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The 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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John Adams was certain he made a mistake by going to church. Philadelphia’s yellow fever outbreak only ended in November 1793. On Sunday, December…
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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…
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To Thomas Jefferson, great plagues were within the genus of republican antibodies. Like the occasional popular insurrection that warned rulers “the spirit of resistance”…
On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Brian Patrick O’Malley on the social and medical response to the Yellow Fever epidemic that ravaged…
John Morgan and William Shippen, Jr. stood shoulder to shoulder in the crowd outside of old Westminster Hall on September 22, 1761. They were…
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Those who write “local history” without documenting or citing their sources may as well be writing historical fiction. There may be some truth in…
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James W. Whitall (1717-1808) was a prominent Quaker businessman and farmer in the southern region of New Jersey. In 1739 he married Ann Cooper…
On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews educator and JAR contributor Joseph Wroblewski on the operations of the Queen’s Rangers during the British occupation of…
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In a country in which one of the main constitutional principles is separation of church and state, it is counter-intuitive to find that there…
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Today, Jacob Jones’s portrait as a naval officer hangs in the assembly room of the Old State House in Dover, Delaware. It honors his…
In this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews distinguished journalist and historian Harlow Giles Unger about Robert Morris and his critical role in financially supporting the…
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“Of the forty or more battalions of Loyalists, which enlisted in the service of the Crown during the Revolutionary war, none has been so…
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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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A councilman by profession, James Allen, esquire, lived in Philadelphia during the early years of the American Revolution. A man of considerable social prominence…
The year was 1773. On May 10, Parliament had passed the Tea Act allowed the East India Company to sell tea directly to the…
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While conducting research for my essay on General Washington’s plight in the New Jersey short hills in the spring of 1777, I was fortunate to…
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When the American Revolution became a shooting war, it was left to the Continental Congress to become the body of state for the thirteen…
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Stephen Fried, Rush: Revolution, Madness, and the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father (New York: Crown, 2018) BUY THIS BOOK FROM AMAZON When…
JAR: In a nutshell, can you give us a basic overview of The General’s Cook? RG: The General’s Cook is about George Washington’s enslaved chef, Hercules,…
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The lives of the Revolutionary era’s extraordinary women have long been celebrated. At historic sites throughout our country, visitors can learn the stories of…
Deserter advertisements and runaway notices, fascinating though they are, provide only single elements of what were certainly more complex stories. In rare cases, further…
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On April 24, 1775, Samuel Adams and John Hancock arrived in Worcester, Massachusetts, forty miles west of Boston. They hoped to find three more…
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Recognizing the contributions and sacrifices of all combat veterans from any war is a meaningful American tradition. On June 2, 2015, the President of…
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By the time he arrived in Boston with the 44th Regiment of Foot, Martin Hurley was an experienced soldier. He’d joined the army in…
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Many of the officers who became generals in the Continental Army started out with noble intentions but politics and business often pulled them away…
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From the intelligence provided by his New York and New Jersey spies, General Washington believed, early in 1777, that General Howe would eventually strike…
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On August 25, 1777 General William Howe with 17,000 men landed at Head of Elk, Maryland; he was 57 miles south of the city…
By 1768, Pennsylvania political activist John Dickinson became a true triple threat. He was already one of the most successful lawyers and businessmen in…
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This article was originally published in Journal of the American Revolution, Vol. 1 (Ertel Publishing, 2013). It was a day of mourning all across…
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The front page of April 18, 1765, Pennsylvania Gazette featured one of the earliest American printings of the Stamp Act. “Printed by B. Franklin,…
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Continued from yesterday. Click here to read part 1. When British attack upon Philadelphia threatened in 1776, Nicola was appointed Town Major for the…
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If not for a single unfortunate letter that Colonel Lewis Nicola of the Continental Army addressed to Commander-in-Chief General George Washington on May 22,…
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“The day will be most memorable in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations…
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While curating the collection of American Revolution newspapers featured in Reporting the Revolutionary War, I stumbled upon a rare 18th century American newspaper loaded…
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Myth: Within months of its publication, 120,000 copies (or 100,000 or 150,000 or 500,000) of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense were sold in the rebellious…
