The British approach to its American colony in 1775 offers valuable lessons for historians and military professionals in the synthesis between the levels of wartime leadership and their effect on direct action at the tactical level. As such, it is worthwhile to reflect on the British experience in 1775, and how guidance from strategic and […]
Along with the Civil War, the American Revolution is one of the two most iconic events in American history. The Revolution has inspired countless myths, been used as a political weapon, and is at the heart of American civic religion. Generations of Americans have honored and commemorated the Revolution by erecting monuments to various peoples, […]
On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews Pulitzer-prize winning author Rick Atkinson about his latest book, the best-selling The British are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775–1777, the first volume of his trilogy on the War of Independence. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of the […]
In early 1775, the town major of Quebec decided to pay a visit to Gen. Thomas Gage in Boston. William Dunbar had been an officer in the 44th Regiment of Foot during the French and Indian War, and although he had sold his regimental commission after that conflict ended, he settled in Canada and been […]
On one Sunday morning in late April 1775, news arrived in Spencertown, New York, of the occurrences at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. This alarm caught the attention of the local militia company, commanded by Capt. Adam Howley. Fifteen of that company volunteered to go to Boston. One of them, Joel Pratt, was elected captain of […]
By the end of 1774, Catharine Macaulay had met Benjamin Rush, Arthur Lee, Richard Marchant, and Benjamin Franklin, and had corresponded with John Dickinson, James Otis, Jr., John Adams, William Livingston, Richard Henry Lee, Abigail Adams, Ezra Stiles, Mercy Otis Warren, and Samuel Adams. The number of Americans that Macaulay had met was about to change. […]
A newly appointed colonel in the Essex County militia, Timothy Pickering led some 700 men of the Salem and Essex militia toward Boston, Massachusetts, to intercept the British as they retreated from Lexington on April 19, 1775. Pickering had his chance late that day to attack the British troops near Medford, Massachusetts, but, with the […]
We asked our contributors what seemed like a simple question: What scene from the American Revolution or the Founding Era (1765–1805, approximately) do you wish had been depicted accurately by an artist? Quite unintentionally, the wording was ambiguous. Some described scenes that they’d like to see an artist render, while others offered events that they […]
While curating the collection of American Revolution newspapers featured in Reporting the Revolutionary War, I stumbled upon a rare 18th century American newspaper loaded with mystery and intrigue. Most newspapers of the era are well documented and catalogued by academic research institutions, but this one seemed to have slipped through the cracks for more than […]
The American Revolution is quite obviously a very broad topic. It would require a huge quantity of books, even watered down to the “essentials,” to adequately cover all facets of the war. The hypothetical library would have to contain volumes on politics, biographies of major and minor players, continent-wide strategies, battles, tactics, equipment and supply. […]
Myth: The American Revolution started at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. Busted: All of contiguous Massachusetts – except Boston! – cast off British rule in a revolution that swept through the countryside more than half a year earlier, from August to October, 1774. On September 6, 1774, at dawn and through the morning, […]
April Morning is a novel covering a 24 hour period in Lexington, Massachusetts when the American War for Independence began. The story is compellingly told by a 15 year old Lexington boy, Adam Cooper. The reader sees young Cooper’s life on the afternoon and evening before the fateful day in such a realistic manner that […]
