The American Revolution Round Table - Richmond does not endorse any of the books appearing below. We are simply presenting them as examples of what is currently available in print. If you have a book that you would like to have listed, please send all pertinent information to webmaster@arrt-richmond.org.
"The Blood Be Upon Your Head": Tarleton, Buford, and the Myth of Massacre, Jim Piecuch
SCAR is pleased to announce that we have published Jim Piecuch's new book “The Blood Be Upon Your Head”: Tarleton, Buford and the Myth of Massacre. The one-sided victory of British Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton’s British Legion over Col. Abraham Buford’s Virginia Continentals on May 29, 1780 solidified Tarleton's reputation as "the butcher" and "bloody Ban" in Patriots' minds and Tarleton as a war hero from the British point of view. As a revisionist historian, Piecuch studies the source documents and challenges the 227-year-old assumptions of Tarleton's intent, complicity and guilt in the slaughter of the Virginians that May afternoon in South Carolina. He also looks at Col. Buford's tactical command decisions and their contributions to “Buford’s Defeat.”
Three battlefield maps demonstrate the unit positions on the battlefield, now located by archaeologists just east of the monuments in Lancaster County, SC. The book also contains many of the eye-witness documents including excerpts of pension records, period newspaper accounts, and unit histories and the commanders’ biographies.
If you were at the Battle of the Waxhaws conference last February you witnessed the clash of crossed swords between authors Jim Piecuch and Scott Miskimon debating the presentation of this book’s thesis.
The book, a perfect bound paperback, contains 120 pages and 7 full color plates and battle maps. It is available for immediate shipment. Available now for book costs of $25.00 plus $5.00 shipping and handling. Please indicate if you would like your copy to be signed by the author, and send your check and preferred Post Office shipping address to:
Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution Press
P. O. Box 10
Lugoff, SC 29078-0010
Parker's Guide to the Revolutionary War in South Carolina, Jack Parker
Available from the Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution Press, PO Box 10, Lugoff, SC 290787-0010.
Duty, Honor, or Country: General George Weedon and the American Revolution, Harry M. Ward
This volume has been reprinted by the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center. The cost is about $15. Contact Nancy Guerin at 540-371-3037, ext. 126 for ordering details.
Book Wanted
Rob Pettus would like to borrow the book entitled Flight from Monticello by Michael Kranish. If someone has this in their library and would be willing to lend it to Rob he would be very grateful. Rob Pettus 690-0268
Invisible Ink: Spycraft of the American Revolution, John Nagy
John's book is now available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Ink-Spycraft-American-Revolution/dp/159416097X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261686217&sr=1-3 He will be our May speaker.
Going Down Hill: Legacies of the American Revolutionary War, Harry M. Ward, Academica Press LLC (November 2008).
This research monograph by a senior distinguished historian of the American Revolutionary War and its aftermath discusses the legacies of that conflict in a newer, darker context. That context being one of growing American imperial hubris, overreach and permanent war abroad as well as economic and social decay of American homeland. Dr Ward dismisses the notion of a wholly beneficial and positive revolutionary outcome and discusses the less admirable and tragic implications of a national war/civil war that drove many thousands of Americans from their country, destroyed numerous native American societies, enshrined human slavery in its constitution and has lead to several tragic and bloody existential crises in 19th and 20th century American history. The author is well aware of a prime rule of historiography---avoid as much as possible present mindedness. The rule, however, does not seem too applicable when writing about legacies. Because the whole spectrum of American history since the Revolutionary War comes under a purview that is broad, selective and cogently discussed with brilliant insights as well as forceful lessons for the present. Ward discusses the road we have traveled so that we may better understand where we are today and how we got there.
Long, Obstinate, and Bloody: The Battle of Guilford Courthouse, Lawrence E. Babits and Joshua B. Howard, The University of North Carolina Press (February 2009).
On 15 March 1781, the armies of Nathanael Greene and Lord Charles Cornwallis fought one of the bloodiest and most intense engagements of the American Revolution at the Guilford Courthouse in piedmont North Carolina. Although victorious, Cornwallis declared the conquest of the Carolinas impossible. He made the fateful decision to march into Virginia, eventually leading his army to the Yorktown surrender and clearing the way for American independence.
In the first book-length examination of the Guilford Courthouse engagement, Lawrence Babits and Joshua Howard—drawing from hundreds of previously underutilized pension documents, muster rolls, and personal accounts—piece together what really happened on the wooded plateau in what is today Greensboro, North Carolina. They painstakingly identify where individuals stood on the battlefield, when they were there, and what they could have seen, thus producing a bottom-up story of the engagement. The authors explain or discount several myths surrounding this battle while giving proper place to long-forgotten heroic actions. They elucidate the actions of the Continentals, British regulars, North Carolina and Virginia militiamen, and the role of American cavalry. Their detailed and comprehensive narrative extends into individual combatants' lives before and after the Revolution.
Saratoga: A Military History of the Decisive Campaign of the American Revolution, John F. Luzader, Savas Beatie (October 2008).
The months-long 1777 Saratoga campaign was one of the most decisive of the entire Revolutionary War. The crushing British defeat prompted France to recognize the American colonies as an independent nation, declare war on England, and commit money, ships, arms, and men to the rebellion. John Luzader's impressive Saratoga: A Military History of the Decisive Campaign of the American Revolution is the first all-encompassing objective account of these pivotal months in American history. Decades in the making, former National Park Service staff historian John Luzader's Saratoga combines strategic, political, and tactical history into a compelling portrait of this decisive campaign. His sweeping prose relies heavily upon original archival research and the author's personal expertise with the challenging terrain. Complete with stunning original maps and photos, Saratoga will take its place as one of the important and illuminating campaign studies ever written.
With Zeal and With Bayonets Only: The British Army on Campaign in North America, 1775-83 (Campaigns and Commanders), Matthew H. Spring, University of Oklahoma Press (December 2008).
This groundbreaking book offers a new analysis of the British Army during the "American rebellion" at both operational and tactical levels. Presenting fresh insights into the speed of British tactical movements, Spring discloses how the system for training the army prior to 1775 was overhauled and adapted to the peculiar conditions confronting it in North America.