French and Indian War Archives - Journal of the American Revolution

Posted on November 14, 2024November 18, 2024

Cruel Bedlam: Bankruptcies and the Break with Britain

America will celebrate the Semiquincentennial anniversary of its independence from Great Britain in 2026. The causes of that world-changing event were many and complexly intertwined, so new conjectures unsurprisingly continue to emerge from the archival mists. Because disputed taxes were objectively light, the current consensus stresses a narrative rooted in ideas to explain why many […]

by Robert E. Wright

Posted on December 20, 2022

Reframing George Washington’s Clothing at the Second Continental Congress

Dressed in defiance, Col. George Washington arrived at each session of the Second Continental Congress donning a new buff and blue uniform he helped design with fellow Virginian George Mason.[1] Washington, a staunch but cautious Whig, fully embraced the American cause and, incredibly, his military exploits from the French and Indian War roughly two decades […]

by Shawn David McGhee

Posted on May 3, 2022May 2, 2022

Charles Thomson and the Delaware

There are many, many founding fathers in the story of America’s Revolution and unfortunately only a few are really known to the general public. Yet without those who are less known, there would have been no revolution. One of those men was the official secretary of the Continental Congress, Charles Thomson. He was the sole […]

by James M. Smith

Posted on December 9, 2021December 8, 2021

Jemima Howe, Frontier Pioneer to Wealthy Widow

Jemima Howe (1724–1805) reflects the strength it took to endure the harsh realities of the Vermont frontier during the American colonial and Revolutionary War eras. Although recognized as the “fair captive” then and now, Jemima was far from a damsel in distress. During her full life, she outlived three husbands and five of her nine […]

by Jane Strachan

Posted on June 28, 2021June 25, 2021

Charlotina

In the fall of 1763, a pamphlet was published in Edinburgh titled The Expediency of Securing Our American Colonies by Settling the Country Adjoining the River Mississippi, and the Country Upon the Ohio, Considered.[1] The publication of this pamphlet points to the interest aroused in western land speculation among many in North America and Great […]

by George Kotlik

Posted on May 25, 2021May 21, 2021

Massachusettensis and Novanglus: The Last Great Debate Prior to the American Revolution

When John Adams returned to Massachusetts after the session of the First Continental Congress, he was surprised to find that there was growing opposition to the radicals and the work of the Congress. It was led by a man who identified himself as “Massachusettensis.” On December 12, 1774 Massachusettensis published the first of a series […]

by James M. Smith

Posted on December 21, 2020January 11, 2021

John Haslet’s World: An Ardent Patriot, the Delaware Blues, and the Spirit of 1776

John Haslet’s World: An Ardent Patriot, the Delaware Blues, and the Spirit of 1776 by David Price. (Nashville, TN: Knox Press, 2020) “‘Noted for his bravery and devotion to the cause of Liberty, Colonel John Haslet died a hero to his state and nation.’” (p. 221) The above statement is the final sentence of text inscribed […]

by Timothy Symington

Posted on September 2, 2020August 31, 2020

Thomas Pownall, Governor of Massachusetts, August 1757 to December 1758

Thomas Pownall was appointed “Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over . . . the Province of the Massachusetts Bay” on February 25, 1757. He had some advantages that other governors did not have when taking office: first, he had a great deal of experience in the colonies, having travelled extensively through many of them; second, […]

by Bob Ruppert

Posted on July 27, 2020July 25, 2020

Thomas Pownall: Formative Years of an Anti-Taxation Member of Parliament

Thomas Pownall, the eldest son of William and Sarah Pownall, was born on September 4, 1722 in Lincoln, England. His father, a country gentleman, died when he was thirteen. Pownall attended the Lincoln grammar school until 1740 and then Trinity College, Cambridge from which he graduated in 1743. Two years earlier, his younger brother, John, […]

by Bob Ruppert

Posted on February 12, 2020February 11, 2020

The Redcoat in America: The Diaries of Lieutenant William Bamford, 1757–1765 and 1776

A Redcoat in America: The Diaries of Lieutenant William Bamford, 1757-1765 and 1776 edited by John B. Hattendorf (Helion & Company, 2019) Writings of participants in the American Revolution are always welcome when they become widely available. John B. Hattendorf’s new contribution to this literature is especially interesting because it offers one individual’s perspectives on […]

by Don N. Hagist

Posted on January 20, 2020January 21, 2020

Top Ten Quotes of Major General Charles Lee

Charles Lee served as second-in-command of the Continental Army, subordinate only to George Washington. Born in England, Lee was the best-educated and most widely-read of all the Continental Army generals. He also had the most military experience, first serving as a British officer in the French and Indian War and later as a soldier of […]

by Christian McBurney

Posted on May 30, 2019May 29, 2019

Quebec Town Major William Dunbar: Captured, April 1775

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 […]

by Steve Leet

Posted on March 4, 2019March 4, 2019

Donald McCraw of the 42nd Regiment Wields his Broadsword

In March and April of 1780, there was a string of home invasions and robberies around the villages of Jamaica and Flushing on Long Island, New York. The farming region had been a British army garrison since the autumn of 1776, and was teeming with residents, soldiers, sailors, prisoners of war, refugees, and an assortment […]

by Don N. Hagist

Posted on September 24, 2018September 23, 2018

A Loyalist’s Response to the Franco-American Alliance: Charles Inglis’s “Papinian” Essays

At nine o’clock on the morning of May 6, 1778, Continental soldiers at Valley Forge emerged from their huts to hear their regimental chaplains announce the American alliance with France. This was followed by the troops forming in ranks for a review by General George Washington, the firing of muskets by Washington’s guard, a thirteen-gun […]

by Jim Piecuch

Posted on November 4, 2015February 15, 2017

British Veterans of Two Wars

The British army that fought in the opening engagements of the American Revolution in 1775 was not a wartime army, it was a peacetime army that suddenly found itself involved in a war. It was composed entirely of volunteer, professional soldiers, but not many among them had prior combat experience. This is true at the […]

by Don N. Hagist

Posted on February 16, 2015August 28, 2016

Why Did George Washington Become a Revolutionary?

In 1758, just before returning home from the French and Indian War, George Washington ran for a seat in Virginia’s House of Burgesses. Given his social standing and renown, the office was his for the taking, and on the day of the election he treated the 397 men who showed up at the poll to […]

by Ray Raphael

Posted on September 3, 2013August 28, 2016

1763: A Revolutionary Peace Exhibit

The Treaty that Redefined North America On Wednesday August 10, 1763, crowds of Bostonians gathered after nightfall and stood watch over the harbor. Under the glow of the bonfires that lined the town’s shoreline, the people assembled to view a fireworks display, which signified the importance and special nature of the occasion: Earlier that afternoon, […]

by Elizabeth M. Covart

Tag: French and Indian War