“Earned By Veteran Intrepidity”: Spencer’s Ordinary, June 26, 1781
byCaptain Johann Ewald had much to thank the Almighty for.[1] A heroic stand on the picket line before Norfolk, Virginia, parried an American thrust…
Marquis de Lafayette
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Captain Luke Day: A Forgotten Leader of “Shays’s Rebellion”
byWhile Daniel Shays (1747-1825) has basked posthumously in the glory of leading the 1786-87 populist rebellion that bears his name, Luke Day (1743-1801) was…
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The Battle of Green Spring: A Footnote on the Road to Yorktown
byEnsign Ebenezer Denny calculated that he went from a green officer to a combat veteran in all of four minutes. Yet in those harsh…
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The Battle of Gloucester, 1777
byBOOK REVIEW: The Battle of Gloucester 1777 by Garry Wheeler Stone and Paul W. Schopp (Yardley, PA: Westhome Publishing, 2022) Garry Wheeler Stone’s and…
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On the Road Again: En Train De Marcher—Frenchmen Travel Through Delaware
byIf you ask an outsider about the State of Delaware, they are likely to respond, “Dela-where?” “Do you mean Delaware County???” A few may…
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Did George Washington Swear at Charles Lee During the Battle of Monmouth?
byThe scene is one of the most famous in the annals of the American Revolutionary War. The commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, Gen. George…
Jefferson and Burke on Marat, Danton, and Robespierre
byThomas Jefferson is well-known for his so-called “Frenchified” stance.[1] On the topic of the relationship between Jefferson and French Revolution, scholarly accounts often stop…
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Timothy Matlack, Scribe of the Declaration of Independence
byThe scribe of the Declaration of Independence—and perhaps the first man to read it in public—was born on March 28, 1736 in Haddonfield, New…
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This Week on Dispatches: Jack Cambell on Lafayette’s Plan to Invade Ireland
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor and historical interpreter Jack Campbell on the Marquis de Lafayette’s fascinating attempt to garner…
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Morale Manipulation as the Central Strategic Imperative in the American Revolutionary War
byMost people think of wartime propaganda as atrocity stories about the enemy. But commanders also disseminate false and true information in hopes of boosting…
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French Adventurers, Patriots, and Pretentious Imposters in the Fight for American Independence
byFrance was defeated in the Seven Years War. The defeat resulted in France losing valuable colonies, and prestige and influence in Europe. Desperate to…
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Reflections on the Siege and Capitulation of Yorktown and Gloucester
byLt. General Earl Cornwallis, the British general officer commanding in the south, occupied Yorktown and Gloucester on August 1 and 2, 1781, the evacuation…
Nineteenth-Century Remembrances of Black Revolutionary Veterans: Hannah Till, George Washington’s Cook
byThe 1820 Missouri Compromise allowed Missouri to become a slave state, established Maine as a free state, and banned slavery in the territory west…
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Native Americans at Valley Forge
byAt the Bethlehem Hospital near Valley Forge on November 21, 1777, John Ettwein visited a “Narragansett Indian in great distress about his soul, at…
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L’Expédition Particuliere: Winter 1780 and the Battle of Cape Henry
byIn July 1780, after three and half months at sea, nearly 6,000 thousand men[1] and supplies crammed on four frigates, seven ships of the…
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George Washington’s 1777 Wilmington, Delaware, Headquarters: Insights to an Unmarked Site
byOn the 170th anniversary of Washington’s Birthday in 1902, the Delaware Society of the Cincinnati formed a procession of dignitaries and marched up Quaker…
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Washington’s Head of Elk Reconnaissance: A New Letter (and and Old Receipt)
byThe Philadelphia Campaign of 1777 took definitive shape when Gen. William Howe successfully landed his 16,000 officers and men near Head of Elk (now…
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Revolutionary Brothers: Thomas Jefferson, the Marquis de Lafayette, and the Friendship That Helped Forge Two Nations
byRevolutionary Brothers: Thomas Jefferson, the Marquis de Lafayette, and the Friendship That Helped Forge Two Nations by Tom Chaffin (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2019)…
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Thomas Jefferson: Life, Liberty, and French Fries
byThomas Jefferson and Julia Child. Not two people you’d expect to be linked in history. But yet, indeed they are—as two gourmets who loved…
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The Day Notre-Dame Cathedral Hosted Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and King Louis XVI
by1785 was a rare year in Paris—it was safely nestled between revolutions. The American Revolution had come to an official end right there in…
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The Double Spy: The Service and Suffering of Caleb Bruen
by“But while a confidence trickster, a play actor or a gambler can return from his performance to the ranks of his admirers, the secret…
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Hamilton’s Revenge
byHaving just attained his thirteenth (or eleventh) birthday, he found himself confined to a bed on the second floor of a small two-story house…
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Captain Septimus Noel: Ordnance Fleet Commodore
byHistory 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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Bernard E. Griffiths: Trumpeter Barney of the Queen’s Rangers, Chelsea Pensioner—and Freed Slave
byThe period of the American Revolution does not afford many accounts of individual rank and file soldiers’ exploits, particularly on the side British side….
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The Glorious Career and Unfortunate Death of John Laurens
byGeorge Washington surrounded himself with the best and the brightest young men involved in the revolutionary cause. Alexander Hamilton, Tench Tilghman, Robert Harrison, the…
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Unlocking the Mystery of Ten Revolutionary Generals’ Signatures
byDocuments 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 Marquis de Lafayette, European Friend of the American Revolution
byMount Vernon is proud to serve as the 2015 conference host and co-sponsor for the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR)’s Annual Conference on…
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Lafayette’s Second Voyage to America: Lafayette and l’Hermione
byIn 1775, Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette was an eighteen-year-old French soldier assigned to military maneuvers at Metz. At Metz, he attended an official…
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Top 5 Foreign Continental Army Officers (Other Than Lafayette)
byAt the war’s outset, there was a dearth of proven military leadership within the thirteen colonies severely limiting the Continental Army’s ability to engage…
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Honorable Lords and Pretended Barons: Sorting Out the Noblemen of the American Revolution
byThe Revolutionary War brought a substantial number of European noblemen to North America, a region that lacked a hereditary aristocracy. Although most of these…
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Top 10 Continental Army Generals
byIn addition to George Washington, during the course of the American Revolution, the Continental Congress commissioned seventy-seven other men as general officers, with four…
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Warriors for the Republic
byIn mid-May of 1778, startling news swept through the Continental Army at Valley Forge. There were Indians in the camp! But they were not…