7
The Revolutionary Battle of Petersburg
byWhen one mentions the Battle of Petersburg in Civil-War-centric Virginia, the immediate reaction is Ulysses S. Grant versus Robert E. Lee in 1864 and…
Benedict Arnold
7
Victory at Saratoga: Getting the Word Out
byIt is axiomatic that the American victory at Saratoga was, aside from events at Yorktown, the pivotal military event of the American Revolution. The…
10
Hero to Zero? Remembering Horatio Gates
byBetween heroes like George Washington and villains like Benedict Arnold, the Revolutionary War was full of historical actors of all stripes. But one man…
Tragic Accident at Fort Anne: A Story Revealed in Two Primary Source Documents
byIn 1901, the American Monthly Magazine published Rev. David Avery’s journal of the 1776 “Northern Campaign.” Avery had served as chaplain for John Patterson’s Massachusetts…
10
The Highs and Lows of Ethan Allen’s Reputation as Reported by Revolutionary-Era Newspapers
byEthan Allen’s prevailing reputation among the general population remains that of a daring hero, but has suffered in the eyes of recent historians. Casual…
5
The Escape of John Champe
byIn 1876 Currier and Ives issued a lithograph titled The Escape of John Champe: In the endeavour to carry out Washington’s plan to capture…
This Week on Dispatches: Michael Cecere on the French Army in Williamsburg
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews author, historian, and JAR contributor Michael Cecere on the French occupation of Williamsburg, Virginia, after the British…
10
A Misguided Attempt to Populate Upper Canada with Loyalists after the Revolution
byFollowing the American Revolution, and to achieve a more appropriate governing climate, the British Parliament issued the Constitutional Act of 1791 which created, out…
6
The French Army in Williamsburg, Virginia, 1781–1782
byFor most of 1781, the inhabitants of Williamsburg lived in a constant state of anxiety. Already economically devastated by the loss of the state…
8
Smallpox by Inoculation: The Tragedy of New York’s Rosewell Beebe
byThe day following the legendary taking of Fort Ticonderoga on May 10, 1775, Lt. Col. Ethan Allen reported the successful mission to New York’s…
3
The Battle of Green Spring: A Footnote on the Road to Yorktown
byEnsign Ebenezer Denny calculated that he went from a green officer to a combat veteran in all of four minutes. Yet in those harsh…
11
The Rise and Fall of John André’s Captors in Popular Culture
byDavid Williams, John Paulding, and Isaac Van Wart were celebrated as heroes during their lifetime, vaulted to fame by George Washington and Alexander Hamilton,…
Walter Butler—The Dastardly Loyalist
byDuring the American Revolution, some of the hardest-fought and most bitter battles occurred in the land of the Six Nations, the Iroquois lands stretching…
This Week on Dispatches: Victor J. DiSanto on the Men Who Captured British Spy John André
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews museum professional and JAR contributor Victor J. DiSanto on his research into the men who captured British…
29
Major André’s Captors Revisited: Separating Myth from Historical Reality
byFor more than 200 years, people have debated the character and motives of the three men who captured Major John André on September 23,…
William Goforth: A Life of Patriotism, Courage, and Honor
byWilliam Goforth played significant roles in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio in the age of the American Revolution and the Early Republic and he…
4
Brown’s Raid on Ticonderoga and Mount Independence
byThis story begins five weeks after Gen. John Burgoyne’s army forced the Americans to abandon positions on Lake Champlain in July 1777. On August…
Thaddeus Kosciuszko: “Patron Saint of West Point”
byIn Douglas S. Freeman’s biography of Robert E. Lee, he noted: Corps activities took a certain amount of Lee’s time that winter. Kosciuszko was…
3
Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed
byFILM REVIEW: Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed. Directed by Chris Stearns. Executive Producers James Kirby Martin and Ray Raymond. (Talon Films Production, 2021) One of…
This Week on Dispatches: Rand Mirante on John Marshall’s and Mercy Otis Warren’s Differing Views of Benedict Arnold’s Legacy
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Rand Mirante on John Marshall’s and Mercy Otis Warren’s differing views of Benedict Arnold…
Justice, Mercy, and Treason: John Marshall’s and Mercy Otis Warren’s Treatments of Benedict Arnold
byIn the early years of the nineteenth century, the founders of the new American Republic were lurching forward from the shockingly successful outcome of…
2
Skirmish at James’s Plantation: Victory and Defeat for Benedict Arnold in Virginia
byA recent home improvement project led to the Home Depot located at 2324 Elson Green Avenue, Virginia Beach, Virginia. The area is in the…
3
The Varick Transcripts and the Preservation of the War
byFive years into the war, with his papers piling up and stuffed into overflowing trunks that followed the general from headquarters to headquarters, George…
Thomas Knowlton’s Revolution
byThe story of Thomas Knowlton in the American Revolution is brief but meaningful. He was only thirty-five at his death, arguably a full-fledged hero…
10
Timothy Matlack, Scribe of the Declaration of Independence
byThe scribe of the Declaration of Independence—and perhaps the first man to read it in public—was born on March 28, 1736 in Haddonfield, New…
6
Virginia’s Swamp Fox: Captain Amos Weeks of Princess Anne County
byAnyone who has ever tackled genealogical or historical research knows that the process is very much like putting a jigsaw puzzle together or working…
3
Wampum Belts to Canada: Stockbridge Indian Ambassadors’ Dangerous 1775 Peace Mission
byIn early May 1775, with the Revolutionary War not even one month old, western Massachusetts Patriot leaders and their Stockbridge Indian neighbors developed a plan…
9
David Wooster Kept the Men at Quebec: Giving Credit to a Much-Maligned General
byMost modern historical treatments of the American invasion of Canada disparage Brig. Gen. David Wooster for his leadership in Canada. A detailed examination of…
8
Sir Henry Clinton’s Generalship
by“My fate is hard,” Sir Henry Clinton remarked after learning that he had been named commander of the British army in May 1778, adding…
3
Amicus Reipublicae; or, Abraham Bancker, Friend of the Republic
byAbraham Bancker gave in to temptation on September 10, 1789, when he petitioned George Washington for a federal appointment as compensation for his service…
This Week on Dispatches: Jonathan Bayer on the Fake News of Quebec’s Surrender
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews PhD student and JAR contributor Jonathan Bayer on his discovery of an account of the surrender…
1
Fake News of the Surrender of Quebec: A Video Contribution
byIn 1776, the Pennsylvania Evening Post printed a letter, allegedly from Paris, which reported that American commander Benedict Arnold had captured the last major British…
2
Incredible Insults and Hardships: The Hostage Experience of Ebenezer Sullivan
byWhen twenty-three-year-old Capt. Ebenezer Sullivan nobly volunteered himself as a prisoner-exchange hostage in the last weeks of the Canadian invasion, he had no way…
2
Congress’s “Committee on Spies” and the Court-Martial Policies of General Washington
byIn the weeks before it declared independence, the Continental Congress was already hard at work building the institutions it would need to maintain the…
James Lovell: Schoolteacher, Prisoner, Patriot
byJames Lovell, delegate from Massachusetts to the Second Continental Congress and the Confederation Congress from 1777 to 1782, the only member of Congress to…
This Week on Dispatches: Kevin A. Conn on the Remarkable Career of Loyalist Soldier and Spy James Moody
byOn this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews AP History teacher and JAR contributor Kevin A. Conn on the remarkable career of New Jersey Loyalist…
1
Contingencies, Capture, and Spectacular Getaway: the Imprisonment and Escape of James Moody
byOne of the most famous or notorious of Tory partisans in the American Revolution was the New Jersey soldier and spy James Moody. Moody…
Great Bridge Museum Opens Amid Pandemic
byFriday, June 19, 2020, proved an interesting day in Virginia. The governor, two days prior, issued an executive order declaring June 19, “Juneteenth” a…
2
Oscar Bredenberg and the Lost Battle of Valcour Island Letter
byOne of the greatest thrills for any historian is coming upon an important but little-known document, either through one’s own research or the work…