This historical chronical is about an unusual multifaceted patriot: a musician, soldier, privateer, author, and dentist. On May 17, 1760, John Greenwood was born to Boston ivory artisan Isaac and Mary Greenwood. Before the lad turned thirteen years old, John was a witness to the so called “Boston Massacre” that killed eighteen-year-old Samuel Maverick, his […]
When British soldiers arrived in Boston in 1768 as part of the British government’s efforts to maintain peace in the colony of Massachusetts, local citizens resented the military presence for several reasons. First and foremost was the implication that the army, in spite of their mission to maintain order, were in fact oppressors sent by […]
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian, author, and JAR Book-of-the-Year Award winner, Serena Zabin on her book, The Boston Massacre: A Family History. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and the JAR Dispatches web site. Dispatches can now be easily accessed […]
The Journal of the American Revolution is pleased to announce The Boston Massacre: A Family History by Serena Zabin (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) as winner of the 2020 Journal of the American Revolution Book-of-the-Year Award. Honorable Mention is awarded to A Crisis of Peace: George Washington, the Newburgh Conspiracy, and the Fate of the American Revolution by David […]
Here’s one of the things I love most about Boston: If it were possible to drop Paul Revere in downtown today, he could, quite literally, find his way home. Not just to the site of his former home, but to his actual house. Incredibly, enough landmarks still exist in Boston that he could find his […]
James Lovell, delegate from Massachusetts to the Second Continental Congress and the Confederation Congress from 1777 to 1782, the only member of Congress to be continuously present during those years,[1] is known for being the Secretary for the Committee for Foreign Affairs; for his expertise in cryptography, earning him Edmund Burnett’s description of “decipherer extraordinary to […]
In the years leading up to the Revolutionary War, as the British Army repositioned its forces from western frontier posts into American cities, many Americans seethed against quartering troops in urban centers. Animosity with the military occupation was rampant but was not the universal reaction in every location. In two cities, colonial anger ranged from vituperative […]
The Boston Massacre: A Family History by Serena Zabin. (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020) The significant other of this particular reviewer saw him reading yet another book about the Revolution, and still another book about the Boston Massacre. “Haven’t you learned enough about it?” she asked. This reviewer honestly did not jump into Serena Zabin’s recent […]
There are many ways to reach Jamaica, Queens, via public transit. From Brooklyn or Manhattan one could catch a Queens-bound F Train and remain aboard until getting off at Parsons Boulevard near the end of the line. Hundreds of thousands of commuters pass through Jamaica every day, either on the F Train, via the many […]
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 […]
On October 1, 1768, two regiments of British infantry with an artillery detachment—witnesses estimated 700 to 800 men in all—disembarked from transports in Boston Harbor and formed up on Long Wharf. Then, in a procession lasting several hours, they marched “with muskets charged, bayonets fixed, colours flying, drums beating and fifes . . . playing” […]
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 heard “the cry of fire.” Putting on his shoes, Prince went out to help fight the blaze, as town inhabitants were supposed to do. On the streets he asked other men […]
Crispus Attucks (c.1723-1770) is often remembered as the first casualty of the American Revolution. In fact, others had died in previous incidents, but Attucks’s death during the King Street riot of March 5, 1770—later referred to as the Boston Massacre—earned him a place in the national narrative of America. In that skirmish between soldiers and […]
Dear Readers: For this month’s Mr. History, I offer a recent e-mail exchange between a friend and me. Maybe this is why not a lot of friends send me e-mails. From: Tina O’Rourke To: Michael “Mr. History” Schellhammer Sent: Monday, October 14, 2013 9:12 AM Subject: RE: Boston Massacre Hi Mike. I recently took the […]
