On December 12, 1781, a motion to end the war with the American colonies and to grant them their independence was introduced in the House of Commons. In the debate which followed, twenty-three men spoke. The debate did not end until 2:00 in the morning. A vote was then called; the outcome was 220 against the […]
Following the surrender of General Cornwallis at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, the House of Commons began to debate whether or not the war should continue. There were three separate attempts over a period of two and a half months to end the war. This article presents the first attempt, that is, the first motion, […]
A search for scapegoats is certain to follow a lost war, and in the wake of the British disaster at Yorktown in October 1781 a long list of potential targets existed. Both Sir Henry Clinton, who had commanded Britain’s army in America during the four years leading to Yorktown, and General Charles, Earl Cornwallis, who […]
“My fate is hard,” Sir Henry Clinton remarked after learning that he had been named commander of the British army in May 1778, adding that he expected to someday bear “a considerable portion of the blame” for Britain’s “inevitable” lack of success.[1] There were good reasons for Clinton’s pessimism. Not only was France entering the […]
In March 1777, while Andrew Turnbull was away in England, several Minorcans escaped New Smyrna and fled to St. Augustine, East Florida. They hiked seventy to eighty miles from Mosquito Inlet to the colony’s capital. Arriving there safely, they complained to East Florida Gov. Patrick Tonyn about the struggles and depravations they endured at New Smyrna. After […]
Lt. General Earl Cornwallis, the British general officer commanding in the south, arrived at Petersburg in the morning of May 20, 1781, having marched from Wilmington, North Carolina at the close of the winter campaign. Under his command were his own corps of 1,780 men,[1] Major General Phillips’ (now dead) of 3,500, and a reinforcement […]
By the close of 1779 British possessions in the revolted colonies were confined in the north to New York City, Long Island, and Penobscot. An army had been lost at Saratoga. In the south a tenuous hold on lower Georgia had been gained, East and West Florida had remained loyal, but West Florida was threatened […]
According to Andrew Jackson O’ Shaughnessy, the San Juan Expedition was among “the most ambitious enterprises of the American Revolutionary War.”[1] In 1779, after Spain’s formal entry into the war, the British aimed at striking Spanish interests in Central America. They would invade by first securing control of the San Juan River in present-day Nicaragua. Their […]
Beyond Florida’s state boundaries the history of New Smyrna is seldom mentioned.[1] Well known to the locals of New Smyrna Beach, the region’s settlement by European colonists dates to 1768 when Scottish physician Andrew Turnbull led a colonization effort to Britain’s far flung outpost in North America. After a trip to Asia Minor and the Mediterranean, […]
This article is a companion piece to one of mine that appeared in this journal on July 18, 2017. Beginning with the start of the autumn campaign on September 7, 1780, it went on to describe Cornwallis’s advance from Camden to Charlotte, together with events elsewhere. Leaving what transpired next and its knock-on effect to a […]
John Paul Jones has earned enduring fame in American history for his sailing and fighting exploits during the American Revolution. His influence on the war, however, went far beyond his alleged immortal words while engaging the HMS Serapis with his vessel, the Bonhomme Richard. For a period in 1778, the mere mention of his name caused terror […]
The British loss of West Florida in 1781 ushered in a new era for the region, an era dominated by Spanish rule. For some, like the many Spanish officers who orchestrated the capture of the colony,[1] the loss brought about much celebration and promotion. For others, like the British inhabitants of the territory, this transition of […]
In this article I address the absurdity of Cornwallis’s decision to march from Wilmington, North Carolina, to Virginia and the light thrown on it by The Cornwallis Papers.[1] The central enigma of the Southern Campaigns, it had until their publication never been able to be satisfactorily resolved. Lt. Gen. Charles Earl Cornwallis, the British General […]
The American Revolutionary War was a war Britain seemingly should have won. Its failure is popularly blamed upon the incompetence of the political and military leaders who have consequently become objects of satire. This is particularly true of portrayals in the movies and media which of course have a greater impact on perceptions than books. […]
