Don N Hagist – författare

The year’s best articles from the leading on-line source of new research on the Revolution and Founding erasThe Journal of the American Revolution, Annual Volume 2022, presents the journal’s best historical research and writing over the past calendar year. The volume is designed for institutions, scholars, and enthusiasts to provide a convenient overview of the latest research and scholarship in American Revolution and Founding Era studies. This year's articles are:Massachusettensis and Novanglus: The Last Great Debate Prior to the War by James M. SmithWampum Belts to Canada: Stockbridge Indian Ambassadors’ Dangerous 1775 Peace Mission by Mark R. AndersonEthan Allen’s “Motley Parcel of Soldiery” at Montreal by Mark R. AndersonThe Devil at the Helm: A Quote That Went Astray by Don N. HagistThomas Knowlton’s Revolution by David PriceMajor Robert Rogers and the American Revolution by Scott M. SmithLa Petite Guerre and Indian Irregular Manner of War: Siblings, But Not Twins by Brian GerringGeorge Washington and the First Mandatory Immunization by Richard J. WertherFrench Adventurers, Patriots, and Pretentious Imposters in the Fight for American Independence by Arthur S. LefkowitzThe Cherokee-American War from the Cherokee Perspective by Jordan BakerThe Numerical Strength of George Washington’s Army During the 1777 Philadelphia Campaign by Gary Ecelbarger and Michael C. HarrisA Reconsideration of Continental Army Numerical Strength at Valley Forge by Gary Ecelbarger and Michael C. HarrisAmerican Indians at Valley Forge by Joseph Lee BoyleThe Discovery of a Letter from a Soldier of the First Rhode Island Regiment by Christian McBurney“The Predicament We Are In”: How Paperwork Saved the Continental Army by Mike MathenySir Henry Clinton’s Generalship by John FerlingThe Varick Transcripts and the Preservation of the War by Justin McHenry“A Mere Youth”: James Monroe’s Revolutionary War by John A. RuddimaHaitian Soldiers at the Siege of Savannah by Robert S. DavisGeorge Washington’s Culper Spy Ring: Separating Fact from Fiction by Bill BleyerTexas, Cattle, Cowboys, Ranchers, Indian Raids, and the American Revolution by George KotlikThe Odyssey of Loyalist Colonel Samuel Bryan by Douglas R. Dorney, Jr.“She Had Gone to the Army . . . to Her Husband”: Judith Lines’s Unremarked Life by John U. ReesThe Yorktown Tragedy: George Washington’s Slave Roundup by Gregory J. W. UrwinSuch as are Absolutely Free: Benjamin Thompson’s Black Troopers by Todd W. BraistedThe King of Sweden: Friendly Foe of the United States by Richard WertherShifting Indian Policy of the Articles of Confederation by John DeLeeJustice, Mercy, and Treason: John Marshall’s and Mercy Otis Warren’s Treatments of Benedict Arnold by Ray MiranteA Chance Amiss: George Washington and the Fiasco of Spain’s Gift Diplomacy by Elisa VargasThe Constitutional Convention Debates the Electoral College by Jason YonceRespected Citizen of Washington City: The Mystery of  Will Costin, Freed Mount Vernon Slave by David O. StewartThe Impeachment of Senator William Blount  by Andrew A. Zellers-FrederickInstinctive Temporary Unity: Examining Public Opinion During the Whiskey Rebellion by Jonathan Curran“Good and Sufficient Testimony”: The Development of the Revolutionary War Pension Plan by Michael Barbieri

The year’s best articles from the leading on-line source of new research on the Revolution and Founding erasThe Journal of the American Revolution, Annual Volume 2025, presents the journal’s best historical research and writing over the past calendar year. The volume of thirty-five articles is designed for institutions, scholars, and enthusiasts to provide a convenient overview of the latest research and scholarship in American Revolution and Founding Era studies.

Advisor for Ken Burns The American Revolution on PBS®Winner of the 2020 American Revolution Roundtable of Philadelphia Book of the YearRedcoats. For Americans, the word brings to mind the occupying army that attempted to crush the Revolutionary War. There was more to these soldiers than their red uniforms, but the individuals who formed the ranks are seldom described in any detail in historical literature, leaving unanswered questions. Who were these men? Why did they join the army? Where did they go when the war was over?In Noble Volunteers: The British Soldiers Who Fought the American Revolution, Don N. Hagist brings life to these soldiers, describing the training, experiences, and outcomes of British soldiers who fought during the Revolution. Drawing on thousands of military records and other primary sources in British, American, and Canadian archives, and the writings of dozens of officers and soldiers, Noble Volunteers shows how a peacetime army responded to the onset of war, how professional soldiers adapted quickly and effectively to become tactically dominant, and what became of the thousands of career soldiers once the war was over. In this historical tour de force, introduced by Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson, Hagist dispels long-held myths, revealing how remarkably diverse British soldiers were. They represented a variety of ages, nationalities, and socioeconomic backgrounds, and many had joined the army as a peacetime career, only to find themselves fighting a war on another continent in often brutal conditions. Against the sweeping backdrop of the war, Hagist directs his focus on the small picture, illuminating the moments in an individual soldier’s life—those hours spent nursing a fever while standing sentry in the bitter cold, or writing a letter to a wife back home. What emerges from these vignettes is the understanding that while these were “common” soldiers, each soldier was completely unique, for, as Hagist writes, “There was no ‘typical’ British soldier.”

The year’s best articles from the leading on-line source of new research on the Revolution and Founding erasThe Journal of the American Revolution, Annual Volume 2026, presents the journal’s best historical research and writing over the past calendar year. The volume of thirty-eight articles is designed for institutions, scholars, and enthusiasts to provide a convenient overview of the latest research and scholarship in American Revolution and Founding Era studies.Contents1778 Naval Strategy: French Actors and British Reactors by Bob RuppertA Granddaughter’s Grief: Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis and George Washington by Elizabeth ReeseAgrippa Hull: A Revolutionary Story by Talya LeodariAlexander Thompson and Declaring Peace in the Borderlands of Western New York, 1783 by G. Patrick O’BrienColonel Michael Kovats: The Hungarian Co-founder of the American Cavalry by Zoltán Pintér and Anna Smith LaceyCruel Bedlam: Bankruptcies and the Break with Britain by Robert E. WrightCulper Spy Austin Roe . . . the Joiner? by Mark SternbergGeorge Washington and Thomas Paine: Friendship in a Revolutionary Age by Jett ConnerGeorge Washington as Parent by Chaim M. Rosenberg“In the Cause of American Liberty:” Catholic Contributions to Independence by Raphael CorlettaInsolvent Brothers: The Generals Ethan and Ira Allen by Gary ShattuckJames Easton vs. Benedict Arnold: Anatomy of a Feud by Paul B. ElmoreJefferson and Madison Letters: Should a Constitution Last Forever? by Jett ConnerLord Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment by Andrew LawlerMercy Scollay’s Quest for Custody of Joseph Warren’s Children by Janet UhlarMorgan’s Victory at the Cowpens: Brilliant Tactics or Fortunate Volley? by Conner Runyan and C. Leon HarrisOn Parole: A Story of Honor, Suffering, and Friendship in the American Revolution by Greg Aaron“One Great People”: John Fenno’s Public Crusade for an American National Identity by Shawn David McGheeQuotes About or By Native Americans, 1751 to 1793 by Victor J. DiSantoRhode Island Soldiers of Color at Red Bank, Monmouth, and Valley Forge by Christian McBurneyRichard Varick in History and Memory: Colonial Lawyer, Continental Officer, Mayor of New York City by Keith MuchowskiSamuel Mason: Revolutionary Turncoat or Opportunistic Pirate? by Carter F. SmithSnapping the Lilliputian Cords: The Founders and Gulliver’s Travels by Brett BannorTarleton at the Waxhaws: A Proposal for Reconciliation by Robert FordThat Audacious Paper: Jonathan Lind and Thomas Hutchinson Answer the Declaration of Independence by David OtersenThe 1779 Invasion of Iroquoia: Scorched Earth as Described by Continental Soldiers by Victor J. DiSantoThe Complicated History of David Fanning’s Murderous 1782 Bloody Sabbath Raid by Josh Wheeler“The Good Old Republican Cause”: Philip Freneau’s Principled Stand against the Shadow of Monarchy by Shawn David McGheeThe Green Mountain Insurgency: New York’s Rebellion Against the Crown by Robert J. WalworthThe Loyalist Who Gave Birth to His Nightmare by Richard Briles MoriartyThe Mutiny of 1783: America’s Only Successful Insurrection by Andrew A. Zellers-FrederickThe Plot to Partition America by Richard J. WertherThe Retreat of Popular Sovereignty by David OtersenThe Short War of James Wilcox, 33rd Regiment of Foot by Don N. HagistThose Deceitful Sages: Pope Pius VI, Rome, and the American Revolution by Brady J. CrytzerThunderstruck: The Treaty of Paris Reaches the Frontier by Joshua ShepherdTrojan Horse on the Water: The 1782 Attack on Beaufort, North Carolina by Josh WheelerUnraveling the Mystery of George Washington’s Earliest Teacher by Richard Gardiner

She was stabbed by her drunken husband on a storm-tossed ship in the North Atlantic. She forgave him before she died—and history never recorded her first name. Mrs. Whitlow, wife of a British soldier, is just one of the thousands of women who followed their husbands to war during the American Revolution. These women lived in the barracks and camps and endured the hardships of garrisons and campaigns in an unfamiliar and often hostile land. They faced the challenges with fortitude, proving themselves resourceful, industrious, and intrepid, but their involvement in the conflict that founded the United States has been largely lost to history. Incidents and brief mentions abound in the military writings and iconography of the era, but stories of individual lives are nearly nonexistent, which has caused this large population to be almost entirely overlooked. Combining archival research with deeply human storytelling, Invisible Lives: British Soldiers’ Wives in the American Revolution by Don N. Hagist brings together, for the first time, the myriad glimpses of these wives to tell the larger story of how they lived, worked, suffered, and survived as women in a foreign war. Drawing on court martial proceedings, muster rolls, marriage licenses, newspaper notices, and rare surviving letters, this meticulously researched work reconstructs the lives of women who were present in every theater of the Revolutionary War. What emerges is a portrait of remarkable resilience. These women crossed oceans, survived sieges, nursed the wounded, and raised children in the chaos of an eighteenth-century war. These many moments come together to provide a more complete and invaluable picture of British soldiers’ wives and their place in the army and the surrounding society. For readers of women’s history, military history, and the American Revolution, this is an overdue and deeply moving reckoning with the lives history had left behind.