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The Vermont Constitution of 1777
byIf the gunfire at Lexington and Concord was the “shot heard round the world,” the phrases in the Declaration of Independence were the words…
New York
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Occupied America: British Military Rule and the Experience of Revolution
byOccupied America: British Military Rule and the Experience of Revolution by Donald F. Johnson (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020) Several cities in Revolutionary…
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The Rebel and the Tory: Ethan Allen, Philip Skene, and the Dawn of Vermont
byThe Rebel and the Tory: Ethan Allen, Philip Skene, and the Dawn of Vermont by John J. Duff, H. Nicholas Muller III, and Gary G….
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Isaac Roosevelt: Merchant, Federalist, Banker, New Yorker
byOn Saturday September 17, 1938 New York governor Herbert H. Lehman and 5,000 others assembled in Poughkeepsie to observe the sesquicentennial of the Empire…
This Week on Dispatches: Philip D. Weaver on the Court-Martial of New York Captain Joel Pratt
byOn 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…
This Week on Dispatches: Michael J. Sheehan on the Battle of Stony Point
byOn this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews Michael J. Sheehan, contributor and senior historian at the Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site, about misconceptions and…
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The Court-Martial of Captain Joel Pratt
byOn one Sunday morning in late April 1775, news arrived in Spencertown, New York, of the occurrences at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. This alarm…
This Week on Dispatches: Cho-Chien Feng on the Revolutionary Memories of New York Loyalists
byIn this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews St. Louis University doctoral candidate Cho-Chien Feng about what the American Revolution meant to Loyalists after the…
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Another Three Loyalist Declarations Signed in the Fall of 1776
byThe Declaration of Dependence signed by 547 New York City Loyalists in November 1776 was not the only such declaration written and signed by loyal…
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The Revolutionary Memories of New York Loyalists: Thomas Jones and William Smith, Jr.
byThe American Revolution produced different meanings for Patriots and Loyalists. After the end of the Revolutionary war, the pressing issue was no longer the…
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The Loyalist Declaration of Dependence, 1776
byOur ancestors often believed in fate, and so do I. It was fate one day that brought me to the Fraunces Tavern in New…
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A Relation of Disagreeable Circumstances: The Attack on Young’s House, February 3, 1780
byOne of the hallmarks of Journal of the American Revolution is its ability to bring lesser-known yet compelling events of the War for Independence…
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Stony Point Battlefield and Lighthouse State Historic Site
byEarly in the morning of July 16, 1779, Gen. Anthony Wayne and his Corps of Light Infantry successfully stormed the British works at Stony…
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The James McMichael Journal, May 27, 1776–October 29, 1776
byEditor’s Note: This is part one of a five-part series. Part two. Part three. The “Diary” of Lieutenant James McMichael first appeared in 1890…
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Whale Boats on the Hudson
byBy March of 1778 Maj. Gen. Israel Putnam, “Old Put” to his men, was exhausted.[1] He had been writing to General Washington for months…
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Le Plus Détaillée: The July 1781 Reconnaissance of New York
byContinental Army general George Washington sat atop his horse ignoring the “smart skirmish” raging around him.[1] He could have joined his soldiers in attacking…
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Did Generals Mismanage the Battle of Brooklyn?
byOutmaneuvering and overwhelming the Patriots during the 1776 Battle of Brooklyn, the British won a huge victory by executing a daring night march around…
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The Worthy but Troubled Continental Service of Capt. Barent J. Ten Eyck
byWith the clash of arms that began the American Revolution, Capt. Barent J. Ten Eyck, of the Albany County Militia, served as courier for…
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War on the Middleline: The October 1780 British Raid on Ballston
byThe war on the New York frontier did not end with Burgoyne’s surrender at Saratoga in October 1777. Year after year the conflict raged…
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Mount Independence: “The most intact Revolutionary War site in America”
byEverybody has heard of Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. On the other hand, mention Mount Independence and one usually encounters the puzzled lowering of…
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Deserter a Day 4 (of 5)
byThe soldiers from several German principalities who were contracted to supplement the British army in America are often called mercenaries, a misnomer propagated during…
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Deserter a Day 3 (of 5)
byDesertion was as much a problem for the British army as it was for the American. Once the war began, however, British officers seldom…
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Revolutionary Tourist: Chastellux in America
byAlmost every day, I drive past a Revolutionary War roadside marker. It commemorates a house that served as the headquarters of patriot Gen. Israel…
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The Wartime Letters of Joseph and Sarah Hodgkins
by“I have nothing to send you but love. I hope I shall have some money soon.”[1] So wrote Lt. Joseph Hodgkins from his “Camp…
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Winter Soldiering in the Lake Champlain Valley
byFrom the beginning, the American army knew south-facing Fort Ticonderoga did little to protect against an attack coming up Lake Champlain from British-controlled Canada.[1]…
Top 10 Events at King’s Ferry
byA great deal of the American Revolution took place in New York’s Lower Hudson Valley. The region was home to a number of forts,…
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Incidents Near Fort Ticonderoga on June 17, 1777
byA soldier writes his wife: Mount Independence, June 8, 1777 I heartily embrace the opportunity to write to you, hoping that these will find…
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Sir Henry Clinton Attempts to Save the Convention Army
byIn late October of 1777, America celebrated its first capture of a British Army; General Horatio Gates had defeated General Sir John Burgoyne near…
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Henry Beekman Livingston, Black Sheep of the Livingston Clan
byHenry Livingston, or Harry as he was more commonly known, was born on November 9, 1750. He was a son of Judge Robert Livingston…
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The Spartans of Long Island
byAccording to some local sources, “Long island was the Thermopylae of the Revolution and the Pennsylvania Germans were its Spartans.”[1] While laden with hyperbole…
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The Battle of Golden Hill – Six Weeks Before the Boston Massacre
byOn June 4, 1766, the New York Sons of Liberty gathered in a field, later known as the Commons, to celebrate the birthday of…
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The Great West Point Chain
byControl of the Hudson River was important strategically during the American Revolution. The river, along with lakes George and Champlain, was a potential invasion…
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The Unsuccessful American Attempt on Verplanck Point, July 16-19, 1779
byIn the early morning hours of July 16, 1779, Brigadier General Anthony Wayne and the Continental Corps of Light Infantry successfully stormed and carried…
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The Statue of George III
byOn the southern tip of Manhattan Island is a small oval area called Bowling Green. On this site on March 21, 1770 a statue,…
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So Heavy a Trial: The Burning of New York’s First Capital
by“We are hellishly frightened,” Gouverneur Morris wrote to a friend on October 8, 1777.[1] Morris was attending to the business of the New York…
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The American Revolution Comes to Albany, New York, 1756-1776
by“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment…
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Ti’s Evacuation and the Battle of Hubbardton
byThe evacuation of Fort Ticonderoga in July, 1777, is a well-known incident of the American Revolution. Directly related to it is the Battle of…
The Three Guides
byIn November 1776, a British army under Lieutenant-General Sir William Howe was on the offensive, having successfully driven American forces off of Manhattan island…
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The Talented Major Tallmadge
byBenjamin Tallmadge is currently enjoying a burst of posthumous fame. Most of the attention given him in recent publications and the AMC series Turn…