Christian McBurney is an independent historian who has authored several books on the American Revolutionary War, including the following three with Rhode Island connections: Spies in Revolutionary Rhode Island (History Press, 2014), Kidnapping the Enemy: The Special Operations to Capture Generals Charles Lee and Richard Prescott (Westholme, 2014), and The Rhode Island Campaign: The First French and American Operation of the Revolutionary War (Westholme, 2011). He has also co-authored World War II Rhode Island (History Press, 2017) and Untold Stories of World War II Rhode Island (History Press, 2019). He has authored a number of articles for the Rhode Island History and Newport History magazines and Pettaquamscutt Historical Society newsletter. For more information on these books and articles, see christianmcburney.com. He resides in the Washington, D.C. area, after being raised in Kingston, R.I., attending South Kingstown High School, and obtaining his undergraduate degree from Brown University. He frequently returns to Rhode Island to give book lectures and visit his family.
Articles:
- South Kingstown’s Partial Census for 1730: Whites, Indians and Blacks
- The South Kingstown Planters: Country Gentry in Colonial Rhode Island
- Book Review: Abby Chandler, Seized with the Temper of The Times: Identity and Rebellion in Pre-Revolutionary America (Westholme, 2023)
- The Providence Journal Publishes Despite the Historic 1886 Flood and the Blizzard of 1888
- Boys Hired to Deliver the Providence Journal from 1833 to 1873 Reveal Their Pranks and Challenges
- Victims of Newport’s Stamp Act Riots Reimbursed (Not)
- Business Owners Try to Control How Their Employees Vote in 1876 Election
- Rhode Islanders Insist on No Compromise with the South after Lincoln’s Election
- Rhode Island Fails to Vote for Lincoln for President at Nominating Convention!
- Governor’s 1708 Report Tells Where the First Black Enslaved People Who Arrived in Rhode Island Came from and About the Arrival of the First Slave Ship from Africa
- A Book Review: Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence by Shirley L. Green (Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2023)
- Gaspee Raid Inspires Boston Tea Party Raiders to Disguise Themselves as Narragansetts
- Samuel Casey, Talented Colonial Silversmith and Notorious Counterfeiter, Escapes the Hangman
- A Book Review: Rhode Island Election Tickets: A Survey of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paper Ballots (Rhode Island Publications Society, 2023). Compiled by Russell J. DeSimone. Introduction by Patrick T. Conley.
- Whale Sinks Whale Ship Commanded by Newport Captain
- Providence Merchant John Brown Gets Rich Privateering in 1776 and 1777
- General Isaac Peace Rodman, Citizen-Soldier and Martyr for the Union Cause
- New York’s Izzy Einstein Raids Rhode Island Saloons During Prohibition
- Book Launch: Machine Guns in Narraganset Bay: The Coast Guard’s War on Rumrunners
- Block Island Rumrunners, Rum Row and a Pirate Ship
- Ann Bates: British Spy Extraordinaire
- Rhode Island’s Millionaires in 1892 and How They Made Their Money
- The Alexander Sails for California in 1849
- Newporters Catch Gold Fever, Sail to California in 1849
- Four Extraordinary Popular American Historians from Brown University’s Classes of 1978 to 1983
- Book Review: Meet Me at the Biltmore, 100 Years at Providence’s Most Storied Hotel
- Rhode Island’s Whaling Industry, Once Led by Warren
- Remains of a Wrecked Whaling Ship from Warren Identified in Argentina
- Rhode Island’s U.S. Senators and Congressmen Who Held Enslaved People
- Rhode Island’s Four Stages of the American Revolutionary War
- The Banisters of Rhode Island in the American Revolution, Liberty and the Costs of Loyalties: A Book Review
- The Recovery of Beaver, Bobcats, Fishers and More in Rhode Island
- When Deer Became Extinct in Rhode Island
- Wolves, Moose, Mountain Lions and Bears Once Roamed Rhode Island
- A Kingston Woman Supports Lincoln During the Civil War
- An Enslaved Mother Rescues Her Family from being Transported to the South—And Spurs a Law Change
- Corporal Punishment and Reform in the Early 19th Century in Washington County
- Three Short, Oversized Hardcover Books With Fantastic Covers for the Holidays
- Slater Mill Now Part of a National Park
- The Hanging of Thomas Mount for Burglary in 1791
- Three Rhode Island History Books for Your Consideration
- Evaluating Whether to Remove a Statue or Other Honorific: The Case of Esek Hopkins
- Amazing Letter Discovered from a Black Soldier of the First Rhode Island Regiment— Containing a Shocking Request
- A Rhode Islander Visits the U.S. Capitol, 1970 to 2020
- Wildlife on the Queen River
- Amazing Military Museum Beckons at the World War II Foundation’s Headquarters in Wakefield
- Gray’s Grist Mill, Honorary Rhode Island Location
- Prudence Crandall, Sarah Harris Fayerweather and Ann Hammond: Their Pre-Civil War Struggle for Equality for Black People
- The 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Point Judith: The Fate of U-853 After Its Sinking; Bodies—and Bones—are Removed; What Happened to Hoffman’s Body?
- The 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Point Judith: U.S. Navy and Coast Guard Warships Sink U-853
- The 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Point Judith: Could U-853’s Sinking of Black Point been Averted?
- The 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Point Judith: German U-Boat Sinks U.S. Coal Vessel
- A Short History of Modern Pandemics and Vaccine Development
- Tarzan Brown of the Narragansett Tribe, Legendary Marathon Runner
- Major General Charles Lee Imposes Oaths of Allegiance on Newport Tories in 1775
- Discovery Confirms Importance of Advance Base Proving Ground at Davisville in the Lead Up to D-Day in World War II
- An Elephant is Murdered in Chepachet in 1826
- Recent Books by smallstatebighistory Authors
- More Interesting and Amusing Street Names in Rhode Island
- Top Ten Interesting and Amusing Street Names in Rhode Island
- Dixwell Ketcham’s Amazing Aerial Photographs of Narragansett Bay, 1924-1934
- Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig Play an Exhibition Game in Providence, Kids Go Nuts
- The Great Gale of 1815 Slams into Newport, Providence and Narragansett
- Queen’s Fort—Stone Refuge for Quaiapen, 1675-1676
- Rhode Island’s Two Greatest Wartime Love Letters, by Sullivan Ballou … and George H.W. Bush
- “Strange Mismanagement:” The Capture Of The HMS Syren
- God, War, and Providence
Book Review - The Execution of Thomas Mount for the Crime of Burglary
- Three Recent Historical Novels with Revolutionary (and Slave-Holding) Rhode Island as the Backdrop
- Some Recent Rhode Island History Books for Your Reading Pleasure
- Depression-Era Photographer Visits Kenyon Grist Mill
- Coast Guard Machine-Guns Monolola and Other Rumrunners in Narragansett Bay
- Interview with Maury Klein about his Book, A Call To Arms, Mobilizing America for World War II
- Judith Sternberg Newman, Holocaust Survivor, Builds a New Life in Richmond
- Elisabeth Sheldon: Her Summers of 1944 and 1945 on Narragansett Bay
- From Slaves to Soldiers
Book Review by Christian McBurney - Pearl Harbor Attack Panics Rhode Islanders
- Peter Gerry, Former U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, is in the News Today
- The South Kingstown Town Council Refuses to Free Patience, an Enslaved Woman
- Top 20 Greatest Rhode Islanders of All Time: Counting Down from Number 5 to 1
- Top 20 Greatest Rhode Islanders of All Time: Counting Down from Number 10 to 6
- Top 20 Greatest Rhode Islanders of All Time: Counting Down from Number 15 to 11
- Top 20 Greatest Rhode Islanders of All Time: Counting Down from Number 20 to 16
- Verrazzano Visits the Narragansett Indians in 1524
- The Culper Spy Ring Was Not The First To Warn The French at Newport
- Jemima Wilkinson: the First American-Born Woman to Found a Religious Movement
- Smallstatebighistory Interviews Bob Ryan of Wakefield Books
- Top Ten Turning Points in Rhode Island’s History
