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History occasionally provides a pleasant surprise by revealing the record of an ordinary person who, thrust into a unique role, performed extraordinary services for…
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The year 1780 ended badly, and the new year boded worse for America’s War of Independence. Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold’s treason and defection to…
You won’t want to miss this week’s Dispatches, which will be available beginning Sunday evening, February 24. Host Brady Crytzer’s guest is distinguished historian…
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The best-known scene of Col. Henry Knox’s train of artillery in the winter of 1775-1776 is Tom Lovell’s painting The Noble Train of Artillery….
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Daniel Morgan: A Revolutionary Life by Albert Louis Zambone (Westholme Publishing, 2018) Few figures in the American Revolution contributed more towards victory over Great…
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Serving on George Washington’s staff were many talented young men, including some who became famous later. Alexander Hamilton served on the staff ably for…
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Television series and popular books such as TURN: Washington’s Spies and Alexander Rose’s Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring recreate and immortalize the exploits…
JAR: In a nutshell, can you give us a basic overview of The General’s Cook? RG: The General’s Cook is about George Washington’s enslaved chef, Hercules,…
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When 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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“French Officers hate him” and “none of the English Officers . . . love him.”[1] The American Revolution produced the names of great individuals who…
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If not for a series of devastating hurricanes in the Caribbean Sea in 1780, George Washington might not have met Lord Cornwallis at the…
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When George Washington died in 1799, partisan infighting and international crises threatened the survival of the American experiment. Many Americans believed in Washington’s unique…
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John Andre’s body hung in silence for thirty minutes before being taken down. It was placed carefully in a simple open coffin crudely painted…
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Documents 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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The United States pension and land bounty records furnish us with a multitude of fascinating stories. It is important, however, to weight them against…
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George 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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As 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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Book Review: The Indian World of George Washington by Colin G. Calloway (Oxford University Press, 2018) BUY THIS BOOK FROM AMAZON In writing The Indian…
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If you think that 1779 was a quiet year during which Gen. George Washington carefully kept his army out of reach of his British…
Most of the stories told of George Washington are tales of complete fiction. He never chopped down a cherry tree, at least not in…
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On August 18, 1832, a seventy-eight-year-old New Jersey man named Jacob Francis went before Hunterdon County officials and described his military service in the…
Today, February 22, 2018, is George Washington’s 286th birthday. We asked some of our editors and contributors to reflect on George Washington, his role…
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George Washington closed a July 31, 1788 letter to Noah Webster noting that Webster’s “desire of obtaining truth is very laudable, I wish I…
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Long before he became the father of his country, a young George Washington copied out 110 maxims governing appropriate conduct for young gentlemen. Handwritten…
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Book review: George Washington: A Life in Books by Kevin J. Hayes (Oxford University Press, May 2017) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] In the introduction…
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From the ministry’s point of view, affairs in America really were quite appalling. The unpardonable brashness of a cocksure young provincial had instantly escalated…
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An important facet of Washington’s generalship has gone largely unexplored by historians: his role as a diplomat. For a top-level military leader in a…
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Experience had taught George Washington a great many things. His father had passed away at a young age, denying him the chance for the…
Last month, Americans observed the peaceful transition of power from one president to another, from one political party to another. Some will point to…
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In June 1780, Gen. George Washington told a lie. In fact, he planned a major deception. But as it was intended to deceive the…
Before Lexington and Concord, before there was any need for an army, and before men found themselves beholden to the dictates of military service…
Attacking at night, during a snowstorm: genius or folly? For Gen. Richard Montgomery at Quebec on December 31, 1775, it was a fatal disaster,…
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Gen. George Washington, from the point of view of Americans being trapped at “York,”[1] wrote these prophetic words- These by being upon a narrow…
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Did George Washington grow hemp? Yes. Hemp was a well-known, multi-purpose crop. Did George Washington smoke hemp? There’s absolutely zero evidence that he grew…
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Book review: Washington and Hamilton: The Alliance that Forged America (Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks, 2015) by Stephen Knott and Tony Williams [BUY ON AMAZON] The American…
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If there was one tall hunk that nearly all the women of the colonies swooned over (and many in England and Europe, quite likely),…
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“The most unhappy man in the world,” wrote the Commissary General of Purchases at Valley Forge about Gen. George Washington.[1] On every portrait we…
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Book Review: First Entrepreneur: How George Washington Built His — and the Nation’s — Prosperity by Edward G. Lengel (Da Capo Press, 2016). [BUY NOW ON…
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In an army where men died as a matter of course, there was nonetheless something peculiarly unsettling about the business scheduled for the morning…