William and Mary Archives - Journal of the American Revolution

Posted on December 19, 2022December 19, 2022

This Week on Dispatches: Michael Cecere on the French Army in Williamsburg

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews author, historian, and JAR contributor Michael Cecere on the French occupation of Williamsburg, Virginia, after the British abandoned the city in 1781. 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 […]

by Editors

Posted on December 13, 2022

The French Army in Williamsburg, Virginia, 1781–1782

For most of 1781, the inhabitants of Williamsburg lived in a constant state of anxiety. Already economically devastated by the loss of the state capital, which was moved to Richmond in April 1780, city residents lived under threat of British attack for most of 1781. The arrival of the infamous American traitor, Benedict Arnold, at […]

by Michael Cecere

Posted on August 12, 2021August 11, 2021

“A Mere Youth:” James Monroe’s Revolutionary War

Late in his life, after retiring the presidency, James Monroe drafted his own history. He was still struck, five decades after the War for Independence, by the “high character of that epoch and of those in whose hands its destiny fell.” He looked back and saw that war as “a school of practical instruction . […]

by John A. Ruddiman

Tag: William and Mary

This Week on Dispatches: Michael Cecere on the French Army in Williamsburg

The French Army in Williamsburg, Virginia, 1781–1782

“A Mere Youth:” James Monroe’s Revolutionary War