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Nathanael Greene is rightly remembered as one of the great combat leaders of the American Revolution. But he was also a deep political thinker,…
On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews Timothy C. Hemmis, Assistant Professor of History, Texas A&M University–Central Texas, on his recent article about violence…
George Washington and various of his generals had their doubts about the effectiveness of volunteer militia units as the Revolutionary War intensified. The solution…
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Into a house at 333 High Street in what is now Edinburgh’s “Old Town” was born the strange adventurer Patrick Ferguson on June 4, 1744.[1] The…
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When the major European powers began to use light troops in the mid-eighteenth century, they typically employed them in a manner of war that…
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The vast eastern province of Massachusetts, now the state of Maine, was the site of some important military events during the Revolutionary War. Several…
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After nearly a quarter of a millennium, what do we really know about the militia and state troops that served during the Revolutionary War?…
Thomas Pownall was appointed “Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over . . . the Province of the Massachusetts Bay” on February 25, 1757. He…
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No one disputes that the fighting that erupted at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 ignited a war between Great Britain and her…
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In the early hours of October 4, 1777, the Maryland militia trudged southward along the Old York Road in eastern Pennsylvania. In the distance…
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On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Eric Sterner about the Gnadenhutten Massacre, the murder of ninety-six Delaware Indians—men, women, and children—at a…
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During the American Revolution, Bergen County, New Jersey, was flooded with combatants from all over America, many of whom had never been to the…
On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor, independent researcher, and living historian Philip D. Weaver on the story of New York Captain…
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Thomas Fletchall was a man of considerable influence in the South Carolina backcountry. Born in Maryland in 1725, Fletchall and his family relocated to…
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The Road to Charleston, Nathanael Greene and the American Revolution by John Buchanan (University Press of Virginia, 2019) John Buchanan’s latest account of the southern theater…
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Southern Gambit: Cornwallis and the British March to Yorktown by Stanley D.M. Carpenter (University of Oklahoma Press, 2019) In his recent book, Stanley Carpenter produced…
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By the evening of September 30, 1776, George Washington was, as he put it, “bereft of every peaceful moment.” During the previous month, his…
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“There has been hell to pay in Philadelphia,” exclaimed Samuel Shaw, referring to the Fort Wilson Riot of October 4, 1779 in a letter…
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When the Second Continental Congress met in June 1775, they were not prepared for what they found. Several months earlier on April 19 the…
November 10, 1775 was an important day in both Great Britain and America. Lord George Germain assumed duties as the Secretary of State for…
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Little is known about the colonial-era history of Hammond’s Store, though the site appears to have been a local meeting place prior to the…
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The October 7, 1780 Battle of Kings Mountain is likely familiar to those even casually interested in the American Revolution. For those who look…
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David Wooster’s part in the American Revolution began in a slightly embarrassing manner. Wooster commanded the militia at New Haven, Connecticut. On April 22,…
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In February 1781, Thomas Sumter emerged from his three-month convalescence to begin his next campaign in the South Carolina interior. Having been wounded seriously…
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South Carolina, by several measures, was the most affluent and economically important pre-revolutionary British colony in North America. Largely agrarian and sparsely settled, it…
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Brigadier General Jedediah Huntington is an overlooked yet very interesting patriot leader from Connecticut who grew up with Benedict Arnold, fought in several battles,…
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Peter Oliver, the Crown-appointed Chief Justice of provincial Massachusetts, knew how to discredit popular protest. Mindless and incapable of acting on their own, crowds…
In the spring of 1841, a correspondent from the Hartford Courant went to East Windsor, Connecticut looking for an elderly man who was a…
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Prior to the end of 1776, there was no militia or minuteman company established in Colonial Pennsylvania. The Provincial government was ruled by the…
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In May 1665, the separate colonies of New Haven and Connecticut joined to form the colony that later became the State of Connecticut. Each…
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Having recently discovered Journal of the American Revolution, I have spent many hours reading through the archive. I particularly enjoy reading the discussions that…
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The organization of the Militia in colonial Rhode Island[1] was established by law. Five county regiments and the number of companies in each town…
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I’ve written before about the darker side of the militia, but what hasn’t yet been detailed is the general incompetence of the Pennsylvania militia….
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Like thousands of colonists in British North America, Virginians were alarmed in the summer of 1774 by news of Parliament’s harsh reaction to the…
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Since writing several articles for this journal about the role of Pennsylvania’s militia in America’s War for Independence, I’ve received a lot of confused…
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In the early morning hours of September 28, 1778, British Troops under Major General Charles Grey surprised and decimated an entire regiment of Continental…
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On November 8, 1808, in his eighth State of the Union address, Thomas Jefferson uttered the now famous lines, “For a people who are…
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For contemporary Americans the difference between militia and regular, or “Continental,” soldiers is hard to grasp. Both fought in the war. Both suffered casualties….
While recently watching “The Ten Commandments,” starring Charlton Heston, I pondered a few thoughts. First, they don’t make flicks like that anymore. Secondly, wouldn’t…