1784 Two Hundred Years Ago

March 2023
1min read


By the time the Treaty of Paris officially ended the Revolutionary War in September 1783, the Continental Army had been almost entirely disbanded. We were now free and independent states, and the question arose: Do free and independent states need an army? The Congress debated the point with some heart—not only the need but the cost were at issue—and decided yes. On June 3, 1784, a resolution was passed that established a “body of (700) troops … assembled into one regiment.” This, with the addition of fifty-five men at Fort Pitt and twenty-five more at West Point, constituted the entire army of the United States.

Pennsylvania had supplied the most men and therefore was allowed to select the new commanding officer. He was Josiah Harmar. He called his troops the First American Regiment, as indeed they were. In December they took up quarters at Fort McIntosh, built in 1778 in the small, western Pennsylvania town of Beaver. This was the first peacetime post of the United States Army.

The fort has been restored by the Beaver Area Heritage Foundation and was formally dedicated in 1978.

We hope you enjoy our work.

Please support this 72-year tradition of trusted historical writing and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to American Heritage.

Donate

Stories published from "June/july 1984"

The Triumph Of Watergate
Authored by: The Editors

“We do not ordinarily mean to involve ourselves, as historians, in the incomplete events of any given moment,” wrote the editors of this magazine in 1974. But they saw the Watergate cover-up as “an assault on history itself.” Now, ten years after Richard M. Nixon was forced to resign his office rather than submit to impeachment, we have asked two eminent authors to reconsider the events of that incredible summer.

I. The Hour Of The Founders
Authored by: Walter Karp

In which a President fails to fulfill his constitutional duty to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” And a reluctant Congress acts.

II. The Final Act
Authored by: Vance Bourjaily

A sometime “Nixon-hater” looks back on Watergate and discovers that his glee of a decade ago has given way to larger, sadder, and more generous emotions

Painted On Water
Authored by: Jerome Tarshis

Turn-of-the-century American painters came to Venice for its ancient splendors and pearly light. In a few years they captured its canals, palaces, and people in a spirit of gentle modernism that looks better than ever.

The Lawn: America’s Greatest Architectural Achievement
Authored by: James Marston Fitch

In designing, the University of Virginia, Jefferson sought not only to educate young men for leadership, but to bring aesthetic maturity to the new nation

“To Bring You The Picture Of Europe Tonight…”
Authored by: William L. Shirer

In 1938 the European correspondent for CBS was in Austria when the Nazis marched in. He wanted to tell the world about it—but first he had to help invent a whole new kind of broadcasting.

One Hundred Years Of Huck Finn
Authored by: Robert B. Brown

It was a difficult birth, but it looks as if the child will live forever

Down The Mississippi
Authored by: The Editors

From the North Woods to New Orleans with an artist-reporter of the last century

Saving The Statue
Authored by: Frederick Allen

After standing in New York Harbor for nearly one hundred years, this thin-skinned but sturdy lady needs a lot of attention. She’s getting it- from a crack team of French and American architects and engineers.

Featured Articles

Haunted by Authors: Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
by Greg Melville

Famous writers including Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts turned Sleepy Hollow Cemetery into our country’s first conservation project.

The Indian World of George Washington
by Colin G. Calloway

Native American peoples and the lands they possessed loomed large for Washington, from his first trips westward as a surveyor to his years as President.

“With Malice Toward None”
by Jon Meacham

In his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln embodied leading in a time of polarization, political disagreement, and differing understandings of reality.

“These Are No Ordinary Times”
by Adam Hochschild

A hundred years ago, America was rocked by riots, repression, and racial violence.

Yellow Fever Stalks the Founders
by Stephen Fried

During Pres. Washington’s first term, an epidemic killed one tenth of all the inhabitants of Philadelphia, then the capital of the young United States.

Upon Starved Rock
by Mark Walczynski

Now a popular state park, the unassuming geological feature along the Illinois River has served as the site of centuries of human habitation and discovery.  

Revenge of the Nevada
by Ed Offley

The recent discovery of the hull of the battleship Nevada recalls her dramatic action at Pearl Harbor and ultimate revenge on D-Day as the first ship to fire on the Nazis.

Confederates in Congress: Heritage or Hate?   
by Edwin S. Grosvenor

Our research reveals that 19 artworks in the U.S. Capitol honor men who were Confederate officers or officials. What many of them said, and did, is truly despicable.

A Special Issue on Presidential Misdeeds
by Edwin S. Grosvenor

Here is probably the most wide-ranging look at Presidential misbehavior ever published in a magazine.

Marshall's Secret Preparations for War
by Paul Dickson

When Germany unleashed its blitzkreig in 1939, the U.S. Army was only the 17th largest in the world. FDR and Marshall had to build a fighting force able to take on the Nazis, against the wishes of many in Congress.

Christmas Dinner at Mount Vernon
by The Editors

Roast pig, boiled rockfish, and apple pie were among the dishes George and Martha enjoyed during the holiday in 1797. Here are some actual recipes.

The Black Woman Who Managed Morgan's Millions
by Bruce Watson

Born during Jim Crow, Belle da Costa Greene perfected the art of "passing" while working for one of the most powerful men in America.

More Featured Articles

© Copyright 1949-2023 American Heritage Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved. To license content, please contact licenses [at] americanheritage.com.

AMERICAN HERITAGE
Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949
 
X