James Wilkinson Archives - Journal of the American Revolution

Reviews Posted on October 2, 2024

This Week on Dispatches: Colin J. Wood on Benedict Arnold at Saratoga

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews history student Colin J. Wood on a newly discovered letter that sheds light on Benedict Arnold’s performance at Saratoga. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. Dispatches can now […]

by Editors

Reviews Posted on September 19, 2024September 18, 2024

Bacheller vs. Wilkinson: The Quest to Understand Benedict Arnold at Saratoga

The common viewpoint on Benedict Arnold’s role in the Battle of Bemis Heights on October 7, 1777 is based almost exclusively on the early nineteenth century testimony of James Wilkinson. That view holds that Arnold, after clashing with Gates over matters involving the Battle of Freeman’s Farm on September 19, was without a command on […]

by Colin J. Wood

Reviews Posted on July 17, 2023

American Traitor: General James Wilkinson’s Betrayal of the Republic and Escape from Justice

BOOK REVIEW: American Traitor: General James Wilkinson’s Betrayal of the Republic and Escape from Justice by Howard W. Cox (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2023) Beginning in his late teens, James Wilkinson developed the reputation of being an all-around abhorrent human being and history has continued to support that view. Howard Cox decided to investigate this […]

by Michael Barbieri

Reviews Posted on April 20, 2023April 19, 2023

Victory at Saratoga: Getting the Word Out

It is axiomatic that the American victory at Saratoga was, aside from events at Yorktown, the pivotal military event of the American Revolution. The victory set in motion several actions by various parties with self-serving agendas, but it was the manner in which word of the victory was communicated, something today might well be called […]

by Richard J. Werther

Reviews Posted on June 14, 2022June 13, 2022

The Articles of Confederation and Western Expansion

The Articles of Confederation described the first government of the new United States. As one may imagine from understanding the later debates on the Constitution in 1787, there were a number of points of contention on the Articles that were later re-argued for the Constitution. But there was one issue in the debate on the […]

by Richard J. Werther

Reviews Posted on January 25, 2022January 23, 2022

The Resignation Revolution

The threat of resigning one’s military commission under protest is almost a matter of tradition. If your leaders made a decision you did not think was in the best interest of either yourself or your comrades, you offered up your resignation. It was a matter of honor. Should your resignation be received, you found yourself […]

by Stuart Hatfield

Reviews Posted on February 16, 2021February 15, 2021

The Impeachment of Senator William Blount—the First in American History

It is easy to suggest that William Blount made no significant contribution to the development of the United States. His achievements, although not negligible, were only on par at best, and far less than many of his more famous contemporaries. Blount served in the North Carolina militia during the American Revolution, but with little acclaim […]

by Andrew A. Zellers-Frederick

Reviews Posted on June 3, 2020May 23, 2020

George Rogers Clark and William Croghan

George Rogers Clark and William Croghan: A Story of the Revolution, Settlement, and Early Life at Locust Grove by Gwynne Tuell Potts (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2020) “The phenomenon of fame confounds and fascinates, indiscriminately raising some to glory while consigning apparent equals to exile.” This is Gwynne Tuell Potts’s insight in her new book […]

by Gabriel Neville

Reviews Posted on October 29, 2018October 29, 2018

General Thomas Conway: Cabal Conspirator or Career Climber?

“French Officers hate him” and “none of the English Officers . . . love him.”[1] The American Revolution produced the names of great individuals who performed distinguished deeds we treasure and honor today. As there are historical heroes, there are also antagonists with adversarial roles who fall into the category of “all but forgotten.” Among the […]

by Andrew A. Zellers-Frederick

Reviews Posted on August 20, 2013August 28, 2016

Was General Anthony Wayne Murdered?

One of the most extraordinary coincidences in history? Or, was it murder? You be the judge. Anthony Wayne Anthony Wayne is generally remembered as one of the more successful fighting generals of the American Revolution. He served at Brandywine, Germantown, Valley Forge, Stony Point and the Savannah Campaign of 1782, among others. However, his post-war […]

by Hugh T. Harrington

Tag: James Wilkinson