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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chapter 3: The American Revolution, 1763-
Historians have written many fine surveys of the American Revolution, but among the best are Don Higginbotham, The War of American Independence (Macmillan, 1971); John R. Alden, A History of the American Revolution (Knopf, 1969); Robert Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause (Oxford University Press, 1982); and James Kirby Martin and Mark Edward Lender, A Respectable Army: The Military Origins of the Republic (Harlan Davidson, 1982). Piers Mackesy's The War for America (Harvard University Press, 1965) presents a British perspective, and Eric Robson's The American Revolution in Its Political and Military Aspects (Archon Books,
- emphasizes British problems in conducting the war. More recent surveys include Robert Leckie, George Washington's War: The Saga of the American Revolution (HarperCollins, 1992); Edward Countryman, The American Revolution (Hill and Wang, 1985); Colin Bonwick, The American Revolution (Palgrave MacMillan, 2005); and John Ferling, Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence (Oxford University Press, 2007). Several edited volumes contain important insights into the war: Stanley J. Underdal, ed., Military History of the American Revolution: The Proceedings of the 6th Military History Symposium United States Air Force Academy (Office of Air Force History, 1976); John Shy, A People Numerous and Armed: Reflections on the Military Struggle for American Independence (Oxford University Press, 1976); Don Higginbotham, ed., Reconsiderations on the Revolutionary War: Selected Essays (Greenwood, 1978); Ronald Hoffman and Peter J. Albert, eds., Arms and Independence: The Military Character of the American Revolution (University Press of Virginia, 1983); Jack P. Greene, ed., The American Revolution: Its Character and Limits (New York University Press, 1987); Don Higginbotham, War and Society in Revolutionary America: The Wider Dimensions
of Conflict (University of South Carolina Press, 1988); and John Resch and Walter Sargent, eds., War and Society in the American Revolution: Mobilization and Home Fronts (Northern Illinois University Press, 2006). For case studies of the war on a more localized level, see Richard Buel, Jr., Dear Liberty: Connecticut's Mobilization for the Revolutionary War (Wesleyan University Press, 1980); James Titus, The Old Dominion at War: Society, Politics, and Warfare in Late Colonial Virginia (University of South Carolina Press, 1991); Michael Adelberg, The American Revolution in Monmouth County: The Theatre of Spoil and Destruction (The History Press, 2012); and Robert Gross, The Minutemen and their World (Hill and Wang, 1976). Jack M. Sosin outlines events on The Revolutionary Frontier (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967). Understanding Patriot motivation and the course of events leading up to the War for Independence is essential and John Phillip Reid's The Concept of Liberty in the Age of the American Revolution (University of Chicago Press, 1988) and Walter H. Conser, Jr., Ronald M. McCarthy, David J. Toscano, and Gene Sharp, eds., Resistance, Politics, and the American Struggle for Independence, 1765-1775 (Lynne Rienner, 1986) are good starting points. John Phillip Reid's The Concept of Liberty in the Age of the American Revolution (University of Chicago Press, 1988) emphasizes the centrality of "liberty" in the Patriots' ideology. A survey of events in the crucial first phase of the war is Merrill Jensen, The Founding of a Nation (Oxford University Press, 1968). John Shy, Toward Lexington: The Role of the British Army in the Coming of the American Revolution (Princeton University Press, 1965), details the results of England's decision to garrison the West with regulars. John Phillip Reid's In Defiance of the Law (University of North Carolina Press, 1981) discusses the constitutional controversy surrounding the stationing of regulars in America. Pauline Maier explains the Revolutionary
M. Wallace, Traitorous Hero: The Life and Fortunes of Benedict Arnold (Harper & Brothers, 1954); Willard Sterne Randall, Benedict Arnold: Patriot and Traitor (William Morrow, 1990), which depicts America's most infamous traitor as a complicated man with many admirable qualities, but with an intense egotism that was his fatal flaw; and James Kirby Martin, Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary Hero: An American Warrior Reconsidered (New York University Press, 1997), a reassessment of Arnold that traces his treason to frustrations (insufficient accolades and pay) endured by most Continental officers. Theodore Thayer, Nathanael Greene (Twayne, 1960) and more recently, Terry Golway, Washington’s General: Nathanael Greene and the Triumph of the American Revolution (Henry Holt, 2004), and Spencer Tucker, Rise and Fight Again: The Life of Nathanael Greene (Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2009) nicely cover the career of one of Washington’s most competent and effective officers. Other Continental Army officers that have found biographers include: Don Higginbotham, Daniel Morgan (University of North Carolina Press, 1961); Paul David Nelson, Anthony Wayne: Soldier of the Early Republic (Indiana University Press, 1985); Hal T. Shelton, General Richard Montgomery and the American Revolution: From Redcoat to Rebel (New York University Press, 1993); Don R. Gerlach, Proud Patriot: Philip Schuyler and the War of Independence, 1775-1783 (Syracuse University Press, 1987); Harry M. Ward, Major General Adam Stephen and the Cause of American Liberty (University Press of Virginia, 1989) and General William Maxwell and the New Jersey Continentals (Greenwood Press, 1997); Willard Sterne Randall, Ethan Allen: His Life and Times (W.W. Norton, 2011); William Nester, George Rogers Clark: “I Glory in War” (University of Oklahoma Press, 2012); Mark Puls, Henry Knox: Visionary General of the American Revolution (Palgrave MacMillan, 2008); Charles E. Bennett and Donald R. Lennon, A Quest for Glory: Major General Robert Howe and the American Revolution (University of North
Carolina Press, 1991); Jim Piecuch and John Beakes, Cool Deliberate Courage: John Eager Howard in the American Revolution (Nautical & Aviation, 2009); and David B. Mattern, Benjamin Lincoln and the American Revolution (University of South Carolina Press, 1995). Although not strictly a biography, Charles Royster's Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution (Knopf, 1981) is superb and timeless. Studies of British commanders remain sparse but solid biographies include: John R. Alden, General Gage in America (Louisiana State University Press, 1948); Ira D. Gruber, The Howe Brothers (University of North Carolina Press, 1972); William B. Willcox, Portrait of a General: Sir Henry Clinton in the War of Independence (Knopf, 1962); and Richard J. Hargrove, Jr., General John Burgoyne (University of Delaware Press, 1983). The best treatment of one of the most important British generals remains Franklin and Mary Wickwire, Cornwallis: The American Adventure (Houghton Mifflin, 1970). The two major armies in the war have also received much attention. Indispensable for understanding the Continental Army are Charles Royster, A Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army and American Character (University of North Carolina Press, 1979). For more detailed information on the army, consult Robert K. Wright, Jr., The Continental Army (Government Printing Office, 1983). For Washington’s mounted arm, see Jim Piecuch, ed., Cavalry in the American Revolution (Westholme, 2012). Charles Patrick Neimeyer, America Goes to War: A Social History of the Continental Army (New York University Press, 1996) examines soldier motivations and the composition of the ranks. Caroline Cox, A Proper Sense of Honor: Service and Sacrifice in George Washington’s Army (University of North Carolina Press,
- examines the hierarchical social organization of the Continental Army and how it became an engine for social mobility. The influence of local and individual interests on why some
Studies on the British Army in include Sylvia R. Frey’s collective social history of The British Soldier in America (University of Texas Press, 1981), and the more recent With Zeal and Bayonets Only: The British Army on Campaign in North America, 1775-1783 (University of Oklahoma Press, 2008) by Matthew H. Spring. For general works on Americans who remained faithful to the Crown, see Robert McCluer Calhoon, The Loyalists in Revolutionary America (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1965); Paul H. Smith, Loyalists and Redcoats (University of North Carolina Press, 1964); Thomas B. Allen, Tories: Fighting for the King in America’s First Civil War (Harper, 2010). Maya Jasanoff’s excellent Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World (Knopf, 2011) reveals the price paid for loyalty after the British defeat. For more focused studies, see Edward J. Cashin, Jr., The King’s Ranger: Thomas Brown and the American Revolution on the Southern Frontier (University of Georgia Press, 1989); Philip Ranlet, The New York Loyalists (University of Tennessee Press, 1986); Robert S. Lambert, South Carolina Loyalists in the American Revolution (University of South Carolina Press, 1987); Ruma Chopra, Unnatural Rebellion: Loyalists in New York City During the American Revolution (University of Virginia Press, 2011); and Anne M. Ousterhout, A State Divided: Opposition in Pennsylvania to the American Revolution (Greenwood, 1987), which argues that local problems, not an abiding emotional-ideological commitment to the Mother Country, often prompted an individual to support England over the Patriots. In Pennsylvania and elsewhere the Loyalists' nemesis was the Patriots' militia, a subject that Steven Rosswurm investigated in his case study of an urban militia, Arms, Country, and Class: The Philadelphia Militia and the "Lower Sort" during the American Revolution (Rutgers University Press, 1987). Also of interest is Joseph Seymour, The Pennsylvania Associators, 1747-1777 (Westholme Publishing, 2012)
Both sides utilized the services of foreign soldiers and officers. For treatments of those who fought with the Americans, see especially Lee Kennett, The French Forces in America (Greenwood, 1977); David A. Clary, Adopted Son: Washington, Lafayette, and the Friendship that Saved the Revolution (Bantam, 2007); Harlow Giles Unger, Lafayette (Wiley, 2002); Francis C. Kajencki, Casimir Pulaski: Cavalry Commander of the American Revolution (Southwest Palonia Press, 2001); and Alex Storozynski, The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution (St. Martin's Griffin, 2010). Rodney Atwood, The Hessians: Mercenaries from Hessen-Kassel in the American Revolution (Cambridge University Press, 1990) details the experiences of the British Crown’s soldiers-for-hire. Both sides also dealt with enemy prisoners. Far more numerous are works on American POWs, including Larry G. Bowman, Captive Americans: Prisoners During the American Revolution (Ohio University Press, 1976); Edwin G. Burrows, Forgotten Patriots: The Untold Story of American Prisoners During the Revolutionary War (BasicBooks, 2008); Carl P. Borick, Relieve Us of This Burthen: American Prisoners of War in the Revolutionary South, 1780-1782 (University of South Carolina Press, 2012); Francis D.Cogliano, American Maritime Prisoners in the Revolutionary War: The Captivity of William Russell (Naval Institute Press, 2001); and Sheldon S. Cohen , Yankee Sailors in British Gaols: Prisoners of War at Forton and Mill, 1777-1783 (University of Delaware Press, 1995). For the British experience, see Richard Sampson, Escape in America: The British Convention Prisoners, 1777-1783 (Picton Publishers, 1995). For general treatments of the war at sea, four books should suffice: Nathan Miller, Sea of Glory: A Naval History of the American Revolution (Naval Institute Press, 1992); William M. Fowler, Jr., Rebels Under Sail (Scribner, 1976); John A. Tilley, The British Navy and the American Revolution (University of South Carolina Press, 1987); and David Syrett, The Royal
the Revolution (Oxford University Press, 1993) by M. Thomas Hatley examines southern Indian- colonial relations during that tense period. For titles focused on campaigns against Indians, see William R. Nester, George Rogers Clark: “I Glory in War” (University of Oklahoma Press, 2012); Max L. Mintz, Seeds of Empire: The American Revolutionary Conquest of the Iroquois (New York University Press, 1999); and Joseph R. Fischer, A Well-Executed Failure: The Sullivan Campaign Against the Iroquois, July-September, 1779 (University of South Carolina Press, 1997). Excellent starting points for African American wartime experiences are Benjamin Quarles’ classic The Negro in the American Revolution (University of North Carolina Press, 1996 [1961]) and Sylvia R. Frey, Water from the Rock: Black Resistance in a Revolutionary Age (Princeton University Press, 1991). See also Alan Gilbert, Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence (University of Chicago Press, 2012). Carol Berkin, Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America’s Independence (Knopf,
- is the best general summary of this topic while Alfred F. Young, Masquerade: The Life and Times of Deborah Sampson, Continental Soldier (Knopf, 2004) reveals that not all women remained at home to fight the war. Other works that provide compelling insights into women and the war are Holly A. Mayer, Belonging to the Army: Camp Follower and Community during the American Revolution (University of South Carolina Press, 2009) and Nancy K. Loane, Following the Drum: Women at the Valley Forge Encampment (Potomac Books, 2009). Books on major campaigns and battles of the War for Independence are plentiful and good. For an overall view, see W J. Wood, Battles of the Revolutionary War, 1775- (DeCapo, 2003 [1990]), presents ten studies ranging from famous battles such as Bunker Hill and Saratoga to lesser known engagements such as Oriskany and Cowpens. The war in the North
has attracted its share of attention. For the early engagements, see Thomas Desjardin, Through a Howling Wilderness: Benedict Arnold’s March to Quebec, 1775 (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2007); Paul Lockhart, The Whites of Their Eyes: Bunker Hill, the First America Army, and the Emergence of George Washington (Harper, 2011) and 1776 (Simon & Schuster, 2005) by David McCullough, which is a highly-readable, popular account of that pivotal year of the war. See also John J. Gallagher, The Battle of Brooklyn, 1776 (DeCapo, 1995) and Barnet Schecter, The Battle of New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution (Walker & Company, 2002). William M. Dwyer describes two of Washington's most famous battles in The Day is Ours! November 1776-January 1777: An Inside View of the Battles of Trenton and Princeton (Viking. 1983). David Hackett Fisher, Washington’s Crossing (Oxford University Press, 2004) also provides a fascinating and well-written portrayal of the darkest hour of the Patriot cause and the improbable victories at Trenton and Princeton that turned it around. He also provides an excellent analysis of the low-intensity “Forage War” in the winter of 1777 that prevented the British from controlling the New Jersey countryside and procuring much-needed provisions for the upcoming spring campaign. The major British effort in 1777 is detailed in Stephen R. Taafe, The Philadelphia Campaign, 1777-1778 (University Press of Kansas, 2003). For a new look at the Continental Army’s famous winter encampment that revises previously held interpretations, especially on the role of Baron von Steuben, see Wayne K. Bodle, The Valley Forge Winter: Civilians and Soldiers in War (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2002). John Buchanan, The Road to Valley Forge: How Washington Built the Army That Won the Revolution (Wiley, 2004) and Paul Lockhart, The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army (Smithsonian, 2008) show how that long, brutal winter of 1777-78 had a decided silver lining for the American cause. Another critical American victory in the North is
Carolina and the American Revolution: A Battlefield History (University of South Carolina Press, 2002). John Buchanan, The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas (Wiley & Sons, 1997) is a fine overview of the Southern campaign and Lawrence E. Babits and Joshua B. Howard, Long, Obstinate, and Bloody: The Battle of Guilford Courthouse (University of North Carolina Press, 2009) is an excellent account of one of campaign’s important engagements. Twin victories for the Patriot cause are depicted in Melissa A. Walker, The Battles of Kings Mountain and Cowpens: The American Revolution in the Southern Backcountry (Routledge, 2012). These two battles are more deeply analyzed in J. David Damerson, King’s Mountain: The Defeat of the Loyalists, October 7, 1780 (DeCapo, 2003) and Lawrence E. Babits, A Devil of a Whipping: The Battle of Cowpens (University of North Carolina Press, 1998). For a dispassionate assessment of the most notorious British officer in the theater consult Anthony J. Scotti, Jr., Brutal Virtue: The Myth and Reality of Banastre Tarleton (Heritage Books, 2002). Three studies examine the British defeat in Virginia: Burke Davis, The Campaign That Won America: The Story of Yorktown (Dial, 1970); Richard M. Ketchum, Victory at Yorktown: The Campaign That Won the Revolution (Henry Holt, 2004); and Jerome A. Greene, The Guns of Independence: The Siege of Yorktown, 1781 (SavasBeatie, 2005). Finally, Howard H. Peckham, ed., gives the stark figures of The Toll of Independence: Engagements & Battle Casualties of the American Revolution (University of Chicago Press, 1974). Diseases of all kinds exacted a horrible toll in the war and had a dramatic impact on military operations, an issue explored in Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775- 1782 (Hill & Wang, 2002) by Elizabeth A. Fenn. Guerrilla warfare in the American Revolution remains a topic of interest. The Partisan War: The South Carolina Campaign of1780-1782 (University of South Carolina Press, 1970) by
Russell F. Weigley describes the low intensity conflict in the South and Scott D. Aiken examines The Swamp Fox: Lessons in Leadership from the Partisan Campaigns of Francis Marion (Naval Institute Press, 2012).The low-intensity conflict in the North remains less studied, though the notable exception is Mark Kwasny, Washington’s Partisan War, 1775-1783 (Kent State University Press, 1998), which shows that though Washington often complained about unreliability of state militiamen, these units became invaluable assets operating against the British in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. In addition to the British, civilians on the homefront had to deal with roving bands of vicious criminals, an ordeal described by Harry M. Ward in Between the Lines: Banditti of the American Revolution (Praeger, 2002). Wartime diplomacy can be pursued in Samuel Flagg Bemis, The Diplomacy of the American Revolution (Hesperides, 2008 [1957]) and Richard B. Morris, The Peacemakers (Harper & Row, 1965). For more recent treatments, see Jonathan R. Dull, A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution (Yale University Press, 1985), which is an excellent discussion of that important topic, and Ronald Hoffman and Peter J. Albert, eds., Peace and the Peacemakers: The Treaty of 1783 (University Press of Virginia, 1986). After their joyous homecoming, former Continental soldiers also faced perilous times in the postwar era and sought help from the new American government, a story well-told in John P. Reach, Suffering Soldiers: Revolutionary War Veterans, Moral Sentiment, and Political Culture in the Early Republic (University of Massachusetts Press, 1999). Sarah J. Purcell shows how the quasi-official military memory of the Revolution was used to quash dissent in the new Republic in Sealed with Blood: War, Sacrifice, and Memory in Revolutionary America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002).
