This is the story of Colonel John Haslet, an Irish immigrant to the American colonies who made the ultimate sacrifice while fighting for his adopted country. During this pivotal moment in America’s war for independence against Great Britain, a newborn nation struggled to survive against a militarily superior force deployed by a mighty empire. This is also a chronicle of the inspirational leadership and service of the Delaware Regiment that Haslet formed and guided, told as part of a more wide-ranging narrative about the 1776 campaign of Washington’s army. That battered but resilient force faced the prospect of total defeat in the winter of 1776–1777 as the quest for American independence hung in the balance.
This book brings the drama of the American Revolution to the reader in a more relatable life, that of John Haslet, an Irish immigrant who became a husband, father, community leader, passionate advocate of the Patriot Cause, and a war hero.
As few books regarding American history have achieved, Jim Stempel’s The Enemy Harassed brings a previously neglected period of the American Revolution to life. In late December 1776, the American War of Independence appeared to be on its last legs. General George Washington’s continental forces had been reduced to a shadow of their former strength, the British Army had chased them across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania, and enlistments for many of the rank and file would be up by month’s end. Desperate times call for desperate measures, however, and George Washington responded to this crisis with astonishing audacity. On Christmas night 1776, he recrossed the Delaware as a nor’easter churned up the coast, burying his small detachment under howling sheets of snow and ice. Undaunted, they attacked a Hessian brigade at Trenton, New Jersey, taking the German auxiliaries by complete surprise. Then, only three days later, Washington struck again, crossing the Delaware, slipping away from the British at Trenton, and attacking the Redcoats at Princeton—to their utter astonishment. The British, now back on their heels, retreated toward New Brunswick as Washington’s reinvigorated force followed them north into Jersey. Over the next eight months, Washington’s continentals and the state militias of New Jersey would go head-to-head with the British in a multitude of small-scale actions and large-scale battles, eventually forcing the British to flea New Jersey by sea. In this captivating narrative of the American War of Independence, author Jim Stempel brings to life one of the most violent, courageous, yet virtually forgotten periods of the Revolutionary War. Sure to enthrall professional historians and book lovers of all stripes, The Enemy Harassed is scholarly history presented in an accessible style anyone can enjoy.
This book features a panorama of the lives of selected personalities, whose roots had origin in the Czech lands and who, in the US, reached extraordinary success and who, with their activities, substantially influenced the growth and development of their new homeland. It is a saga of plain, as well as powerful, people whose influence and importance often exceeded the borders of the US. A great portion of included individuals may be unknown to readers since it concerns persons whose Czech origin was usually not known. The book covers the total period from the times of the discovery of New World to the end of the twentieth century. During the selection, little concern was given to nationalistic or ethnographic criteria, the only prerequisite was that the respected individuals were either born on the territory of the Czech lands or were descendants of emigrants from the Czech lands. The image on the front cover is a portrait of Augustine Herman, Lord of Bohemia Manor, the first documented Czech immigrant in the United States. The portrait comes from his famous Map of Maryland and Virginia, dated 1670. The colorful story of his life would be unbelievable if made into a movie. Pioneer, merchant, explorer, surveyor, map maker, patriot, rebel, diplomat, and finally Lord! Read more about him in the book.
When the Continental Congress decided to declare independence from the British empire in 1776, ten percent of the population of their fledgling country were from Ireland. By 1790, close to 500,000 Irish citizens had immigrated to America. They were was very active in the American Revolution, both on the battlefields and off, and yet their stories are not well known. The important contributions of the Irish on military, political, and economic levels have been long overlooked and ignored by generations of historians. However, new evidence has revealed that Washington’s Continental Army consisted of a far larger percentage of Irish soldiers than previously thought—between 40 and 50 percent—who fought during some of the most important battles of the American Revolution. Romanticized versions of this historical period tend to focus on the upper class figures that had the biggest roles in America’s struggle for liberty. But these adaptations neglect the impact of European and Irish ideals as well as citizens on the formation of the revolution. Irish contributors such as John Barry, the colonies’ foremost naval officer; Henry Knox, an artillery officer and future Secretary of War; Richard Montgomery, America’s first war hero and martyr; and Charles Thomson, a radical organizer and Secretary to the Continental Congress were all instrumental in carrying out the vision for a free country. Without their timely and disproportionate assistance, America almost certainly would have lost the desperate fight for its existence. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
