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….
South Carolina
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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Major James Wemyss: Second Most Hated British Officer in the South
byNo British officer was more reviled by Patriots in the South during the American Revolution than Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton. Based partly on fact…
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The Glorious Career and Unfortunate Death of John Laurens
byGeorge Washington surrounded himself with the best and the brightest young men involved in the revolutionary cause. Alexander Hamilton, Tench Tilghman, Robert Harrison, the…
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Thomas Sumter’s Dog Days Expedition
byAs Nathanael Greene retreated from Ninety Six in late June 1781, following his unsuccessful siege there, Thomas Sumter was eager to campaign in lower…
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Sumter’s Rounds: The Ill-Fated Campaign of Thomas Sumter, February–March 1781
byIn February 1781, Thomas Sumter emerged from his three-month convalescence to begin his next campaign in the South Carolina interior. Having been wounded seriously…
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The Battle of Beaufort
bySouth Carolina, by several measures, was the most affluent and economically important pre-revolutionary British colony in North America. Largely agrarian and sparsely settled, it…
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Cornwallis and the autumn campaign of 1780 ― His advance from Camden to Charlotte
byAs events would prove, the autumn campaign was a very risky venture indeed, yet despite the operational difficulties attending it Cornwallis saw no option…
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We Have Sacrificed Our All
by“We Have Sacrificed Our All.” Thus, stated eleven loyalist officers from Ninety-Six and Camden Districts of South Carolina in a petition intended for the…
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The South Carolina backcountry in mid 1780
byIts occupation by the British, the character of its inhabitants, and its flora, fauna and terrain Overall, I am of opinion that militarily the…
1
“The Celebrated and Notorious” Ned Turner
byDeep in South Carolina’s back country the Loyalist world came apart in the fall of 1781. British occupation ended with their retreat into the…
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With Cornwallis to the Dan: Deconstructing the “Forbes Champagné Letter”
byThe American War of Independence produced many dramatic episodes, but none surpassed the campaign that Lt. Gen. Charles, Second Earl Cornwallis, conducted in North…
Skirmish at the Thomas House: America’s First Sniper Team?
byEven under the strange, somewhat inept leadership of Loyalist Col. John Moore, the task of hampering Spartanburg’s Fair Forest role as a Patriot stronghold…
Why the British Lost the Battle of Sullivan’s Island
by“What say you now, Sir Peter Parker!”[1] The high and mighty will sometimes do seemingly odd things in order to make a point. Like,…
Daniel McGirth, Banditti on the Southern Frontier
byThe story repeated itself time and again across the southern districts of Georgia. Alarms raised loudly across a broad area with tales of imminent…