"They were good soldiers" A conversation with author John U. Rees

Muzzle Blasts

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This week we are talking to author and historian John U Rees about his new book on African Americans serving in the Continental Army, but that's not all, we head down several interesting rabbit holes on period footwear, recreating Continental Marches and much much more.

A native of Bucks County, born in the year of the Hungarian uprising, and currently living in Solebury, Pa., John Rees has written over 150 articles and monographs since 1986 on various aspects of the common soldiers' experience. He focuses primarily on the War for Independence and American soldiers’ foodways.

In autumn 2019, John published his first book, "They Were Good Soldiers’: African–Americans Serving in the Continental Army, 1775-1783 (From Reason to Revolution)". The role of African-Americans, most free but some enslaved, in the regiments of the Continental Army, is not well-known; neither is the fact that relatively large numbers served in southern regiments and that the greatest number served alongside their white comrades in integrated units.

A self self-proclaimed obsessive researcher, many of John's articles are published online and accessible for free, if you are interested in hearing more from John, please check out the links to his work in the show notes below.

Listen to this episode on youtube

Shop Johns Book on Amazon

John's Blog - Full of updates from John's Book.

A Full List of John's free to read articles

John's Scrid page - More free articles to read

The latest from John's Blog

John U Rees on Instagram - @Quixot1777

Fort Ticonderoga.org

Brigade of the American Revolution

100 Best American Revolution Books of all time

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A special thanks this week to the guys at Primitive Pursuit for sponsoring the podcast! Primitive Pursuit was founded in 2017 to be an outlet for learning experiences as a traditional bowhunter.

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