On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historians and JAR contributors Michael C. Harris and Gary Ecelbarger on their important work to better determine…
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Introduction Perhaps the most important facet for understanding and appreciating a military campaign is a solid grasp of the composition of the armies engaged…
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On December 23, 1777, a mere four days after his Continental army entered Valley Forge, George Washington wrote to the Continental Congress expressing the…
When old Revolutionary War soldiers applied for their military pensions in the first and second quarter of the nineteenth century, they generally reported the…
The 1820 Missouri Compromise allowed Missouri to become a slave state, established Maine as a free state, and banned slavery in the territory west…
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At the Bethlehem Hospital near Valley Forge on November 21, 1777, John Ettwein visited a “Narragansett Indian in great distress about his soul, at…
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A.H. Ritchie’s 1856 engraving entitled “Washington and His Generals” is a creative, imaginary scene, as the dozens of generals shown assembled never congregated in…
Every now and then, one comes across a pension application of an old soldier that includes extraordinary detail. Occasionally the application includes a journal…
Restrictions on travel and gather due to the coronavirus pandemic have had a significant impact on historic sites and institutions dedicated to the American…
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Charles Lee served as second-in-command of the Continental Army, subordinate only to George Washington. Born in England, Lee was the best-educated and most widely-read…
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“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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There is no dignity in being forgotten. A case in point is Virginia Lt. Col. Richard Campbell, a Continental officer who died bravely for…
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We recently ran an article about monuments commemorating the American Revolution. We asked our contributors: If you could commission a monument, what would you…
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We asked our contributors what seemed like a simple question: What scene from the American Revolution or the Founding Era (1765–1805, approximately) do you…
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The old man stepped out into the sun, shut his door, and turned north, leaving his home in Gainesville, New York, for the county…
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Valley Forge by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2018) Americans refer to many of their nation’s most iconic events…
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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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When George Washington died in 1799, partisan infighting and international crises threatened the survival of the American experiment. Many Americans believed in Washington’s unique…
Editor’s Note: This is the final part of a five-part series. Part one. Part two. Part three. Part four. The final portion of the McMichael…
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The name Valley Forge evokes strong emotions and memories that are indelibly embedded on the collective American psyche with legendary stories of immense misery,…
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In a cemetery behind the Salem United Church of Christ, in Reamstown, Lancaster County, a boulder stands: This grinding bowl from East Cocalico is…
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Six months of struggle shaped into twenty-six characters. A – Arrival The Continental Army under Gen. George Washington trudged into Valley Forge on December…
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With the clash of arms that began the American Revolution, Capt. Barent J. Ten Eyck, of the Albany County Militia, served as courier for…
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Being ten unexpected and edifying quotations from the third winter encampment. I – “We live uncommonly well for Camp…We have Milk and sugar in…
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The best portraits are perhaps those in which there is a slight mixture of caricature; and we are not certain that the best histories…
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Washington and the Continental Army spent the winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge, twenty-five miles northwest of Philadelphia. On November 27, the Continental Congress…
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On the afternoon of April 5, 1778, four feisty women, accompanied by an escort, Israel Morris, boarded their coach in British-occupied Philadelphia and set…
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Thanks to the porous state of the British lines around Philadelphia and the industry of General Washington’s secret agents, there is little doubt that…
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“Congress Does Not Trust Me. I Cannot Continue Thus.” These are two of the most important sentences George Washington ever spoke. Almost instantly they…
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Military leaders since Alexander the Great have often preferred to command their battle formations from the most forward ranks. “Leading from the front,” as…
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Dear Mr. History: Does General von Steuben deserve the fantastic amount of fame he gets for training the Continental Army at Valley Forge? The…
Today we start our spring break road trip in Newark, Delaware, with a quick stop at the historic Hale-Byrnes House, site of a council…