Volume 13. This thirteenth and final volume of the series devoted to the papers of General Nathanael Greene includes correspondence to and from Greene from the end of the Revolutionary War up to his death in June 1786. It concludes with an epilogue and an addendum of forty-six documents that have come to light since the volumes in which they would have appeared have been published.
These volumes, published in conjunction with the Rhode Island Historical Society, represent the result of an exhaustive search for documents relating to the life and career of Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene. The papers--letters and documents received by Greene as well as those sent by him--are carefully edited and fully annotated. The editors reproduce many items in full but abstract papers that are of lesser significance. Greene, who served as quartermaster general of the army and later as commander of the forces fighting in the southern theater, is generally considered the ablest of Washington's generals. His papers are a vital source of information on the war itself as well as on the man.
The seventh volume of the Papers of Nathanael Greene documents a crucial period of the American Revolution in the South. In the first months of 1781, Nathanael Greene, who had taken command of the Southern Army only weeks before, initiated the campaign that would ultimately free the South from British occupation. These months saw the pivotal engagement at Cowpens, the 'Race to the Dan'--in which Greene's army marched the breadth of North Carolina with the British in close pursuit--and the climactic battle of Guilford Court House. In March 1781, Greene decided to break off his pursuit of Lord Cornwallis's force in North Carolina and instead march into South Carolina to challenge British control there. This decision, among others made during this critical period, established Greene's reputation as a brilliant military strategist. The documents in this volume provide new insight into how and why Greene chose as he did.
His name is carved in granite, his likeness cast in bronze, his legend as large as the role he played as America's first president. But before he was a commander-in-chief, George Washington was a general in a revolution that would decide the future of the people and land he called his own. If victorious, he would gain immortality. If defeated, he would find his neck in a hangman's noose. Washington knew the sting of defeat?at Brandywine, at Germantown?yet this unwavering leadership and his vision for a new and independent nation emboldened an army prepared to fight barefoot if necessary to win that independence. Wrote an officer after the Battle of Princeton: "I saw him brave all the dangers of the field and his important life hanging as it were by a single hair with a thousand deaths flying around him." Among America's pantheon of Founding Fathers, one man?to this day?stands out. Author Paul Vickery tracks the unlikely rise of Washington, a man whose stature in command of a young army became prelude to a presidency. As Vickery writes, "He learned to become the father of our country by first being the father of our military."
As one of the Patriot leaders in the Carolinas, the partisan campaign conducted by Brigadier General Francis Marion and his irregular force during the American Revolution prevented South Carolina from completely succumbing to British control during the period between the capture of Charleston in May 1780 and the start of Major General Nathanael Greene’s campaign to recover the Southern Colonies in December 1780. During substantial segments of this period he alone held eastern South Carolina from the British and became known as “The Swamp Fox” for his exploits and elusiveness in harassing the British with his guerilla tactics. Upon the arrival of Greene’s Continental Army of the Southern Department, Marion’s forces then reverted in part to an important supporting role in South Carolina for the duration of the war. He later assisted in the establishment of the authority of the State of South Carolina and contributed to its post-conflict termination. If General Marion had not taken action during the American Revolution, there is a good possibility that eastern South Carolina would have succumbed to British intent. That, coupled with the British occupation of Charleston, may have provided the British with the requisite momentum needed to conquer the South. Thankfully, General Marion’s call to action both militarily and politically prevented such momentum from existing. The multifaceted aspect of the American Revolution serves as an excellent case study for the conflicts of the twenty-first century: joint and combined operations, civil war, insurgency/counterinsurgency, global superpowers, civil-military relations, this conflict’s got it all! Many of Marion’s partisan actions were forerunners of today’s tactics, showing his great innovativeness and foresight as a military leader. His incessant activities diverted British and Loyalist forces, inflicted British and Loyalist casualties, supported operations of the Continental Army during its Southern Campaign, and sustained the American Revolution in South Carolina. He was extremely effective across the range of military operations, from guerilla warfare to storming forts. He was equally inept in what today would be considered information operations and even participating in the linear tactics of the day in pitched battles. Such similarity makes Marion’s partisan campaign worth study by current military and political leaders. Aiken’s portrayal of Brigadier General Marion’s partisan actions describes the forerunners of tactics common of today’s global security environment, tactics used by, and against, United States forces.
Colonel Moses Hazen’s 2nd Canadian Regiment was one of the first “national” regiments in the American army. Created by the Continental Congress, it drew members from Canada, eleven states, and foreign forces. “Congress’s Own” was among the most culturally, ethnically, and regionally diverse of the Continental Army’s regiments—a distinction that makes it an apt reflection of the union that was struggling to create a nation. The 2nd Canadian, like the larger army, represented and pushed the transition from a colonial, continental alliance to a national association. The problems the regiment raised and encountered underscored the complications of managing a confederation of states and troops. In this enterprising study of an intriguing and at times “infernal” regiment, Holly A. Mayer marshals personal and official accounts—from the letters and journals of Continentals and congressmen to the pension applications of veterans and their widows—to reveal what the personal passions, hardships, and accommodations of the 2nd Canadian can tell us about the greater military and civil dynamics of the American Revolution. Congress’s Own follows congressmen, commanders, and soldiers through the Revolutionary War as the regiment’s story shifts from tents and trenches to the halls of power and back. Interweaving insights from borderlands and community studies with military history, Mayer tracks key battles and traces debates that raged within the Revolution’s military and political borderlands wherein subjects became rebels, soldiers, and citizens. Her book offers fresh, vivid accounts of the Revolution that disclose how “Congress’s Own” regiment embodied the dreams, diversity, and divisions within and between the Continental Army, Congress, and the emergent union of states during the War for American Independence.
Essays that explore the growing field of conflict archaeology Within the last twenty years, the archaeology of conflict has emerged as a valuable subdiscipline within anthropology, contributing greatly to our knowledge and understanding of human conflict on a global scale. Although archaeologists have clearly demonstrated their utility in the study of large-scale battles and sites of conventional warfare, such as camps and forts, conflicts involving asymmetric, guerilla, or irregular warfare are largely missing from the historical record. Partisans, Guerillas, and Irregulars: Historical Archaeology of Asymmetric Warfare presents recent examples of how historical archaeology can contribute to a better understanding of asymmetric warfare. The volume introduces readers to this growing study and to its historic importance. Contributors illustrate how the wide range of traditional and new methods and techniques of historiography and archaeology can be applied to expose critical actions, sacrifices, and accomplishments of competing groups representing opposing philosophies and ways of life, which are otherwise lost in time. The case studies offered cover significant events in American and world history, including the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, Indian wars in the Southeast and Southwest, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Prohibition, and World War II. All such examples used here took place at a local or regional level, and several were singular events within a much larger and more complex historic movement. While retained in local memory or tradition, and despite their potential importance, they are poorly, and incompletely addressed in the historic record. Furthermore, these conflicts took place between groups of significantly different cultural and military traditions and capabilities, most taking on a “David vs. Goliath” character, further shaping the definition of asymmetric warfare.
