Product Description

This second in a monumental two-volume set on the 1777 campaign of the American Revolution follows the saga from Cornwallis' triumphal march of his British and Hessian troops into Philadelphia in late September to Washington's movement of the weary Continental forces to camp at Valley Forge in December. Based on soldiers' and civilians' vivid accounts - many uncovered for the first time from private collections - the story of the compelling fight for independence reaches its most desperate moments. Defeated at Brandywine and out-manoeuvred near Valley Forge, the Continental forces were worn out and ill equipped. Yet on October 4, Washington would embark on his first major offensive of the war - a surprise attack at dawn on Howe's main camp at Germantown. Again defeated, though narrowly this time, the Continentals gained valuable experience and new confidence in the possibility of victory. The seige of the Delaware River forts - one of the bloodiest and prolonged battles of the war - ended with British success in mid-November, but still Howe failed to end the war. In his last American offensive before his resignation took effect, Howe tried unsuccessfully to draw Washington from the fortified hills of Whitemarsh. Now, as the Continental forces moved to Valley Forge for the winter, they would have to face their greatest challenge - survival.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #433455 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 372 pages

About the Author
Thomas J. McGuire is the author of The Philadelphia Campaign, Volume I: Brandywine and the Fall of Philadelphia (0-8117-0178-6) and Battle of Paoli (0-8117-3337-8). He lives near Paoli, Pennsylvania.

Customer Reviews

The Philadelphia Campaign: Germantown and the Road to Valley Forge (Volume II).
This book is the second in a two part history of the Philadelphia Campaign of 1777. Like the first book the author allows the participants to do most of the speaking in their own voices. He also has chosen to use copies of their maps rather then updated accurate historian produced maps. This helps the reader to view the situations as the authors experienced them. Unfortunately if you are not versed in the events this coupled with the multiple approaches and views of a single event can cause the reader to get confused. This may put some readers off, but it must be remembered that combat like many other stressful situations has a way of creating a narrow tunnel vision in the participants. This book allows the reader to share that point of view which is usually sanitized by historians trying to create a single authoritative narrative.

This book is an excellent addition to a very pivotal year in the American Revolution. I was surprised at how very close the Americans actually came to defeating the bulk of the British forces in America in 1777. Most of us are quite familiar with the result of the Battles at Saratoga, NY, but how many are familiar with the siege of Ft. Mifflin? I had heard of this battle and overviewed the site but what I did not fully understand was how important it was for the British to eliminate this American strongpoint. This strongpoint was essentially preventing re-supply of the entire British Army which was occupying Philadelphia and which was starving. They had won at Brandywine and won again at Germantown but they were essentially cut off in Philadelphia with Washington constricting the bag around them. If Ft. Mifflin had held out it is probable that Howe would have had to conduct a fighting retreat with a starving army back to his fleet.

I was also struck by the descriptions of the Battle of Germantown and how some things in the military never change through time and culture. Yet the reader is also given glimpses into how very different war and armies were back then, especially because of the social constructs of the time. Soldiering though is an eternal sameness going back to the ancients and forward to the present. These soldiers on both sides were very hard men and their stamina in the field and in marching would humble any modern army today. That they endured the lack of logistics and still managed to march and fight as they did with the pluck and spirit they had continues to be the untold story of the American Revolution. It is no wonder that Civil War soldiers held the Continentals up as the standard they were trying to match.

I was also continually struck by how they did fight these battles. Not so much on the operational or strategic level but at the tactical level. There was not as much standing shoulder to shoulder in straight lines and shooting it out as is too often portrayed. The dominance of a light infantry ethos especially among British troops will surprise many readers. They other great factor is the predominance of the bayonet as a weapon of decision. This was not the same British Army which would march against Napoleon though it is often portrayed as such.

The bibliography is excellent and will serve to foist many other titles onto my reading stack, in particular I have become interested in the writings of the Hessian Light Infantryman Johann Ewald. His observations seem quite adept given what he was experiencing.

Detailed Account of Historic Events
The book was a collection of letters with some analysis and commentary of the some events in 1777. The author is not skillful in interpreting or telling a story like David McCullough or David Hackett Fischer. The author included several good maps and pictures, which were helpful understanding some of the battles. More maps would have been great. The first hand descriptions of the Battles of Germantown, Brandywine, Paoli, Fort Mifflin, Red Bank, and Edge Hill were very interesting. A serious researcher or historian would love this book, but I think he could have focused more on some of the most interesting characters and wrote several books one for each battle.

Best Campaign History Available
If you have only limited space for Revolutionary War Campaigns this shOULD be in your library along with volume one on the PHILADELPHIA Campaign. its one of the best That is available and is marked by solid research and good writing. Many new manuscript sources were used. The author knows his subject matter intimately.