I recently came across the recollections of Simeon Thayer, who served from 1777 to 1781 as a major in Rhode Island Continental Army regiments. He was one of the outstanding military figures from Rhode Island during the war. His recollections start with him as a teenager during the French and Indian War serving in Maj. […]
General histories of the Battle of Connecticut Farms, New Jersey, that was fought on June 7, 1780 tend to miss their mark with the very first shots. The intrusion of local myth impacts our understanding of the sequence of battle and distorts some of its key elements. In the process, the battalion that suffered nearly […]
General Anthony Wayne was one of the most capable generals in the Continental Army and is perhaps best remembered for his successful surprise attack that captured the British post at Stony Point, New York, on July 16, 1779. Wayne also suffered his share of reverses, most notably at Paoli, Pennsylvania, on the night of September 20-21, […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews founding member of the Washington Crossing Revolutionary War Round Table and JAR contributor Robert N. Fanelli about the remarkable and contentious life of Cosmo Gordon, lieutenant colonel of the British Brigade of Guards’ 1st Battalion, and privileged bon vivant. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free […]
The British evacuation of Philadelphia had been under way for several days. Given the honor to be among the last units to leave, the Brigade of Guards slept on their arms by the redoubts north of the city the night of June 17. At daybreak, they embarked on flatboats to cross the Delaware into New […]
Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in 1849. She became a major conductor on the Underground Railroad, as well as an advocate for Women’s Rights. A year later the Compromise of 1850 included a controversial Fugitive Slave Law that compelled all citizens to help in the recovery of fugitive slaves. Free Blacks formed more Vigilance Committees […]
The Battles of Connecticut Farms and Springfield 1780 by Edward G. Lengel. (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, LLC, 2020) Famed Washington historian Edward G. Lengel (editor-in-chief of the Papers of George Washington and author of General George Washington: A Military Life) reminds readers that the recognizable titles of some Revolutionary War battles were not the only ones […]
The Journal of the American Revolution, Annual 2020 is now available. Our sixth annual uniform volume is a jacketed hardback, with 356 pages, composed of thirty-seven articles, and retails for $35.00. Each annual volume presents a selection of the finest writing and research over the past year, weaving a common narrative thread that is impossible to […]
