When George Washington returned to Mount Vernon in the last days of 1783, he became the new Cincinnatus. Roman senators in the fifth-century B.C. made the farmer Cincinnatus a dictator during a national crisis, but after the war was over he voluntarily resigned his position and returned to his plow. Similarly, Washington laid down his […]
The news that many dreaded reached Virginia in May 1774. The British parliament, determined to punish the inhabitants of Boston for the destruction of thousands of pounds of tea in December 1773, closed Boston Harbor to all commerce until restitution was paid to the East India Company and the King’s treasury. The sum included the […]
George Washington was a slave owner for his entire life, a fact that surprises many of his fellow citizens more than 200 years after his death. When they find out, people respond to this information in surprising ways. A visitor from California to a historic site in Virginia sat down in shock when upon learning […]
On the afternoon of April 5, 1778, four feisty women, accompanied by an escort, Israel Morris, boarded their coach in British-occupied Philadelphia and set out for a visit with General George Washington. The journey took the four friends—Elizabeth Drinker, Susanna Jones, Phebe Pemberton, and Mary Pleasants—twenty miles or so from Philadelphia to the Continental Army, […]
They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid. Micah 4:4 Out at Flushing Landing on Long Island in late 1769, until at least 1779 (apparently little affected by the intervening British invasion of 1776), William Prince advertised for sale “many Thousands of a nice […]
After the Americans’ stunning victory at Saratoga on October 17, 1777, King Louis XVI ordered his ministers to negotiate a formal alliance between France and the United States. Conrad Alexander Gérard of France and Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee of the United States negotiated the terms of the Franco-American alliance in the Treaty […]
Washington’s desperate situation in December 1776 and the critical victories at Trenton and Princeton have been described often and in great detail. His lack of support from the New Jersey militia is often highlighted, along with the fact that the few militiamen who turned out did not cross to Trenton on Christmas night due to […]
“This is a most unfortunate affair and has given me great Mortification as we have lost not only two thousand Men that were there, but a good deal of Artillery, & some of the best Arms we had.” So wrote General George Washington to his brother John Augustine Washington in November 1776.[1] The fall of […]
It was an unfortunate expedient, but one that had grown unavoidable. On September 8, 1776, George Washington penned a lengthy report to Congress in which he detailed the pending decision to abandon New York City. Although Washington acknowledged that quitting New York would clearly have an adverse affect on the American war effort, he summed […]
Danger, secrets, intrigue and revenge were all part of the Culper spy ring, and the new AMC series “Turn,” premiering April 6 (Sundays 9/8 central), offers a fascinating look into how these intrepid American spies helped win the Revolutionary War. AMC provided Journal of the American Revolution an early screening of the first three episodes. […]
He may have beaten the British, but by the time George Washington became president, his sweet tooth (singular tooth)[i] for tasty desserts had not yet been conquered. Puddings, jellies and pies had been commonplace dessert offerings when George and Martha entertained at Mount Vernon, which they did before and after the War for Independence. But […]
I write the following book reviews to promote a small, but well-respected, outfit specializing in publishing Revolutionary War books (as well as other nonfiction works): Westholme Publishing of Yardley, Pennsylvania. Full disclosure: Westholme has published two Revolutionary War books of mine (see author’s biography below). Westholme provides a terrific service to those interested in studying […]
This article was originally published in Journal of the American Revolution, Vol. 1 (Ertel Publishing, 2013). Solving “the Most Astounding” Mystery of the American Revolution In early spring 1773, readers of the Boston Gazette came across an ambitious business proposal when they opened the March 22 issue. New York printer and bookseller James Rivington, then […]
In my recent book, Kidnapping the Enemy: The Special Operations to Capture Generals Charles Lee and Richard Prescott (Westholme Publishing, 2013), I focus on two of the outstanding kidnappings of the Revolutionary War. The first was the stunning capture of Major General Charles Lee, second-in-command of the Continental army, by Lieutenant Colonel William Harcourt and […]
In your opinion, what was George Washington’s biggest blunder of the war? Its impact, if any? Washington’s whole approach to the defense of New York was one of history’s great debacles: lack of imagination about the British landing, failure to supervise subordinates in preparing the Brooklyn defenses, boxing himself into Brooklyn Heights with no […]
On 10 November 1775, slightly more than four months after he had taken command of the American troops besieging Boston, Gen. George Washington sent a list of books to an old military colleague in Virginia. William Woodford (1734–1780) had just been reappointed an officer for their home colony. Woodford complained about the “inexperience” of his […]
In early February 1780, General George Washington’s main army was encamped at Jockey Hollow, New Jersey. But the general maintained his headquarters about three miles away in Morristown, at the house of the widow Theodosia Ford. That separation enticed the British high command into undertaking an operation that, if successful, would cripple the Continental Army […]
Thanks to the porous state of the British lines around Philadelphia and the industry of General Washington’s secret agents, there is little doubt that American officers at Valley Forge were aware of the dramas that a British Army theater company known as Howe’s Strolling Players presented at the Southwark Theater during 1777-78. The Americans considered […]
On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress officially announced the creation of the Continental Army, a military force representing all of the colonies resisting British authority in North America. The following day the Congress named the army’s commander. George Washington, a planter and Congressional delegate from Virginia, would become the commander-in-chief, taking command of […]
“Congress Does Not Trust Me. I Cannot Continue Thus.” These are two of the most important sentences George Washington ever spoke. Almost instantly they destroyed a plot aimed at ruining his reputation and forcing him into humiliated retirement. At least as important, the words marked the big Virginian’s emergence as a political leader with talents […]
The famous painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River on Christmas night 1776 is permanently etched in many minds. It graces the covers of countless books and magazines often with great attention paid to the subsequent Battle of Trenton. But just how did Washington’s army cross the river? The collector’s print edition of Journal […]
Mason Locke Weems, better known as Parson Weems, considered himself an historian. But, he was far more interested in pleasing people than he was with writing history. His exaggerations and fabrications of fact led one commentator to remark that Weems had “a touch of the confidence man in him.” Weems was born in 1759 and […]
In April 1775, reports about the bloodshed at Lexington and Concord took five days to reach Philadelphia and nearly three weeks to reach Charleston, South Carolina. It wasn’t yet immortalized in history books as the start of the Revolutionary War. It was breaking news.[1] In July 1776, the Declaration of Independence took at least two […]
General Washington received the disappointing news on August 14, 1781. Comte De Grasse’s powerful French fleet of nearly thirty warships was not sailing for New York as Washington had long hoped, but was instead destined for the Chesapeake Bay. Washington’s plan for an allied attack on British held New York City depended heavily on the […]
Military leaders since Alexander the Great have often preferred to command their battle formations from the most forward ranks. “Leading from the front,” as the practice is often known, puts officers in outstanding positions to observe the action and inspire their soldiers. It also puts them in excellent positions to end up dead. Many officers […]
Thanks to the numerous promotions of military leadership before, during and even after the Revolutionary War, senior military ranks tend to cause great confusion for historians. Surprisingly, one of the most puzzling American military ranks is that of George Washington. As the result of multiple post-war appointments and promotions, Washington’s true rank during the Revolutionary […]
If you want to visit a town named for a Revolutionary War veteran, it’s pretty easy to do. There’s the nation’s capital, of course, among other places named for George Washington. Many states feature a Lafayette, commemorating the young Frenchman who became an American general. Or Greensboro, North Carolina, a tribute General Nathanael Greene (in […]
As Benjamin Franklin lay on his deathbed in the spring of 1790, he wrote a farewell letter to George Washington. He congratulated the first president “on the growing strength of our new government under your administration.” Then he added a private goodbye. For my own personal ease, I should have died two years ago; […]
“Give me liberty or give me death!” shouted Patrick Henry to the members of the Second Virginia Convention in 1775. His words became the first great war cry of the American Revolution. In 1776 this backwoods lawyer was elected governor of Virginia, the largest state in the new American union. Henry was descended from Scottish […]
It’s a simple question — perhaps so basic that it’s been overlooked. How old were the key participants of the American Revolution? Authors often reveal the age of a particular soldier, politician or other main character in books about the Revolution, but I routinely find myself wondering about their peers at the same time. As […]
In addition to George Washington, during the course of the American Revolution, the Continental Congress commissioned seventy-seven other men as general officers, with four — Seth Pomeroy, John Whetcomb, John Cadwalader, and Joseph Reed — declining the honor. In fact, Cadwalader declined twice, much to Washington’s regret. These seventy-three men served as Washington’s chief lieutenants, […]
Continued from yesterday. Click here to read part 1. When British attack upon Philadelphia threatened in 1776, Nicola was appointed Town Major for the city. In this assignment, he was responsible for the city guards, protection of Continental Army stores and property in the town, and establishment and maintenance of barracks and billets for all […]
If not for a single unfortunate letter that Colonel Lewis Nicola of the Continental Army addressed to Commander-in-Chief General George Washington on May 22, 1782, this accomplished soldier and scholar would be entirely unknown today. Regrettably, this simple letter has subsequently been wildly misinterpreted by historians, and Nicola today is best remembered as the man […]
In 1779 General George Washington and British Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Clinton were locked in a stalemate around New York City. Clinton desperately wanted to lure Washington into a climactic battle that would destroy the Continental Army but his forces were not strong enough to fight Washington on his own ground. Clinton attacked Connecticut in an […]
Sometime around midnight on May 1, 1779, British soldiers smashed through the wooden door of General Gold Selleck Silliman’s Fairfield, Connecticut home. They snatched him and his eldest son, William, from their beds. The soldiers, accompanied by eight armed Tories, confiscated the general’s fusee, a pair of his pistols, his sword, and three hats (one […]
Fought on June 28, 1778, the Battle of Monmouth is correctly remembered as one of the largest battles of the American Revolution, and the last major engagement fought in the North. But almost no one remembers that a smaller clash took place on roughly the same ground eighteen months earlier. Although a much smaller and […]
Dear Mr. History: Does General von Steuben deserve the fantastic amount of fame he gets for training the Continental Army at Valley Forge? The Continentals had been fighting for over two years by the time he showed up, so why did they need training? What was Steuben’s true impact? Sincerely, Stumped About Steuben Dear Stumped: […]
Today we pick up where we left off yesterday with our J. L. Bell interview. 8 // As someone who knows the start of the Revolution better than most, what books do you recommend most to fellow history buffs who are eager to learn more about the 1763-1776 period? If you ask me again tomorrow, […]
When we think of prolific writers of American Revolution history, the names Bailyn, Ellis, Fleming, Morgan, Raphael, Wood and Young may come to mind. Another name that easily rivals those in quantity of words authored about the subject is Bell. John L. (J. L.) Bell is the author of one of, if not the, most […]
