Tag: New York

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The Vermont Constitution of 1777

If the gunfire at Lexington and Concord was the “shot heard round the world,” the phrases in the Declaration of Independence were the words read around the world. In the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson declared America an independent nation, rooting his ideas in political theory and justifying them with a list of grievances.[1] After the Declaration was […]

by Sophie Jaeger
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Occupied America: British Military Rule and the Experience of Revolution

Occupied America: British Military Rule and the Experience of Revolution by Donald F. Johnson (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020) Several cities in Revolutionary America were taken by British forces and the residents found themselves in an unexpected predicament. Many welcomed the return of law and order and a stable economy under British rule; the […]

by Timothy Symington
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This Week on Dispatches: Philip D. Weaver on the Court-Martial of New York Captain Joel Pratt

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 Joel Pratt and his court-martial. As your host Brady Crytzer says, “Sit back, relax, and enjoy the interview. . . .” New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday […]

by Editors
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The Court-Martial of Captain Joel Pratt

On one Sunday morning in late April 1775, news arrived in Spencertown, New York, of the occurrences at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. This alarm caught the attention of the local militia company, commanded by Capt. Adam Howley. Fifteen of that company volunteered to go to Boston. One of them, Joel Pratt, was elected captain of […]

by Philip D. Weaver
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This Week on Dispatches: Cho-Chien Feng on the Revolutionary Memories of New York Loyalists

In 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 war. He also discusses how he became interested in the American Revolution and the broader idea of political loyalism. As Brady notes, Feng is inspiring: born in Taiwan, he learned English, […]

by Editors
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Whale Boats on the Hudson

By March of 1778 Maj. Gen. Israel Putnam, “Old Put” to his men, was exhausted.[1] He had been writing to General Washington for months begging for retirement. His wife had died recently in his encampment and the general was worn out from his impossible assignments. His two under-strength brigades had been working in the ice, […]

by Phillip R. Giffin
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Le Plus Détaillée: The July 1781 Reconnaissance of New York

Continental Army general George Washington sat atop his horse ignoring the “smart skirmish” raging around him.[1] He could have joined his soldiers in attacking the Hessian troops “very much allarm’d” by the Americans’ “sudent appeerence before their works.” [2] Instead, Washington focused on the fortifications just beyond the Germans. The skirmish that occurred on July […]

by Joseph F. Stoltz III
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Did Generals Mismanage the Battle of Brooklyn?

Outmaneuvering and overwhelming the Patriots during the 1776 Battle of Brooklyn, the British won a huge victory by executing a daring night march around the Patriots’ left flank. Patriot commander Maj. Gen. Israel Putnam is heavily criticized for not guarding a vital pass that allowed British forces to surround the advance units of the Continental […]

by Gene Procknow
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Deserter a Day 4 (of 5)

The soldiers from several German principalities who were contracted to supplement the British army in America are often called mercenaries, a misnomer propagated during the war itself to vilify these soldiers and enhance the impression of British oppression. Although the British government did pay for these soldiers, they paid the German princes who then sent […]

by Editors
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Deserter a Day 3 (of 5)

Desertion was as much a problem for the British army as it was for the American. Once the war began, however, British officers seldom placed ads for deserters in newspapers. This may be because the British army was largely confined to areas around major cities where information about deserters could be circulated in army orders, […]

by Editors
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Revolutionary Tourist: Chastellux in America

Almost every day, I drive past a Revolutionary War roadside marker. It commemorates a house that served as the headquarters of patriot Gen. Israel Putnam in 1777. Putnam occupied the elegant brick building briefly while he mustered militia to oppose a British incursion up the Hudson River. The enemy raid was intended to relieve Burgoyne’s […]

by Jack Kelly
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Winter Soldiering in the Lake Champlain Valley

From 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] To address the problem, they decided to fortify the north-facing peninsula, called East Point or Rattlesnake Hill, that poked out into the lake across from Ticonderoga. During the summer of 1776, […]

by Michael Barbieri
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Top 10 Events at King’s Ferry

A great deal of the American Revolution took place in New York’s Lower Hudson Valley. The region was home to a number of forts, skirmishes, battles, and encampments; one site, King’s Ferry, can lay claim to having hosted all of the above. Actually two sites separated by the Hudson River, Stony Point and Verplanck Point […]

by Michael J. F. Sheehan
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The Spartans of Long Island

According to some local sources, “Long island was the Thermopylae of the Revolution and the Pennsylvania Germans were its Spartans.”[1] While laden with hyperbole and bias, this is the claim made about the Northampton County Flying Camp battalion under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Peter Kichline.[2] Kichline’s battalion, made up of four companies—two of which […]

by Thomas Verenna
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The Great West Point Chain

Control of the Hudson River was important strategically during the American Revolution. The river, along with lakes George and Champlain, was a potential invasion route from Canada. It also was a physical separator of the colonies. Men as well as supplies crossed the river. To split off the northern colonies from the South and interrupt […]

by Hugh T. Harrington
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The Statue of George III

On the southern tip of Manhattan Island is a small oval area called Bowling Green. On this site on March 21, 1770 a statue, sculpted by Joseph Wilton, of King George III was erected. It was commissioned on June 23, 1766 by the New York General Assembly because of “the innumerable and singular Benefits received […]

by Bob Ruppert
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The Three Guides

In November 1776, a British army under Lieutenant-General Sir William Howe was on the offensive, having successfully driven American forces off of Manhattan island and the surrounding regions east and north of New York City. The remnants of General George Washington’s defeated army had retreated across the Hudson River to the apparent safety of Bergen […]

by Todd W. Braisted
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The Talented Major Tallmadge

Benjamin Tallmadge is currently enjoying a burst of posthumous fame. Most of the attention given him in recent publications and the AMC series Turn centers around his intelligence activities, a logical choice considering his organization of the Culper Ring and pivotal role in exploding the Arnold plot. But the attention paid to the espionage part […]

by Richard F. Welch