American War of Independence

[Ruy Horta]

Originally Posted by John Beaman

Reminds me of our own US Revolutionary War history myths: i.e., the Americans cleverly hid behind the rocks and trees and shot the British, who were foolishly in straight ranks and wearing bright red uniforms, to pieces. i.e., the old "militia rifleman" myth. When I ask these people that if that were the case, how did the British win all but 4 battles and it took us 8 years to get them to leave, the look on their non-plusses faces is worth it.

OT

But since you mention it, do any of you know of a good military history of the American War of Indepedence?

[Frank Olynyk]

Ruy,

I would suggest the volume by Don Higginbotham, in the MacMillan Wars of the United States series, The War of American Independence, published in 1971. 509 pages. Another useful book as a reference, is Mark M Boatner III's Encyclopedia of the American Revolution, publised by McKay in 1966; 1287 pages. There are probably more recent books, but I haven't seen a need to get something newer. Looks like quite reasonably priced copies of the Boatner can be found through addall.com; also the Higginbotham.

Frank.

[Six Nifty .50s]

Originally Posted by Ruy Horta

OT

But since you mention it, do any of you know of a good military history of the American War of Indepedence?

With any major war, or the Luftwaffe for that matter, I do not believe there is any one volume that gives adequate coverage.

Politics aside, you will also find confusion about the methods used on the battlefield. Essentially, there were two kinds of wars going at the same time: conventional land battles and guerrilla activity. Those fighting styles were distinctly different, and while the irregular forces certainly did "hide behind trees and rocks" whilst shooting at British troops, they never expected to defeat large conventional armies in set-piece battles.

Sometimes the colonists used a combination of guerrilla warfare and European style battle formations in the same engagement. The British response did not always follow a consistent pattern either. It's difficult to make generalizations but unfortunately that is usually the purpose of general histories.

[Ruy Horta]

Thanks for the tips, just ordered them at a fair price.

Later today I'll split these posts and move them to the OT section.

[John Beaman]

Ruy:

The listing of Boatner's book is a good one, but it is an encylopedia, not a narrative. It is, however, definitive. The others are also good. I'll check my collection, megre as it is. One problem is that little research has been done on new materials that have surfaced since our Bicentennial in the 1970s-80s. Some old myths need to be revisited.

Be careful with any general history of the war as they all tend to concentrate on action in the northern colonies. The war was not won there, but in the Southern colonies, 1780-81. Of the 4 decisive battles the Americans won in the war, 3 were in the South (Cowpens, Kings Mountain and Yorktown). A fourth one, a draw at Guilford Courthouse), caused Lord Cornwallis so many castualties that he gave up his plan to conquer the Southern colonies and moved to Virigina, and Yorktown. The rest is history, as they say.

[Ruy Horta]

Thanks all, the list as it stands now:

The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution
Middlekauff, Robert

The War of American Independence
Higginbotham, Don

Encyclopedia of the American Revolution
Boatner, Mark M

A couple of years ago I got:

A History of the American Revolution
Alden

Should get me ahead for the time being, must not forget my other areas of interest!