Germantown

Germantown
Author: Michael C. Harris
Publisher: Savas Beatie
Total Pages: 506
Release: 2020-07-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 161121520X

The award–winning author of Brandywine examines a pivotal but overlooked battle of the American Revolution’s Philadelphia Campaign. Today, Germantown is a busy Philadelphia neighborhood. On October 4, 1777, it was a small village on the outskirts of the colonial capital—and the site of one of the American Revolution’s largest battles. Now Michael C. Harris sheds new light on this important action with a captivating historical study. After defeating Washington’s rebel army in the Battle of Brandywine, General Sir William Howe took Philadelphia. But Washington soon returned, launching a surprise attack on the British garrison at Germantown. The recapture of the colonial capital seemed within Washington’s grasp until poor decisions by the American high command led to a clear British victory. With original archival research and a deep knowledge of the terrain, Harris merges the strategic, political, and tactical history of this complex operation into a single compelling account. Complete with original maps, illustrations, and modern photos, and told largely through the words of those who fought there, Germantown is a major contribution to American Revolutionary studies.

Prisoners of Congress

Prisoners of Congress
Author: Norman E. Donoghue II
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2023-06-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 027109608X

In 1777, Congress labeled Quakers who would not take up arms in support of the War of Independence as “the most Dangerous Enemies America knows” and ordered Pennsylvania and Delaware to apprehend them. In response, Keystone State officials sent twenty men—seventeen of whom were Quakers—into exile, banishing them to Virginia, where they were held for a year. Prisoners of Congress reconstructs this moment in American history through the experiences of four families: the Drinkers, the Fishers, the Pembertons, and the Gilpins. Identifying them as the new nation’s first political prisoners, Norman E. Donoghue II relates how the Quakers, once the preeminent power in Pennsylvania and an integral constituency of the colonies and early republic, came to be reviled by patriots who saw refusal to fight the English as borderline sedition. Surprising, vital, and vividly told, this narrative of political and literal warfare waged by the United States against a pacifist religious group during the Revolutionary War era sheds new light on an essential aspect of American history. It will appeal to anyone interested in learning more about the nation’s founding.

Feeding Washington's Army

Feeding Washington's Army
Author: Ricardo A. Herrera
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2022-03-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1469667320

In this major new history of the Continental Army's Grand Forage of 1778, award-winning military historian Ricardo A. Herrera uncovers what daily life was like for soldiers during the darkest and coldest days of the American Revolution: the Valley Forge winter. Here, the army launched its largest and riskiest operation—not a bloody battle against British forces but a campaign to feed itself and prevent starvation or dispersal during the long encampment. Herrera brings to light the army's herculean efforts to feed itself, support local and Continental governments, and challenge the British Army. Highlighting the missteps and triumphs of both General George Washington and his officers as well as ordinary soldiers, sailors, and militiamen, Feeding Washington's Army moves far beyond oft-told, heroic, and mythical tales of Valley Forge and digs deeply into its daily reality, revealing how close the Continental Army came to succumbing to starvation and how strong and resourceful its soldiers and leaders actually were.

Valley Forge Winter

Valley Forge Winter
Author: Wayne Bodle
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2010-11-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780271045467

Refuting commonly held myths about the American Revolution, this comprehensive history of the colonial army's winter encampment of 1777-1778 reveals the events that occurred both inside and outside the camp boundaries, discussing interactions between the soldiers and local civilians, divisions within the army, the political and military strategies of George Washington, and their implications in terms of the future of the United States. Reprint.

A Proper Sense of Honor

A Proper Sense of Honor
Author: Caroline Cox
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2004
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780807828847

Examines the gap that existed in living and working conditions between soldiers and officers in the Continental Army, noting that even as the army reinforced social hierarchy, soldiers and officers were united in an army that fostered social mobility.

The Archaeology of Interdependence

The Archaeology of Interdependence
Author: Douglas C Comer
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 114
Release: 2013-01-04
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 146146028X

The publication explores the ways in which archaeological research can inform us about the manner and motives of European involvement in the development of a sovereign United States. The five chapters focus on different archaeological sites (four terrestrial sites) and each consider the special ways in which archaeology can contribute to our understanding of the cultural dynamics that set the historic course of events in motion that culminated in United States sovereignty. An introduction and conclusion examine how the material culture that is the central focus of archaeological research should be preserved, managed, and interpreted. While much is known through historical documents, this volume seeks to enrich, modify, and challenge the written record by attention to the archaeological remains. The scale of analysis ranges from the artifact through the site to the landscape. Chapters address the changing relationships between specific European countries and the United States as indicated by the presence of artifacts or types of artifacts (e.g., weapons, domestic, architectural) made or traded by other countries during different time periods; an analysis of “space syntax” seen at battlefields or fortifications; the importance of conceptually reconstructing terrain crossed by troops or at battlefields. The Archaeology of Interdependence: European Involvement in the Development of a Sovereign United States presents innovative investigations of what material culture at all scales might tell us about the political, economic, or ideological relationships among cultures that corroborates, contradicts, or enriches the historic record.