John Joachim Zubly: PART 3, A Patriot Essayist Whose Cause Was Lost
byIn the 1760s and through 1775 John J. Zubly was the leading Whig in Georgia. He wrote a number of sermons and political tracts…
Continental Congress
John Joachim Zubly: PART 1, A Patriot Minister Whose Cause Was Lost
byMaurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961), a French philosopher, once said that the definition of a traitor was “a patriot whose cause was lost.” In the time…
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Undeceived: Who Would Write the Political Story of the Revolution?
byIn July 1783 John Jay, one of the Americans negotiating a treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States, was sitting at…
This Week on Dispatches: Christian M. McBurney on General Charles Lee and the Oath of Allegiance
byOn this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews author, attorney, and JAR contributor, Christian M. McBurney on the enigmatic General Charles Lee and his role…
This Week on Dispatches: David Head on the Run-up to the Newburgh Conspiracy
byOn this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews author and University of Central Florida historian David Head on his recent article about events leading up…
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The Officers’ Spirited Memorial: A Prelude to the Newburgh Conspiracy
byThe officers of the Continental Army were sullen. It was December 1782, and they were stationed in and around Newburgh, New York, and neighboring…
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“That Damned Absurd Word Liberty:” Les Habitants, the Quebec Act, and American Revolutionary Ideology, 1774–1776
byThe American invasion of Quebec of 1775-1776 failed to achieve its primary objective: to bring into the fold what the Continental Congress referred to…
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The Tragedy of Henry Laurens
byIt wasn’t really their fault, they said. Slavery, men of the founding generation liked to argue, was brought to the colonies by Britain. It…
The Declaration of Independence: Did John Hancock Really Say That about his Signature?—and Other Signing Stories
byWhen we picture the Declaration of Independence, most of us immediately think of the document handwritten on parchment and signed at the bottom by…
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Grappling with Imperium in Imperio: Indivisible Sovereignty in Joseph Galloway’s British Empire
byAlthough by 1775 hostilities between Great Britain and the American colonies had commenced, there were still those within the colonies who believed that the…
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The Dark and Heroic Histories of Georgia’s Signers
byRevolutions are complex multi-sided economic, political, social, and technological events. They begin as conservative movements. As each side fears losing, all of these different…
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The Constitutional Debate over a Standing National Navy
byThere is a gap in most histories of the United States Navy. The blank space lies between the end of the American Revolution and…
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Continental Congress vs. Continental Army: Strategy and Personnel Decisions
byWhen the American Revolution became a shooting war, it was left to the Continental Congress to become the body of state for the thirteen…
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Continental Congress vs. Continental Army: The Officer Corps
byWhen the Continental Congress first met it was intended to bring the American colonies together to find a solution to the growing disputes with…
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Unlocking the Mystery of Ten Revolutionary Generals’ Signatures
byDocuments that contain the original signatures of more than one Continental Army general are rare. During the eight years of the Revolutionary War, generals…
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Armed and Equipped at Continental Expense: The Birth of the Continental Navy
byGeorge Washington realized early in the Revolutionary War that the British Navy provided the King’s army with an advantage in mobility. Not long after…
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Continental Army Lieutenant Generals: The Rank that Never Was
byAs commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, George Washington was involved in many battles, both military and political, during the revolution. A battle with both…
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Washington, Congress, and War Strategy, 1779
byIf you think that 1779 was a quiet year during which Gen. George Washington carefully kept his army out of reach of his British…
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Patriots Turned Loyalist—The Experiences of Joseph Galloway and Isaac Low
byIn the American Revolution, as with most other wars, the winners write the history. As such, we have the term “loyalist” for those colonists…
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Personal Honor and Promotion Among Revolutionary Generals and Congress
byIn the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, the United States Congress ordered the Department of Defense to conduct a study aimed at wholesale overhaul…
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Traveling to the Second Continental Congress
byOn April 24, 1775, Samuel Adams and John Hancock arrived in Worcester, Massachusetts, forty miles west of Boston. They hoped to find three more…
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7 Gold Medals of America’s Revolutionary Congress
byOf the many thousands of soldiers and seamen serving during the Revolutionary War, only a select few were singled out by the Continental Congress…
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Charles Dumas Deals with the Dutch
byThe Committee of Secret Correspondence was established by the Continental Congress on November 29, 1775.[1] It was responsible for employing secret agents abroad, developing…
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Reconciliation No Longer An Option
byOn June 23, 1775, the Continental Congress appointed a committee to write a declaration that would explain the military conflict with England to the…
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Silas Deane, Forgotten Patriot
bySilas Deane assisted the Patriot cause as a congressman, merchant, and diplomat. In 1776, Deane undertook a mission to France as the Patriots’ official,…
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Presentation Swords for 10 Revolutionary War Heroes
byWhile researching my book Kidnapping the Enemy: The Special Operations to Capture Generals Charles Lee and Richard Prescott (Westholme, 2014), I was thrilled to learn…
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Paul Revere’s Other Rides
byMyth: “The fate of a nation was riding that night,” Longfellow wrote. Fortunately, a heroic rider from Boston woke up the sleepy-eyed farmers just…
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The Importance of Observation and Inspection
byIn popular media, the soldiers of the Revolution and the members of the Continental Congress generally take center stage. It’s actually not fair; John…
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The Whale-boat Men of Long Island Sound
byWhen the Continental Congress first commissioned the use of private ships and boats of war in April 1776, they specified that each vessel’s commander…
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From Pounds to Dollars
byIn all times and places, people have engaged in trade, and the American Colonies during the time of the Revolution are no exception. Although…