Download or read book Historical Archaeology of the Revolutionary War Encampments of Washington s Army written by Cosimo A. Sgarlata and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2019-06-12 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents recent archaeological and ethnohistorical research on the encampments, trails, and support structures of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. These sites illuminate the daily lives of soldiers, officers, and camp followers away from the more well-known military campaigns and battles. The research featured here includes previously unpublished findings from the winter encampments at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, as well as work from sites in Redding, Connecticut, and Morristown, New Jersey. Topics range from excavations of a special dining cabin constructed for General George Washington to ballistic analysis of a target range established by General von Steuben. Contributors use experimental archaeology to learn how soldiers constructed their log hut quarters, and they reconstruct Rochambeau’s marching route through Connecticut on his way to help Washington defeat the British at Yorktown. They also describe the underrecognized roles of African descendants, Native peoples, and women who lived and worked at the camps. Showing how archaeology can contribute insights into the American Revolution beyond what historical records convey, this volume calls for protection of and further research into non-conflict sites that were crucial to this formative struggle in the history of the United States. Contributors: Cosimo Sgarlata | Joseph Balicki | Joseph R. Blondino | Douglas Campana | Wade P. Catts | Daniel Cruson | Mathew Grubel | Mary Harper | Diane Hassan | David G. Orr | Julia Steele | Laurie Weinstein

Download or read book The Historical Archaeology of Revolutionary War Encampments of Washington s Army written by Cosimo Sgarlata and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume presents archaeological and ethno-historic research concerning Washington's Army's encampments, trails, and support structures during the American Revolution. Important sites and preserves that the following chapters discuss include Valley Forge in Pennsylvania; Putnam Park and General Parson's Preserve in Redding, Connecticut; Morristown National Historic Park in New Jersey; and Rochambeau's marching trail through Connecticut. Topics pursued by contributors to the volume are the military discipline and training of soldiers; the routine activities of soldiers and officers; the special accomodations accommodations at George Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge; the layouts and organizations of encampments; the participation of African descendants, Native peoples, and women in the war; and the historic technology used by soldiers to construct their winter quarters.

Download or read book Surviving the Winters written by Steven Elliott and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2021-03-25 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: George Washington and his Continental Army braving the frigid winter at Valley Forge form an iconic image in the popular history of the American Revolution. Such winter camps, Steven Elliott tells us in Surviving the Winters, were also a critical factor in the waging and winning of the War of Independence. Exploring the inner workings of the Continental Army through the prism of its encampments, this book is the first to show how camp construction and administration played a crucial role in Patriot strategy during the war. As Elliott reminds us, Washington’s troops spent only a few days a year in combat. The rest of the time, especially in the winter months, they were engaged in a different sort of battle—against the elements, unfriendly terrain, disease, and hunger. Victory in that more sustained struggle depended on a mastery of camp construction, logistics, and health and hygiene—the components that Elliott considers in his environmental, administrative, and operational investigation of the winter encampments at Middlebrook, Morristown, West Point, New Windsor, and Valley Forge. Beyond the encampments’ basic function of sheltering soldiers, his study reveals their importance as a key component of Washington’s Fabian strategy: stationed on secure, mountainous terrain close to New York, the camps allowed the Continental commander-in-chief to monitor the enemy but avoid direct engagement, thus neutralizing a numerically superior opponent while husbanding his own strength. Documenting the growth of Washington and his subordinates as military administrators, Surviving the Winters offers a telling new perspective on the commander’s generalship during the Revolutionary War. At the same time, the book demonstrates that these winter encampments stand alongside more famous battlefields as sites where American independence was won.

Download or read book Putnam s Revolutionary War Winter Encampment written by Daniel Cruson and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Putnam State Park, Connecticut's first state park, was the site of Revolutionary War general Israel Putnam's last command. In the winter of 1778-79, three thousand troops of the Continental army built and lived in "the city," a winter encampment in the valleys of northern Redding. Historian Daniel Cruson describes in fascinating archaeological detail the construction of the camp and the soldiers' daily struggle to survive. Mutiny, execution, skirmishes and the heroism of Putnam himself are revealed in this compelling history. The story of Putnam State Park doesn't end when Continental troops marched out to engage the British; Cruson takes readers from the creation of the park itself to the present day.

Download or read book Supplying Washington s Army written by Erna Risch and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Engineers of Independence written by Paul K. Walker and published by The Minerva Group, Inc.. This book was released on 2002-08 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of documents, including many previously unpublished, details the role of the Army engineers in the American Revolution. Lacking trained military engineers, the Americans relied heavily on foreign officers, mostly from France, for sorely needed technical assistance. Native Americans joined the foreign engineer officers to plan and carry out offensive and defensive operations, direct the erection of fortifications, map vital terrain, and lay out encampments. During the war Congress created the Corps of Engineers with three companies of engineer troops as well as a separate geographer's department to assist the engineers with mapping. Both General George Washington and Major General Louis Lebéque Duportail, his third and longest serving Chief Engineer, recognized the disadvantages of relying on foreign powers to fill the Army's crucial need for engineers. America, they contended, must train its own engineers for the future. Accordingly, at the war's end, they suggested maintaining a peacetime engineering establishment and creating a military academy. However, Congress rejected the proposals, and the Corps of Engineers and its companies of sappers and miners mustered out of service. Eleven years passed before Congress authorized a new establishment, the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers.

Download or read book The Army Medical Department 1775 1818 written by Mary C. Gillett and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Appendices include laws and legislation concerning the Army Medical Department. Maps include those of territories and frontiers and Continental Army hospital locations. Illustrations are chiefly portraits.

Download or read book Valley Forge Winter written by Wayne Bodle and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2010-11-01 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Refuting commonly held myths about the American Revolution, this comprehensive history of the colonial army's winter encampment of 1777-1778 reveals the events that occurred both inside and outside the camp boundaries, discussing interactions between the soldiers and local civilians, divisions within the army, the political and military strategies of George Washington, and their implications in terms of the future of the United States. Reprint.

Download or read book George Washington s Westchester Gamble written by Richard Borkow and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2011-05-31 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A look at Westchester County’s place in the American Revolution and Washington’s plan to trick Cornwallis and march to Yorktown. During the summer of 1781, the armies of Generals Washington and Rochambeau were encamped in lower Westchester County at Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley, Hartsdale, Edgemont, and White Plains. It was a time of military deadlock and grim prospects for the allied Americans and French. Washington recognized that a decisive victory was needed, or America would never achieve independence. In August, he marched these soldiers to Virginia to face General Cornwallis and his redcoats. Washington risked all on this march. Its success required secrecy, and he prepared an elaborate deception to convince the British that Manhattan, not Virginia, was the target of the allied armies. Local historian Richard Borkow presents this exciting story of the Westchester encampment and Washington’s great gamble that saved the United States. Praise for George Washington’s Westchester Gamble “Borkow has done a first-rate job of telling the story of the American Revolution in Westchester County and putting dramatic events there in the context of the larger war--especially the decision to march to Yorktown.” —Thomas Fleming, author of The Perils of Peace “Just when it seemed that the subject of the American Revolution had been thoroughly explored, Richard Borkow has given us a fresh look at the war's culminating event—the 1781 march of French and American troops to Virginia.” —Joseph Wheelan, author of Jefferson’s War and Mr. Adams’s Last Crusade

Download or read book Surviving the Winters written by Steven Elliott and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2021-03-25 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: George Washington and his Continental Army braving the frigid winter at Valley Forge form an iconic image in the popular history of the American Revolution. Such winter camps, Steven Elliott tells us in Surviving the Winters, were also a critical factor in the waging and winning of the War of Independence. Exploring the inner workings of the Continental Army through the prism of its encampments, this book is the first to show how camp construction and administration played a crucial role in Patriot strategy during the war. As Elliott reminds us, Washington’s troops spent only a few days a year in combat. The rest of the time, especially in the winter months, they were engaged in a different sort of battle—against the elements, unfriendly terrain, disease, and hunger. Victory in that more sustained struggle depended on a mastery of camp construction, logistics, and health and hygiene—the components that Elliott considers in his environmental, administrative, and operational investigation of the winter encampments at Middlebrook, Morristown, West Point, New Windsor, and Valley Forge. Beyond the encampments’ basic function of sheltering soldiers, his study reveals their importance as a key component of Washington’s Fabian strategy: stationed on secure, mountainous terrain close to New York, the camps allowed the Continental commander-in-chief to monitor the enemy but avoid direct engagement, thus neutralizing a numerically superior opponent while husbanding his own strength. Documenting the growth of Washington and his subordinates as military administrators, Surviving the Winters offers a telling new perspective on the commander’s generalship during the Revolutionary War. At the same time, the book demonstrates that these winter encampments stand alongside more famous battlefields as sites where American independence was won.

Download or read book Fatal Sunday written by Mark Edward Lender and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2016-04-18 with total page 625 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historians have long considered the Battle of Monmouth one of the most complicated engagements of the American Revolution. Fought on Sunday, June 28, 1778, Monmouth was critical to the success of the Revolution. It also marked a decisive turning point in the military career of George Washington. Without the victory at Monmouth Courthouse, Washington's critics might well have marshaled the political strength to replace him as the American commander-in-chief. Authors Mark Edward Lender and Garry Wheeler Stone argue that in political terms, the Battle of Monmouth constituted a pivotal moment in the War for Independence. Viewing the political and military aspects of the campaign as inextricably entwined, this book offers a fresh perspective on Washington’s role in it. Drawing on a wide range of historical sources—many never before used, including archaeological evidence—Lender and Stone disentangle the true story of Monmouth and provide the most complete and accurate account of the battle, including both American and British perspectives. In the course of their account it becomes evident that criticism of Washington’s performance in command was considerably broader and deeper than previously acknowledged. In light of long-standing practical and ideological questions about his vision for the Continental Army and his ability to win the war, the outcome at Monmouth—a hard-fought tactical draw—was politically insufficient for Washington. Lender and Stone show how the general’s partisans, determined that the battle for public opinion would be won in his favor, engineered a propaganda victory for their chief that involved the spectacular court-martial of Major General Charles Lee, the second-ranking officer of the Continental Army. Replete with poignant anecdotes, folkloric incidents, and stories of heroism and combat brutality; filled with behind-the-scenes action and intrigue; and teeming with characters from all walks of life, Fatal Sunday gives us the definitive view of the fateful Battle of Monmouth.

Download or read book The Continental Army written by Robert K. Wright and published by Washington, D.C. : Center of Military History, United States Army. This book was released on 1983 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A narrative analysis of the complex evolution of the Continental Army, with the lineages of the 177 individual units that comprised the Army, and fourteen charts depicting regimental organization.

Download or read book Huts and History written by Clarence R. Geier and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American Civil War soldier, confined much of the time to his camp, suffered from boredom and sickness. Encampment was not only tedious but detrimental to his health; far more soldiers died of diseases from sharing close quarters with their comrades than from wounds on the battlefield. Until now, archaeologists have concentrated their study on the battle sites and overlooked the importance of the camps. This edited collection is the first dedicated to the archaeology of Civil War encampments. The authors contend that intensive study to interpret and preserve these sites will help to ensure their protection as well as expand our understanding of the 19th-century soldier's life. Whether they mobilized tens of thousands of men for training or taught maneuvers to smaller groups, encampments are significant in several ways: as "cultural landscapes" characterized by architectural features, as socially and politically organized "mobile communities," and as infrastructures created to support soldiers' needs. The authors' techniques can be applied to camps not only of the Civil War but the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Indian campaign.

Download or read book Valley Forge written by Bob Drury and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The #1 New York Times bestselling authors of The Heart of Everything That Is return with “a thorough, nuanced, and enthralling account” (The Wall Street Journal) about one of the most inspiring—and underappreciated—chapters in American history: the Continental Army’s six-month transformation in Valley Forge. In December 1777, some 12,000 members of America’s Continental Army stagger into a small Pennsylvania encampment near British-occupied Philadelphia. Their commander in chief, George Washington, is at the lowest ebb of his military career. Yet, somehow, Washington, with a dedicated coterie of advisers, sets out to breathe new life into his military force. Against all odds, they manage to turn a bobtail army of citizen soldiers into a professional fighting force that will change the world forever. Valley Forge is the story of how that metamorphosis occurred. Bestselling authors Bob Drury and Tom Clavin show us how this miracle was accomplished despite thousands of American soldiers succumbing to disease, starvation, and the elements. At the center of it all is George Washington as he fends off pernicious political conspiracies. The Valley Forge winter is his—and the revolution’s—last chance at redemption. And after six months in the camp, Washington fulfills his destiny, leading the Continental Army to a stunning victory in the Battle of Monmouth Court House. Valley Forge is the riveting true story of a nascent United States toppling an empire. Using new and rarely seen contemporaneous documents—and drawing on a cast of iconic characters and remarkable moments that capture the innovation and energy that led to the birth of our nation—Drury and Clavin provide a “gripping, panoramic account” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) of the definitive account of this seminal and previously undervalued moment in the battle for American independence.

Download or read book Washington s Secret War The Hidden History of Valley Forge written by Thomas Fleming and published by New Word City. This book was released on 2015-12-31 with total page 630 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A superb retelling of the story of Valley Forge and its aftermath, demonstrating that reality is far more compelling than myth." - Gordon S. Wood The defining moments of the American Revolution did not occur on the battlefield or at the diplomatic table, writes New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming, but at Valley Forge. Fleming transports us to December 1777. While the British army lives in luxury in conquered Philadelphia, Washington's troops huddle in the barracks of Valley Forge, fending off starvation and disease even as threats of mutiny swirl through the regiments. Though his army stands on the edge of collapse, George Washington must wage a secondary war, this one against the slander of his reputation as a general and patriot. Washington strategizes not only against the British army but against General Horatio Gates, the victor in the Battle of Saratoga, who has attracted a coterie of ambitious generals devising ways to humiliate and embarrass Washington into resignation. Using diaries and letters, Fleming creates an unforgettable portrait of an embattled Washington. Far from the long-suffering stoic of historical myth, Washington responds to attacks from Gates and his allies with the skill of a master politician. He parries the thrusts of his covert enemies, and, as necessary, strikes back with ferocity and guile. While many histories portray Washington as a man who has transcended politics, Fleming's Washington is exceedingly complex, a man whose political maneuvering allowed him to retain his command even as he simultaneously struggled to prevent the Continental Army from dissolving into mutiny at Valley Forge. Written with his customary flair and eye for human detail and drama, Thomas Fleming's gripping narrative develops with the authority of a major historian and the skills of a master storyteller. Washington's Secret War is not only a revisionist view of the American ordeal at Valley Forge - it calls for a new assessment of the man too often simplified into an American legend. This is narrative history at its best and most vital.

Download or read book From These Honored Dead written by Clarence R. Geier and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2014-04-22 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presenting the best current archaeological scholarship on the American Civil War, From These Honored Dead shows how historical archaeology can uncover the facts beneath the many myths and conflicting memories of the war that have been passed down through generations. By incorporating the results of archaeological investigations, the essays in this volume shed new light on many aspects of the Civil War. Topics include soldier life in camp and on the battlefield, defense mechanisms such as earthworks construction, the role of animals during military operations, and a refreshing focus on the conflict in the Trans-Mississippi West. Supplying a range of methods and exciting conclusions, this book displays the power of archaeology in interpreting this devastating period in U.S. history.

Download or read book Following the Drum written by Nancy K. Loane and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2021-11-29 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Friday, December 19, 1777, dawned cold and windy. Fourteen thousand Continental Army soldiers tramped from dawn to dusk along the rutted Pennsylvania roads from Gulph Mills to Valley Forge, the site of their winter encampment. The soldiers' arrival was followed by the army's wagons and hundreds of camp women. Following the Drum tells the story of the forgotten women who spent the winter of 1777-78 with the Continental Army at Valley Forge--from those on society's lowest rungs to ladies on the upper echelons. Impoverished and clinging to the edge of survival, many camp women were soldiers' wives who worked as the army's washers, nurses, cooks, and seamstresses. Other women at the encampment were of higher status: they traveled with George Washington's entourage when the army headquarters shifted locations and served the general as valued cooks, laundresses, or housekeepers. There were also the ladies at Valley Forge who were not subject to the harsh conditions of camp life and came and went as they and their husbands, Washington's generals and military advisers, saw fit. Nancy K. Loane uses sources such as issued military orders, pension depositions after the war, soldiers' descriptions, and some of the women's own diary entries and letters to bring these women to life.