Tag: North Carolina

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“One Great People”: John Fenno’s Public Crusade for an American National Identity

In New York City, at nine o’clock in the morning on Thursday, April 30, 1789, Americans of diverse Christian denominations filed into their churches in and around Broad Street. Once settled, their respective clergymen led them in prayer, asking for “the blessing of Heaven upon the new government.” These well-wishers also pleaded for divine “protection […]

by Shawn David McGhee
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This Week on Dispatches: Travis Copeland on the Attack on North Carolina’s Fort Johnston

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Travis Copeland about a watershed moment in North Carolina’s independence movement, the attack on Fort Johnston. 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 be […]

by Editors
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The Samuel Adams of North Carolina: Cornelius Harnett and the Burning of Fort Johnston

On a trip to the southern colonies in 1773, Josiah Quincy of Massachusetts visited the coastal region of North Carolina. He was introduced to North Carolina Patriot leadership, toured coastal Fort Johnston, and visually inspected the disposition and military capabilities of the South. It was on this southern tour that Quincy, a Boston born Patriot […]

by Travis Copeland
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March to Independence: The American Revolution in the Southern Colonies, 1775–1776

BOOK REVIEW: March to Independence: The American Revolution in the Southern Colonies, 1775-1776 by Michael Cecere (Yardley, Pa.: Westholme Publishing for Journal of the American Revolution Books, 2021) Historian Michael Cecere has written an overview of the coming of the Revolutionary War in the South, from the months immediately leading up to the outbreak of fighting to […]

by John R. Maass
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This Week on Dispatches: Travis Copeland on the Capture of North Carolina’s Governor Thomas Burke

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Travis Copeland on the capture of North Carolina’s Patriot governor Thomas Burke by Loyalists in the waning days of the American Revolution. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and the JAR Dispatches web site. […]

by Editors
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The Capture of North Carolina Governor Thomas Burke

When the vote came on Tuesday, July 26, 1781, before the House’s evening adjournment, it was Thomas Burke’s turn to hold the Executive office of North Carolina, beating out Samuel Johnson.[1] With the votes tallied, the legislature proclaimed to the Wake Court House in Raleigh that the, “the Honbl. Thomas Burke, Esquire” is requested in “attendance […]

by Travis Copeland
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North Carolina’s Revolutionary Founders

North Carolina’s Revolutionary Founders, edited by Jeff Broadwater and Troy L. Kickler  (Chapel Hill, NC:  University of North Carolina Press, 2019) The Old North State has its own Revolutionary War heroes, and although not totally ignored, their fame has been obscured on the national stage due to the more famous stories of Adams of Massachusetts, […]

by Timothy Symington
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Milton’s Odyssey: The Revolutionary and Post-Revolutionary Service of Georgia’s John Milton

Georgia’s fragile independence within the new American republic was shattered on December 29, 1778, when British troops attacked Savannah. Despite clear signs that the British were coming, the capital of the state on that December morning was caught by surprise. Panic set in as the redcoats approached the city. State officials and soldiers fled for […]

by R. Boyd Murphree
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This Week on Dispatches: Andrew Waters on the Campaign in the Carolinas

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Andrew Waters on the course of the campaign through the Carolinas, including Cowpens and other key engagements. His experience as a land conservator has provided him a knowledge of the Carolina backcountry that enhances his interpretation of the campaign. As your host Brady Crytzer says, “Sit back, […]

by Editors
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The Road to Charleston: Nathanael Greene and the American Revolution

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 in the American Revolution is appropriately titled, The Road to Charleston: Nathanael Greene and the American Revolution (2019). This work is a companion to his first work on the southern campaign, The Road […]

by Patrick H. Hannum
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The Southern Expedition of 1776: The Best Kept Secret of the American Revolution

One of the most enjoyable aspects of researching the history of the American Revolution is the process of looking beneath and/or beyond those events and factoids that survive simply because they are a “given.” “Givens” are the greatest indicators of opportunities to search for missing pieces to any historical puzzle and new questions are the […]

by Roger Smith
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Paddy Carr, “a honey of a Patriot”

Known primarily through a mix of fact and legend as the most notorious Patriot of the southern campaigns, Paddy Carr was also claimed to have an “amiable and benevolent” nature. As if that contradiction were not enough to create complexity of character, Carr, a stone cold killer of Tories, never swore or uttered blasphemy. Instead, […]

by Wayne Lynch
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John McClure Rallies the South

Had he made it through the war, John McClure’s name would likely draw equal fame and respect as the nation’s most celebrated southern patriots. Indeed, not only can John be considered the first officer in the field against British occupation after the disaster at Charleston in June 1780 but, without his courage and leadership, the […]

by Wayne Lynch