“The Expedition of Genl Sullivan against the six nations seems by its effects to have exasperated than to have terrified or disabled them,” wrote Continental Congressman James Madison in June 1780.[1] This 1779 Patriot offensive, known as the Sullivan Campaign or the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign, was meant to teach the Loyalists and their Native American allies […] The post Retribution in Pennsylvania: The 1780 British Counter-Offensive to the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign appeared first on Jo...| Journal of the American Revolution
About an hour’s drive west from Raleigh, in North Carolina’s Moore County, the traffic thins out, the roads narrow, and the suburban sprawl of the Triangle area softens into farmland, ringed by trees, unrolling across the horizon. While only a little over fifty miles from one of the country’s fastest-growing metropolitan areas, this is still […] The post Shootout at the House in the Horseshoe appeared first on Journal of the American Revolution.| Journal of the American Revolution
On April 17, 1783, a dispatch arrived at Fort Rensselaer along the western bank of the Mohawk River, around two miles northwest of modern Canajoharie, New York. The messenger carried directions from Gen. George Washington to send “an Officer To the British Garrison at Oswago To announce a Cessation of Hostilities on the frontiers of […]| Journal of the American Revolution
Georgia’s legendary John Twiggs had a distinguished public career during and after the American Revolution, but he left almost no other information about himself, as reflected in the extremely concise and brief text on his tombstone and obituary. The family descends from the Twiggs family of Devonshire, England, reportedly including Thomas Twiggs (died 1614) of […] The post General John Twiggs and the American Revolution appeared first on Journal of the American Revolution.| Journal of the American Revolution
Nowhere in the struggle that was the American Revolution was outside assistance more significant than at the siege of Yorktown during the autumn of 1781.[1] The French provided significant support from land troops, but it was the French Navy that really clinched the affair with their naval blockade that ultimately trapped the British army of […] The post Francisco de Saavedra de Sangronis: A Spainard’s Pivotal Role in the Yorktown Triumph appeared first on Journal of the American Revolution.| Journal of the American Revolution
As his London Packet approached the colonies in November 1774, Thomas Paine was not scanning for land. After turning northwards towards Philadelphia in Delaware Bay, the former privateer was not visualizing where, during the Seven Years War, French privateer ships awaited English prey within the folds of the eastern shore.[1] Stricken with typhus fever that […] The post The Loyalist Who Gave Birth to His Nightmare appeared first on Journal of the American Revolution.| Journal of the American Revolution
River crossings during the American Revolution were common events. Historians, patriotic organizations and living history enthusiasts focus on several of these crossings with commemorations and reenactments. The most celebrated of all crossings is Washington’s Crossing of the Delaware on December 25, 1776. State parks, in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, recognize the crossing and events of […] The post “It is Incredible How Much They Dread a Rifle”: Col. William Woodford’s 1775 James R...| Journal of the American Revolution
“They are by no means such Troops, in any respect, as you are led to believe of them from the [Accounts] which are published.”[1] So declared General George Washington to his cousin, Lund Washington, nearly two months into his command of the newly formed Continental Army outside Boston. Appointed by the Continental Congress on June […]| Journal of the American Revolution
The pivotal military events that transpired in the northern theatre of war during the American Revolution are well known. A chronological list of the main ones would include: the failed American invasion of Canada in 1775-76; the British naval victory on Lake Champlain at the Battle of Valcour Island in 1776; the decisive American victory […]| Journal of the American Revolution
A few weeks after the Lexington alarm on April 19, 1775 a team of four men set out with congressional approval on a spying expedition through the Maine wilderness, heading for Quebec. Their goal was to determine whether Maine was threatened by the French Canadians, or whether the French wished to cooperate with the Revolution. […]| Journal of the American Revolution
By March 1782 Loyalist Col. David Fanning had been a thorn in the side of Patriot forces for some time. Fanning’s perpetually violent methods were well known to Patriots throughout North Carolina, as was his desire to visit retribution upon previous foes. But the story of one of his most infamous raids for that revenge […]| Journal of the American Revolution
A British cannonball decapitated James McNair, a Continental artillerist, at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778. Thomas Bliss, another American cannoneer, was captured that day. Col. John Durkee, commanding Varnum’s brigade, escaped death that Sunday but his right hand was permanently disabled from a wound received in the morning. Col. Henry Livingston, commanding […]| Journal of the American Revolution
Six indigenous nations in upstate New York—the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora—were joined in an alliance for mutual protection. Known as the Haudenosaunee, which means people of the longhouse, or the misnomer Iroquois, at the beginning of the American Revolution they assured the upstart patriots that they would adopt a neutral stance and […]| Journal of the American Revolution
In December 1775, Pope Pius VI released his famed encyclical entitled Inscrutabilie Divinae Sapientiae. Translated as “The Inscrutable Divine Wisdom,” the Pope used his platform to issue a commentary on the most pressing issues of the time. Among the many topics he touched on were threats to the Catholic Church, the shifting politics of Europe, […]| Journal of the American Revolution
Nathanael Greene famously wrote of his experience during the Southern Campaign that “The whole Country is in Danger of being laid Waste by the Whigs and Tories who pursue each other with as much relentless Fury as Beasts of Prey.” Historian John Pancake comments that “This observation was made by Nathanael Greene, a man already […]| Journal of the American Revolution
Alarming news of violence on the Upper Ohio flooded Pittsburgh in the late summer of 1777. On August 2, Joseph Ogle reported from Wheeling that a Native war party had wounded two men. James Booth, further south in Monongalia County, wrote that a mother and child had been killed and scalped and another captured. Col. […]| Journal of the American Revolution
