques & Tech Posted on

Winter Soldiering in the Lake Champlain Valley

From the beginning, the American army knew south-facing Fort Ticonderoga did little to protect against an attack coming up Lake Champlain from British-controlled Canada.[1] To address the problem, they decided to fortify the north-facing peninsula, called East Point or Rattlesnake Hill, that poked out into the lake across from Ticonderoga. During the summer of 1776, […]

by Michael Barbieri
1
Reviews Posted on

Native Americans in the American Revolution

Book Review: Native Americans in the American Revolution: How the War Divided, Devastated, and Transformed the Early American Indian World by Ethan A. Schmidt (Praeger, 2014) Native Americans in the American Revolution discusses the American Revolution in a way that most have never encountered. This conflict typically depicts “American colonists” against the British, with colonists on both sides […]

by Joshua Butler
6
Reviews Posted on

Hessians: Mercenaries, Rebels, and the War for British North America

Book Review:  Hessians: Mercenaries, Rebels, and the War for British North America by Brady J. Crytzer (Westholme Publishing, 2015). Students of the American Revolution are at least superficially familiar with the soldiers sourced by the British who were principally from the Hesse-Cassel state of Germany and dubbed “Hessians,” however their many contributions, varied roles and […]

by J. Brett Bennett
3
Reviews Posted on

The Queen’s American Rangers

Book Review: The Queen’s American Rangers by Donald J. Gara (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2015). There have been very few studies of specific Revolutionary War units, an unusual situation given the number of Civil War unit histories. This is a field where a diligent historian can illuminate particular aspects of a regiment’s service as well as its […]

by Jim Piecuch
Politics During the War (1775-1783) Posted on

Russia and the American War for Independence

The use of foreign troops in time of war was not an uncommon practice in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Much as we have treaties, like NATO, for mutual support, eighteenth-century countries banded together, particularly along family lines, as royal families intermarried to secure and promote their economic and political interests. When the troubles between […]

by Norman Desmarais
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The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

A Tale of Two Cities: The Destruction of Falmouth and the Defense of Hampton

Destruction of Falmouth (modern day Portland, Maine) On October 8, 1775, a British naval squadron of four ships, led by the lightly armed vessel Canceaux, sailed from Boston Harbor.1  The squadron’s commander, Lieutenant Henry Mowat, had orders from Admiral Samuel Graves, to “chastise” a number of coastal settlements north of Boston. Ten towns were identified as […]

by Michael Cecere
2
Reviews Posted on

Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution

Book Review:  Independence Lost:  Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution by Kathleen DuVal (New York:  Random House, 2015). Increasingly, historians are interpreting the American Revolution from two wider perspectives. First, it was a global war fought on five continents with major battles outside of the thirteen colonies critical to the war’s outcome. Second, […]

by Gene Procknow
12
People Posted on

Forgotten Volunteers:  The 1st Company, Governors Foot Guard During the Saratoga Campaign

It is considered the oldest, continuously serving military unit in the United States.  The 1st Company, Governors Foot Guard has as much a storied history as the state that it serves.  It came into existence in 1771, when the Connecticut General Assembly approved a petition that had been submitted by a group of prominent Hartford […]

by Matthew Reardon
3
People Posted on

Thomas Jefferson, Scientist

When people think about Thomas Jefferson, they think of a founding father, an advocate of liberty, and an American Patriot. But what people don’t normally think about is Thomas Jefferson’s scientific mind. Jefferson was a man who explored anything and everything that attracted his interest. He took it upon himself to value knowledge above almost […]

by Travis Martin
3
Food & Lifestyle Posted on

For to Cure for the Etch

Among other communicable diseases, the itch was common in military installations of the eighteenth century. Unlike smallpox and typhus, the itch was not in itself fatal, but was stressful and debilitating to soldiers and sailors on both sides of the conflict in the American Revolution. Today the distressing malady is known as scabies, “a disease […]

by Rich Wood
5
Postwar Politics (>1783) Posted on

General Washington’s Appeal for a Federal Government

Most professional and amateur historians of the American Revolutionary period are very aware of George Washington’s prowess as a military commander of the Continental Army, his role at the Constitutional Convention and his performance as the United States’ first chief executive.  Unfortunately, many have overlooked Washington’s significant role, while he was still commander of the […]

by T. J. Johnson
3
People Posted on

The Shakers and the American Revolution

The Shakers reached their heyday in the nineteenth century, when they lived in orderly communities, membership swelled to five thousand believers, and many non-Shakers visited them and praised their modesty, neatness, and productivity. But Shakerism in America began against the backdrop of the Revolutionary War, and during that time the group of celibate and intensely […]

by Joseph Manca
3
Reviews Posted on

General Washington’s Commando: Benjamin Tallmadge in the Revolutionary War

Book Review: General Washington’s Commando: Benjamin Tallmadge in the Revolutionary War by Richard F. Welch. Jefferson (McFarland & Company, 2014). While most historians agree that American victory in the Revolutionary War would not have been possible without George Washington’s military leadership, it is less frequently noted that Washington could not have exercised effective command without […]

by Jim Piecuch