On Christmas day 1780, seven days before his discharge from the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment (Rawlings’ regiment), Lt. Elijah Evans recorded in a troop return that he “claims a Captaincy from the 15th April 1779.”[1] This was his last attempt to highlight a conspicuous administrative oversight that had prevented his promotion throughout his time […]
When the request came, I was surprised, excited and flattered in equal parts. Would I be an advisor for the upcoming PBS series The American Revolution, produced by Ken Burns? Of course I said yes, despite not knowing what the project would actually entail. I had heard it was in the works, but did not […]
The PBS documentary The American Revolution, produced by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, premiers on November 16, 2025. Producers Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt took time out of their busy schedules to talk to JAR about their experiences working on this landmark film, and some of the things they learned about the people […]
From time to time we ask our contributors a question about some aspect of the American Revolution and the founding era (circa 1765-1805). This month’s question was: What is the most underrated event that occurred in 1775, and why should it get more attention? John Ferling In December 1775 a French army officer disembarked in […]
Since 2014, the Journal of the American Revolution has recognized the new adult nonfiction volume that best mirrors the mission of the journal with its national Book-of-the-Year Award. This year the editors are pleased to announce a winner and two runners-up. All three books are outstanding contributions to the history of the Revolutionary and Founding […]
The adjectives leveled Benedict Arnold’s way by contemporaries and historians leave little room for doubt. Though he inspired devotion among those serving under him, the man rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Prickly, heavy-handed and arrogant, he seemed to thrive on personal confrontation with those who differed with him. The famous clash between […]
There are seven parts in the process to approve a bill in England: the first debate and reading, the second debate and reading, the committee stage, the report stage, the third debate and reading, the agreement between both Houses to the same bill, and the royal assent. This article is about the first three stages […]
BOOK REVIEW: Ira Allen: A Biography by J. Kevin Graffagnino (Barre, VT: Vermont Historical Society, 2024. $24.95 cloth) While Ethan Allen’s exploits as the ringleader of the Green Mountain Boys and his 1775 conquest of Fort Ticonderoga are legendary, his youngest brother’s contributions and quixotic schemes are relatively unknown. Kevin J. Graffagnino asserts, in his […]
In 1902, the new owner of a furnished house in Medford, Massachusetts, was rummaging through the accoutrements and amenities of his recent acquisition. John O’Callaghan then noticed a box with an unusual inscription: “Here’s our family flag from the war.” Intrigued, O’Callaghan opened the container and found a frayed flag. As he unfolded the red, […]
A recent trip to the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia unearthed the institution’s continued shift towards presenting narratives and stories that most students—and adults—are unfamiliar with. When images of the era are discussed, one would be correct to assume the museum’s focus centers on the Washingtons, Hamiltons, and Franklins of lore, and no […]
Each spring for the past nine years we have published the Journal of the American Revolution Annual volume. Each book represents those articles selected by JAR’s editorial staff that best represent the in-depth and cutting edge original research that is the journal’s hallmark. This year’s volume is no exception and contains articles ranging from a […]
We have exciting news for our readers! It’s been ten years. It’s time for a change. Soon, things will look different at JAR. Don’t worry—we’ll still have the same great articles, podcast, and other content that you’ve come to rely on as a trusted source for information about the American Revolution and Founding Era. But […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews author Norman S. Poser on his new book, From the Battlefield to the Stage: The Many Lives of General John Burgoyne. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. Dispatches can […]
BOOK REVIEW: Revolutionary Roads: Searching for the War That Made America Independent . . . and All the Places It Could Have Gone Terribly Wrong by Bob Thompson (Hachette Book Group/Twelve Books, 2023) Bob Thompson made a significant commitment of time and resources to visit the battlefields of the revolution he selected to include in […]
Since 2014, the Journal of the American Revolution has recognized the adult nonfiction volume that best mirrors the mission of the journal with its national Book-of-the-Year Award. This year the editors are pleased to announce a winner and two runners-up. All three books are outstanding contributions to the history of the Revolutionary and Founding Eras. […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews history teacher and JAR contributor John Settle on the story of the 9th Virginia Regiment, the Eastern Shore Battalion, during the American Revolution. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews author, US Army civilian historian, and JAR contributor H. Allen Skinner on how Nathanael Greene developed a grand strategy for his campaign against the British and Loyalists in the South. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google […]
We asked our contributors: What is your history-related New Year’s resolution for 2023? Here are some of their responses. Robert Scott Davis To submit for publication my manuscript biography of African American patriot Austin Dabney. Kim Burdick As Delaware Chair of the American Friends of Lafayette’s 200th Anniversary of Lafayette’s Triumphal Return, my resolution is to have all […]
Days of Thanksgiving were frequently declared in colonial and early America. We asked our contributors for their favorite proclamation of Thanksgiving between 1765 and 1805? Jane Hampton Cook The Stamp Act caused conflict at Thanksgiving dinner tables in Massachusetts in 1765. Newlyweds John and Abigail Adams dined with her father, William Smith, a minister who […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Chip Langston on the life of Captain James Morris of the Connecticut Light Infantry who wrote a compelling memoir about his experience during the American Revolution, from the Battle of Long Island and his capture at the Battle of Germantown to his parole and participation in […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian and JAR contributor Shawn David McGhee explains how a plot was devised to unseat Vice President John Adams on partisan lines during the 1792 election. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and […]
Recently, JAR interviewed author Stephen L. Kling, Jr. about the American Revolutionary War in the West Museum Exhibit at the St. Charles County Heritage Museum in St. Peters, Missouri. How did the ‘American Revolutionary War in the West’ museum exhibit come about? The exhibit grew out of an earlier book I wrote on the Battle […]
Today, July 4, Americans celebrate independence from Great Britain, independence that was proclaimed by the Declaration of Independence. This is an important thing to commemorate, and July 4 is a good day to do it – even though many of the things that are celebrated did not occur on that date. Over the years JAR […]
The eighth straight uniform volume of selected articles from the previous calendar year is now available. The articles in the Journal of the American Revolution Annual Volume 2022 range from the Constitutional debate over the electoral college and impeachment procedures and the numerical strength of Washington’s army during the Philadelphia campaign to inoculation of smallpox, […]
This month we asked our contributors, which person, for whom no image is known to exist, would you like to discover a full-length portrait of? Andrew J. O’Shaughnessy Sir William Howe. Robert S. Davis Thomas Brown, the Loyalist for whom more has been written than anyone else in Revolutionary War Georgia, although an article in […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews long-time JAR contributor Patrick H. Hannum and his co-author Frederick R. Keinle on George Washington’s leadership advice to Col. William Woodford—and whether Woodford took heed. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR managing editor Don N. Hagist on the demographics of the British soldiers who marched to Concord on April 19, 1775. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. Dispatches […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Travis Copeland about a watershed moment in North Carolina’s independence movement, the attack on Fort Johnston. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. Dispatches can now be […]
This month, we asked our contributors to name their favorite new book (published within the last two years) on the American Revolution or America’s founding era. Lars. D. H. Hedbor While there has been a lot of terrific original scholarship around the American Revolution published in the past two years, and some simply spectacular historical […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews Timothy C. Hemmis, Assistant Professor of History, Texas A&M University–Central Texas, on his recent article about violence between militia and Native Americans on the western frontier during the American Revolution and its influence on the course of the war. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every […]
The Fraunces Tavern Museum announced on March 22 that War at Saber Point: Banastre Tarleton and the British Legion by John Knight (Westholme Publishing) will be awarded the 2022 Fraunces Tavern Museum Book Award Honorable Mention on April 25 at an awards banquet. The 2022 award was given to The Compleat Victory: Saratoga and the American Revolution […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews independent historian and JAR contributor Mark R. Anderson on the fate of King George III’s bust in Montreal in light of the more famous incident with the statue of the king in New York City at the start of the American Revolution. New episodes of Dispatches are […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews college student and JAR contributor Alexander Lenarchyk on his discovery that Washington mused on the idea of needing an “asylum” should the war go terribly wrong. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Jane L. Green on her research into the life of Thomas Ditson, a man who went from being tarred and feathered by the British for illicit trading to becoming one of the first Massachusetts militiamen to engage the British at Concord. New episodes of Dispatches […]
We regularly ask our contributors questions about the American Revolution and founding era. This month we’ve asked them to tell us about an African American or Native American associated with the 1765-1805 era who does NOT have a Wikipedia entry, but who should. Lars D. H. Hedbor The Marquis de Rouvray, who commanded the regiment of […]
BOOK REVIEW: Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America’s Founders by Dennis C. Rasmussen (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021) I feel dutybound to confess something, before I tempt the reader further into this review of Dennis C. Rasmussen’s Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America’s Founders. I am somewhat embittered—envious even. […]
We asked our contributors what history project they’re most looking forward to in 2022. Ken Lawson In 2022, I am most looking forward to the spring publication of my book, George Whitefield’s Ministry in New England, 1740-1770. This 600 or so page book is a detailed account full of primary sources that have mostly been […]
Constant Avery of Eaton, in New York’s Madison County, travelled sixteen miles to the county seat in Wampsville in the first week of October 1832. On October 8 he appeared in open court to apply for a federal pension for his years as a soldier in the Continental Army. Avery was “aged seventy three years […]
The Journal of the American Revolution is pleased to announce The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton by Andrew Porwancher as winner of the 2021 Journal of the American Revolution Book-of-the-Year Award. Honorable Mention is awarded to Resisting Independence: Popular Loyalism in the Revolutionary British Atlantic by Brad A. Jones. The award—an international award dedicated to nonfiction books specifically […]
