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Danger at the Breach
byAmerican Patriots won a pivotal victory at Charlestown, South Carolina, on June 28, 1776, six days before the Declaration of Independence. The Battle of…
South Carolina
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John Joachim Zubly: PART 3, A Patriot Essayist Whose Cause Was Lost
byIn the 1760s and through 1775 John J. Zubly was the leading Whig in Georgia. He wrote a number of sermons and political tracts…
This Week on Dispatches: Aaron J. Palmer on the 1775 Duel between Henry Laurens and John Faucheraud Grimké
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian and JAR contributor Aaron J. Palmer on the social and political significance of the 1775 duel…
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The 1775 Duel Between Henry Laurens and John Faucheraud Grimké
byCharles Town, the metropolis of the South (today Charleston, South Carolina), was a leading location for duels in the late eighteenth century. One detailed…
2
Mismatch off Charleston: The Privateer Congress vs. HMS Savage
by“One of the most creditable actions of this war in which an American privateer was engaged took place on September 6, 1781.”—Edgar Stanton Maclay,…
March to Independence: The American Revolution in the Southern Colonies, 1775–1776
byBOOK 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…
1
North Carolina Colonel Joseph Williams in the Cherokee Campaign of 1776
by“We have every reason to believe,” proclaimed the North Carolina Council of Safety, that “the emissaries of [the British] government are making use of…
6
The Troubled Relationship Between Clinton and Cornwallis and their “War” after the War
byA search for scapegoats is certain to follow a lost war, and in the wake of the British disaster at Yorktown in October 1781…
1
William “Bloody Bill” Cunningham and the Bloody Scout
byOn or about November 19, 1781, a Loyalist officer named William Cunningham and his regiment of approximately three hundred men rode toward Hayes Station,…
This Week on Dispatches: Eric Sterner on South Carolina’s John Rutledge
byOn this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews consultant, author, and JAR contributor Eric Sterner on the life of John Rutledge, governor, president, and…
4
John Rutledge: Governor of South Carolina, 1779
byJohn Rutledge had been prominent in South Carolina politics virtually since establishing his Charleston law practice in 1761. He served in the General Assembly,…
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John Rutledge: President of South Carolina, 1776–1778
byJohn Rutledge was born into Charleston’s elite in 1739 and by April 1775 had established himself as a defender of English rights in the…
2
John Rutledge: Delegate from South Carolina, 1765–1775
byJohn Rutledge is one of those members of the founding generation who often get overlooked. Yet, for every Jefferson, Adams, or Washington, there were…
Britain’s Last Throw of the Dice Begins—the Charlestown Campaign of 1780
byBy the close of 1779 British possessions in the revolted colonies were confined in the north to New York City, Long Island, and Penobscot….
This Week on Dispatches: Jeff Dacus on the “Tower of Victory” at the Siege of Fort Watson
byOn this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Jeff Dacus on how Light Horse Harry Lee and Francis Marion were able to successfully capture…
This Week on Dispatches: Andrew Waters on Nathanael Greene, Thomas Sumter and the Revolution in the South
byOn this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews author, land conservationist, and JAR contributor Andrew Waters on how Nathanael Greene and Thomas Sumter fought against…
This Week on Dispatches: Stephen John Katzberg on Mapping the Battle of Eutaw Springs
byOn this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer speaks with electrical engineer and JAR contributor Stephen John Katzberg on the significance of the Battle of Eutaw…
2
Cornwallis and the Winter Campaign, January to April 1781
byLeaving Colonel Francis Lord Rawdon to command in the field from Georgetown to Augusta, Lt. Gen. Charles Earl Cornwallis, the British General Officer Commanding…
The Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Misfortune: The Fall of Fort Motte
byThe Revolutionary War in the Carolinas after the fall of Charleston was a great arena of war with hundreds of small battlefields. Some were…
4
Mapping the Battle of Eutaw Springs: Modern GIS Solves a Historic Mystery
byWhen dealing with available sources to investigate questions related to historical events, the researcher has at his disposal a limited set from which to…
2
This Week on Dispatches: Douglas R. Dorney, Jr. on Captain John De Treville—Continental Officer and British Spy
byOn this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews architect and JAR contributor Douglas R. Dorney, Jr., on his research about Capt. John La Boularderie De…
1
Tapping America’s Wealth to Fund the Revolution: Two Good Ideas that Went Awry
by“Unless some great and capital change suddenly takes place,” Gen. George Washington wrote from Valley Forge on December 23, 1777,[1] to Henry Laurens, the…
2
Captain John De Treville: Continental Officer and British Spy
byIn late June 1780 a messenger arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, with intelligence for Lt. Gen. Charles, Earl Cornwallis. The messenger, Capt. John La Boularderie…
Fire-Hunting by Night in South Carolina: A Pursuit of British Officers
byWhile George Hanger was for a time in limbo, waiting in mid May 1780 for a decision on his part in the British arrangements for…
3
Top 5 Explosions of the Revolutionary War
byDuring the era of the American Revolution, cannons did not fire exploding projectiles, so the image of explosions on the battlefield doesn’t apply. Mortars…
Cornwallis Quits Charlotte, Abandoning the Autumn Campaign of 1780
byThis article is a companion piece to one of mine that appeared in this journal on July 18, 2017. Beginning with the start of the…
This Week on Dispatches: Andrew Waters on the Campaign in the Carolinas
byOn 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…
8
The Tragedy of Henry Laurens
byIt wasn’t really their fault, they said. Slavery, men of the founding generation liked to argue, was brought to the colonies by Britain. It…
10
Midsummer 1780 in the Carolinas and Georgia—Events predating the Battle of Camden
byBesides dealing with events elsewhere, this article relates in particular the plight of the Carolina loyalists and the way in which British ascendancy in…
2
David Holmes, Timothy Barnard, and Questionable Loyalties
byWith the Revolutionary War in full swing by August 1776, George Galphin penned a letter to his nephew, Timothy Barnard. Galphin started his letter…
1
Thomas Fletchall’s Association: A Loyalist Proclamation in the South Carolina Backcountry
byThomas Fletchall was a man of considerable influence in the South Carolina backcountry. Born in Maryland in 1725, Fletchall and his family relocated to…
1
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The Road to Charleston: Nathanael Greene and the American Revolution
byThe 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…
2
George Farragut: The Epitome of an American Colonial
byJordi Ferragut Mesquida, better known by his anglicized name George Farragut, was the only known Spanish volunteer who fought under the American flag in…
2
Decoding British ciphers used in the South, 1780-81
byDuring the southern campaigns the British used two kinds of cipher, each kind being markedly different from the other. The First Kind of Cipher: The…
To the End of the World: Cornwallis Pursues Morgan to the Catawba
byAs Daniel Morgan collected his prisoners on the morning of January 17, 1781, he knew Charles, Lord Cornwallis, could not be far behind. “The…
“My Dear Nell:” The Love Letters of John Moultrie
byDr. John Moultrie was born in 1729 in South Carolina to a father of the same name, one of five brothers. Educated in Edinburgh,…
2
Cornwallis’s Refitment at Winnsborough and the Start of the Winter Campaign, November–January 1780–81
byAs November 1780 begins, we find Cornwallis continuing to wait at Winnsborough, South Carolina, in the hope of being joined by Major Gen. Alexander…
3
Hammond’s Store: The “Dirty War’s” Prelude to Cowpens
byLittle 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…
3
Henry Laurens in England, 1771–1772
byOn October 9, 1771, a ship arrived at the southwestern tip of England. The Earl of Halifax had spent twenty nine days crossing the Atlantic…