• Home
  • About
    • Mission & Staff
    • Submissions
    • Teacher’s Guide
    • Advertising
    • Contact
  • Books
    • JAR Annual Volumes
    • JAR Book Series
    • JAR Book Awards
    • The 100 Best American Revolution Books of All Time
  • Podcast
  • Write
    • Join Our Team
    • Doc Set-Up Guidelines
    • JAR Style Guide
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • News
  • Archives
Journal of the American Revolution - allthingsliberty.com
  • People
  • Politics
    • Prewar (<1775)
    • War Years (1775-1783)
    • Postwar (>1783)
  • Culture
    • Arts & Literature
    • Food & Lifestyle
    • Religion
  • Economics
  • Conflict & War
    • Prewar (<1775)
    • War Years (1775-1783)
    • Techniques & Tech
  • Critical Thinking
  • Plus
    • Teacher’s Guide
    • Reviews
    • Primary Sources
    • Places
    • Interviews
    • Beyond the Classroom
J. L. Bell

J. L. Bell

J. L. Bell is the author of The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War (Westholme, 2016). He maintains the Boston1775.net website, dedicated to history, analysis, and unabashed gossip about the start of the American Revolution in New England. His other historical writing includes Gen. George Washington's Home and Headquarters—Cambridge, Massachusetts, a comprehensive study for the National Park Service, and contributions to Todd Andrlik's Reporting the Revolutionary War (Sourcebooks, 2012), James Marten's Children in Colonial America (New York University Press, 2007), and many journals and magazines. He has been elected a Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society, a Fellow of the American Antiquarian Society, and a Member of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts.

2
Law, Letters and Correspondence, People, Politics During the War (1775-1783) April 6, 2023 April 3, 2023

The Secrets of Samuel Dyer

As recounted in a previous article, in October 1774 a sailor named Samuel Dyer returned to Boston, accusing high officers of the British army…

Read More
2
Crime and Justice, People, Prewar Politics (<1775) April 4, 2023 April 3, 2023

The Return of Samuel Dyer: An Attempted Assassination in Revolutionary Boston

On October 10, 1774, the brigantine Charlotte arrived at Newport, Rhode Island, from London. On board was a sailor named Samuel Dyer, and he told a…

Read More
7
Arts & Literature, Culture, Myths and Legends, Primary Sources June 17, 2020 June 16, 2020

Who Said, “Don’t Fire Till You See the Whites of Their Eyes”?

“Don’t fire till you see the whites of their eyes!” is one of the most famous quotations to come out of the Revolutionary War. According…

Read More
Myths and Legends, Politics During the War (1775-1783), Primary Sources July 2, 2019 July 1, 2019

The Declaration of Independence: Did John Hancock Really Say That about his Signature?—and Other Signing Stories

When we picture the Declaration of Independence, most of us immediately think of the document handwritten on parchment and signed at the bottom by…

Read More
2
Conflict & War, Features, People, Primary Sources June 18, 2018 June 17, 2018

Peter Salem? Salem Poor? Who Killed Major John Pitcairn?

Maj. John Pitcairn of the British marines became notorious among New Englanders after the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. The…

Read More
11
Features, People, Primary Sources, The War Years (1775-1783) March 20, 2018 March 21, 2018

The General, the Corporal, and the Anecdote: Jacob Francis and Israel Putnam

On August 18, 1832, a seventy-eight-year-old New Jersey man named Jacob Francis went before Hunterdon County officials and described his military service in the…

Read More
3
Techniques & Tech October 4, 2016 September 17, 2016

General Washington’s First Spy, and Why His Mission Was Doomed from the Start

On July 15, 1775, less than two weeks after he arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to take command of the Continental Army, Gen. George Washington…

Read More
9
People October 12, 2015 August 28, 2016

George Baylor: Spirited, Willing and Wrong for the Job

George Baylor (1752-1784) was a young Virginia planter in 1775. He was a son of Col. John Baylor, who had been George Washington’s friend…

Read More
4
People December 2, 2014 August 28, 2016

Newton Prince and the Struggle for Liberty

On the 5th of March, 1770, Newton Prince heard Boston’s church bells start to ring. He ran to the door of his house and…

Read More
6
People September 3, 2014 August 28, 2016

General Washington and the Body-Snatchers

Among the many challenges Gen. George Washington faced in his first year as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, he probably didn’t expect to deal…

Read More
6
The War Years (1775-1783) August 13, 2014 August 28, 2016

Misinformation, Disinformation, and Gen. Washington’s Gunpowder Supply

In the summer of 1775, Gen. George Washington fell victim to bad information about the Continental Army’s gunpowder supply. When he finally received accurate…

Read More
Critical Thinking May 8, 2014 December 4, 2014

Tracking Down a Musket-Toting Woman

Ray Raphael just described how an Advanced Placement exam in U.S. History asked students to analyze what this image of a musket-toting woman said…

Read More
8
Critical Thinking April 21, 2014 August 28, 2016

Did Paul Revere’s Ride Really Matter?

The biggest myth of Paul Revere’s ride may not be that Revere watched for the lantern signal from the North Church spire, as Henry…

Read More
25
Prewar Politics (<1775) February 5, 2014 August 28, 2016

You Won’t Believe How Samuel Adams Recruited Sons of Liberty

In his 1936 biography Sam Adams: Pioneer in Propaganda, John C. Miller wrote this about the leader of Boston’s Whig activists: Sam Adams discovered…

Read More
4
Interviews December 20, 2013 December 20, 2013

An Interview with Richard C. Wiggin

Richard C. Wiggin is the author of Embattled Farmers: Campaigns and Profiles of Revolutionary Soldiers from Lincoln, Massachusetts, 1775-1783. This book is a very…

Read More
3
Arts & Literature December 18, 2013 August 28, 2016

Washington’s Five Books

On 10 November 1775, slightly more than four months after he had taken command of the American troops besieging Boston, Gen. George Washington sent…

Read More
29
Prewar Conflict (<1775) December 13, 2013 August 28, 2016

5 Myths of Tarring and Feathering

1. Myth: Tarring and feathering could be fatal. Busted: The notion that hot tar caused severe, sometimes fatal burns is based on the assumption…

Read More
Critical Thinking November 15, 2013 August 28, 2016

Birth of the “Caucus”

America’s Revolutionary decades produced a new republican system, and with it new republican language. One term that surfaced early in that period and remains…

Read More
2
Critical Thinking June 25, 2013 August 28, 2016

“Intolerable Acts”

I started with an innocent question about the British Parliament’s Quartering Act of 1774: Did American Patriots list that law as one of the…

Read More
1
Critical Thinking May 22, 2013 August 28, 2016

“No Taxation without Representation” (Part 2)

In 1765 Parliament instituted a Stamp Act for the North American colonies, which proved wildly unpopular from Savannah to Halifax, and ultimately unworkable. The…

Read More
13
Critical Thinking May 21, 2013 August 28, 2016

“No Taxation without Representation” (Part 1)

The primary dispute between Britain and her North American mainland colonies in the 1760s and early 1770s has often been summed up in four…

Read More

 

Support Our Sponsors

About The Journal

Journal of the American Revolution

Journal of the American Revolution is the leading source of knowledge about the American Revolution and Founding Era. We feature smart, groundbreaking research and well-written narratives from expert writers. Our work has been featured by the New York Times, TIME magazine, History Channel, Discovery Channel, Smithsonian, Mental Floss, NPR, and more. Journal of the American Revolution also produces annual hardcover volumes, a branded book series, and the podcast, Dispatches.

    Latest Posts

    Critical Thinking

    This Week on Dispatches: Colin Zimmerman on the Prelude to Trenton

    Letters and Correspondence

    Top 20 Wartime Quotations from the Letters of Lucy and Henry Knox

    Reviews

    Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence

    Recent Comments

    • David M. Griffin on Quartering British Forces on Long Island
    • David M. Griffin on Quartering British Forces on Long Island
    • Dennis Ness on York County Pennsylvania Militia 1777
    • Editors on More than a Library: The David Library of the American Revolution
    • Dean Craft on York County Pennsylvania Militia 1777
    • David P Sculley on Massachusetts Privateers During the Siege of Boston
    JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION © 2018
    Back to top