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TIn late 1778, leading a small force of one hundred and fifty men, George Rogers Clark entered the Illinois Country where they would capture Great Britain's major posts along the Mississippi and take British lieutenant governor Henry Hamilton prisoner to achieve one of the most singular victories during the American Revolution. Having suffered at the hands of British-supported Native American raids in Kentucky, Clark and his men embraced a confrontational approach, lumping all Native American nations together as inveterate blood enemies. For years, Clark's daring achievement was lionized as the embodiment of American initiative. Now, in light of Clark's treatment and participation in the subjugation of Native peoples, his legacy has reversed, with his statue at the University of Virginia recently being removed. His lack of nuance led him to misinterpret Indian responses to his military campaign and conclude that his approach produced results. In fact, many Native American nations simply used the American presence on the Mississippi to extort greater support from the British. In Till the Extinction of This Rebellion: George Rogers Clark, Frontier Warfare, and the Illinois Campaign of 1778-1779 Eric Sterner views the campaign from the American, British, and Indigenous perspectives and illustrates the wide geographic impact of the American Revolution west of the Appalachians, particularly on the French and Native American communities in the area. Clark's expedition was sanctioned by Virginia in order to protect its western border, and the author provides an overview of this rationale along with the strategies, tactics, and logistics Clark employed, particularly his ability to operate over great distances in remote areas. In particular, the author pays close attention to the psychological battlefield and how Clark combined mobility, surprise, and a calculated reputation for violence--a tactic respected by the Native peoples--to achieve dominance over his adversaries, often enabling the Americans to achieve their goals without harming anyone. The book culminates with the capture of Fort Sackville/Vincennes, in which Clark and his men fought the only pitched battle of the Illinois Campaign. The resounding success of Clark's expedition laid the foundation for credible American postwar claims to lands as far west as the Mississippi, opening even more territory to new settlements at the expense of the Native peoples. Till the Extinction of This Rebellion is an important contribution to understanding the impact of the American Revolution on both Native peoples and westward expansion.

On May 9, 1781, American general Nathanael Greene and his Continental army were outside of British-held Camden, South Carolina. Greene was despondent and contemplating resigning his commission, believing he could not force the British out of the fortified village. His compatriot Francis Marion, standing before Fort Motte forty miles to the south, was also in the same mood, informing Greene that he was frustrated by the militia, and he was going to resign after the fort's capture. The next day, Lord Francis Rawdon, commander of the Camden garrison and all British field forces in South Carolina, abandoned that backcountry village. Marion would capture Fort Motte two days later. In The Battles of Fort Watson and Fort Motte, 1781, the latest in the Small Battles Series, historian and archaeologist Steven D. Smith relates the history of four critical weeks from April 12 until May 12, 1781, in which the tide of the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War turned in favor of the Americans. The book focuses on General Francis Marion's and Colonel Henry Lee's capture of two key British forts, Fort Watson and Fort Motte, coordinating with Nathanael Greene in retaking the South Carolina backcountry. These posts defended the supply line between Charleston and the British-occupied villages of Camden and Ninety Six. Although there would be much more fighting to do, once the two forts were lost, the British had to abandon the backcountry or starve. The British would never again be on the strategic offensive and were confined to the Charleston environs until they abandoned the city in December 1782. The story of the capture of the forts is enhanced and enlightened by the findings of archaeological investigation at each site--and even mythology, such as Mrs. Motte providing the fire arrows used to burn her fortified house--which are seamlessly integrated into the account, providing a unique perspective on these important events during the Southern Campaign.

Along the Wabash River near present-day Fort Recovery, Ohio, on November 4, 1791, the Maumee Confederation of Indigenous tribes destroyed a superior American army led by Revolutionary War veteran General Arthur St. Clair. The victory was so complete, that the Shawnee recalled that the "the ground was covered with the dead and the dying." Also known as "St. Clair's Defeat" and "The Battle With No Name"--since the US forces did not know where they were--the Battle of the Wabashwas the United States military's worst disaster in the history of the Indian wars. This, despite the army having artillery and outnumbering the confederation warriors by almost two to one. It was both the new Republic's first war and its first undeclared war. Ordered on the offensive by President George Washington in an attempt to exert control of the frontier, the defeat triggered the first Congressional investigation and the first assertion of executive privilege. Often overlooked is thatno other Native American battle in three centuries, from colonial times to Geronimo, affected somany lives. The Maumee Confederation's victory largely stymied American expansion into the rest of the Northwest Territory, and ultimately into the Great Plains for almost four years. For the Native Peoples this was a respite from the incessant deforestation that accompanied western settlements. While Ohio and the rest of the Old Northwest ultimately succumbed to US control, President James Madison would later warn his fellow Americans that the unchecked destruction of the natural environment was as much of a threat to national security as any enemy along its borders. The Soldiers Fell Like Autumn Leaves: The Battle of the Wabash, the United States' Greatest Defeat in the Wars Against Indigenous Peoples by Rick M. Schoenfield places this important war into its cultural, racial, economic, and political context. For the first time, the ecological impact is explored, for at stake in the clash between Woodland Native Americans and white, agrarian settlement, was the fate of a vast forest eco-system. The issue echoes today in the debate over climate change, deforestation, and indigenous control of forest habitats. Based on primary sources, some of which are consulted here for the first time, including a newly discovered muster roll and the recent archaeological study of the battlefield, the author provides the most accurate description of the battle while capturing the drama of what occurred. He also critically examines the information gathering, planning, and tacticsof both the Maumee Confederation and the United States, from the conception of the campaign through the battlefield decisions. By skillfully weaving together the disparate but related parts of the larger history of this battle, The Soldiers Fell Like Autumn Leaves allows the reader to better understand the motivations and long-term consequences of the war against Native peoples in the Americas.

The year's best articles from the leading on-line source of new research on the Revolution and Founding eras The Journal of the American Revolution, Annual Volume 2024, presents the journal's best historical research and writing over the past calendar year. The volume is designed for institutions, scholars, and enthusiasts to provide a convenient overview of the latest research and scholarship in American Revolution and Founding Era studies. Contents By Stratagem and Hard Fighting: The Improbable Capture of Eleven British Ships by Mark R. Anderson Remember Baker: A Green Mountain Boy's Controversial Death and Its Consequences by Mark R. Anderson John Hancock's Politics and Personality in Ten Quotes by Brooke Barbie The Return of Samuel Dyer: An Attempted Assassination in Revolutionary Boston by J. L. Bell The Secrets of Samuel Dyer by J. L. Bell Two Encounters: Captain Abraham Van Dyck, the "Negro Man," and Prince Pitkin by Benjamin L. Carp The French Army in Williamsburg, Virginia, 1781-1782 by Michael Cecere The Delcastle Cannonball by Walter A. Chiquione Thomas Paine on Popular Government in America: Evolution of a Radical's Thinking by Jett Conner How the (First) West Was Won: Federalist Treaties that Reshaped the Frontier by Brady J. Crytzer George Washington's Information War by Benjamin George British Soldiers Wounded at Eutaw Springs by Don N. Hagist Emily Geiger's Fabulous Ride by C. Leon, Harris, Harriet Imrey, Conner Runyan Thomas Jefferson and the Conditions of Good History: Writing About the American Revolution by Andrew M. Holowchak Mercy Otis Warren: Revolutionary Propagandist by Jonathan House Captain James Morris of the Connecticut Light Infantry by Chip Langston Danger at the Breach by Doug MacIntyre Attended with Disagreeable Consequences: Cross-Border Shopping for Loyalist Provisions, 1783-1784by Stuart Lyall Manson Smallpox Threatens an American Privateer at Sea by Christian McBurney "The Modern American Wallace: " Relics, Revolutions, and Revolutionaries by Shawn David McGhee "Those Noble Qualities" Classical Pseudonyms as Reflections of Divergent Republican Value Systems by Shawn David McGhee George Washington's "Rules of Civility" An Early American Literary Mystery by Shawn David McGhee Reframing George Washington's Clothing at the Second Continental Congress by Shawn David McGhee John Adams and Nathanael Greene Debate the Role of the Military by Curtis F. Morgan, Jr. The Perfidious Benjamin Church and Paul Revere by Louis Arthur Norton Algernon Sidney and the American Revolution by David Otersen Eutaw Springs and the Ambiguity of Victory by David Price Charles Lee--The Continental Army's Most Prolific Essayist General by Gene Procknow Charles Lee's First Inklings of Fractious American Political Battles by Gene Procknow The Highs and Lows of Ethan Allen's Reputation as Reported by Revolutionary-Era Newspapers by Gene Procknow "Earned By Veteran Intrepidity" Spencer's Ordinary, June 26, 1781 by Conor Robison William Walker Crosses Kings Ferry by Michael J. F. Sheehan Early Presidential Elections: The Questionable Use of Electors to Correct Voter Imbalances by Marvin L. Simner The Purpose of the Electoral College: A Seemingly Endless Controversy by Marvin L. Simner Captain Luke Day: A Forgotten Leader of "Shays's Rebellion" by Scott M. Smith Engaging the Glasgow by Eric Sterner Smallpox by Inoculation: The Tragedy of New York's Rosewell Beebe by Philip D. Weaver The "Western Forts" of the 1783 Treaty of Paris by Richard J. Werther Clark versus Livingston: Pettiness, Paper Money, and Elections by Eric Wise Burlington 1776: The Forgotten Opportunity by Colin Zimmerman

"Our personal rights, comprehending those of life, liberty, and estate is every subject's birthright, whether born in Great Britain or in the colonies" wrote Rhode Island lawyer and politician Martin Howard in a pamphlet defending the Stamp Act. Howard's opponents drew on a similar fusion of Anglo-American common law and political tradition to voice their own arguments against Parliamentary taxation. Still, such commonalities were not enough to save Howard during Newport's Stamp Act riots when a mob destroyed his home and forced him to flee to London. Martin was later appointed North Carolina's Chief Justice, where he played an important role in another crisis, the Regulator Rebellion. The complexities and seeming contradictions that informed the writings of Martin Howard and his colonial counterparts during both the Stamp Act crisis and the Regulator Rebellion bring these understudied movements to vivid life, while also telling a broader story about the evolution of American political thought in the decades surrounding the American Revolution. In Seized with the Temper of the Times Identity and Rebellion in Pre-Revolutionary America, historian Abby Chandler explores, as never before, the complex local and transatlantic tensions which infused the early imperial crisis. She argues that colonial responses to the Stamp Act were rooted in local tensions and that the Regulator Rebellion was fueled by trans-Atlantic tensions. These two paradoxes, a local crisis cast as imperial affair and an imperial affair cast as local crisis, tell a very different story than the one to which we are accustomed. Without pre-existing local tensions, the fury of the Stamp Act crisis might not have spilled over during the summer of 1765, and, without the added strains of the imperial crisis, the Regulator Rebellion might not have lasted for five years. The questions about the intersecting roles of local and imperial/federal interests and identities raised during both the Stamp Act crisis and the Regulator Rebellion would also continue to inform political thought in Rhode Island and North Carolina in the coming decades. Both colonies had long histories of challenges to their autonomy and their residents embraced the coming revolution before many of their counterparts, but they would also be reluctant participants in the rising union envisioned by the framers of the Constitution.

A mechanism has ceased its functioning. In all probability, the device at first needed only slight modification, then would no longer respond even to these promptings. Tarnished by time, the thing became a historical artifact, a representation, bearing an intriguing inscription and a date: "John Brown, 1839." Shut away in a chest among other objects of a bygone era, the timepiece is an heirloom of a family from Gouldtown, New Jersey, whose roots in America go back to the seventeenth century. In 1677, John Fenwick, a member of the Society of Friends, founded a colony in west New Jersey offering religious and political tolerance five years before William Penn's arrival. Fenwick died in 1682 with a considerable estate, but left an unusual stipulation in his will: that his granddaughter Elizabeth should have no share of his property unless she forsake "that Black that hath been the ruin of her." The man Elizabeth married was a coachman employed by Fenwick, named Gould. They had two children and created a settlement called Gouldtown, now considered the oldest continually inhabited African American community in the United States. How did an item belonging to the legendary abolitionist come into the Gould family's possession? Using John Brown's pocket watch as a departure point, The Timepiece from Gouldtown: An Initiation into American Mysteries by award-winning author William S. King explores both the color line apparent from the founding of America as well as the network of whites and Blacks that fought to end slavery. This network is manifest in the operations of the Underground Railroad, but elements of its scope, capabilities, and intentions are less understood. John Brown's associate Richard J. Hinton recalled that, "There existed something of an organization to assist fugitives and of resistance to their masters. It was found all along the Lake borders from Syracuse, New York, to Detroit, Michigan. As none but colored men were admitted into direct and active membership with this League of Freedom, it is quite difficult to trace its workings or know how far its ramifications extended." This "League of Freedom" was called provocatively the "American Mysteries" by delegate George J. Reynolds at the 1858 Convention of Colored Men. To contextualize this network, King traces encounters and legislation strengthening slavery and segregation, beginning with Gouldtown's founding, through the Amistad trial, and the 1850 compromises. He then uses the well-documented careers of John Brown and Frederick Douglass to demonstrate the crucial and wide-ranging united efforts of those in whom they confided, including Harriet Tubman, Jermain Wesley Loguen, Martin Delaney, Henry Highland Garnet, and how their work extended beyond the Underground Railroad and the abolitionist movement in general. The book ends with a consideration of the competing biographies of John Brown by W. E. B. DuBois and Oswald G. Villard, cofounders of the NAACP, and what they tell us about the legacy of this enigmatic figure. Timepiece from Gouldtown is an important synthesis of a complex and critical era and its struggles that remain relevant today.

The American Loyalist Regiment Led by the Most Charismatic British Commander of the War The British Legion was one of the most remarkable regiments, not only of the American Revolution, but of any war. A corps made up of American Loyalists, it saw its first action in New York and then engaged in almost every battle in the Southern colonies. Led by a twenty-four-year-old libertine who purchased his commission to escape enormous gambling debts, the Legion gained notoriety for its ruthless tactics. Excelling in "special operations," they frequently overwhelmed the Continental forces they fought, becoming the most feared British regiment of the war. The men who filled the Legions ranks were not weak-willed collaborators or treacherous renegades, but free men as motivated by conscience as the Patriots they battled. Few were wealthy. None had a vested stake in the British Government. Each believed that in defending the Crown; they were upholding the rule of law and preserving individual liberty. These men followed Banastre Tarleton clear across America for years, sacrificing not only their families and homes but, in many instances, their lives. Self-interest could not have persuaded them to do this. Patriotism and fidelity did. Relying on first-hand accounts--letters, diaries, and journals--War at Saber Point: Banastre Tarleton and the British Legion is the enthralling story of those forgotten Americans and the young Englishman who led them.

A Stranded American Army, a Relentless Enemy, and a Thrilling Pursuit and Escape that Changed the Outcome of the American Revolution "In the most barren inhospitable unhealthy part of North America, opposed by the most savage, inveterate perfidious cruel Enemy, with zeal and with Bayonets only, it was resolv'd to follow Green's Army, to the end of the World." So wrote British general Charles O'Hara about the epic confrontation between Nathanael Greene and Charles Cornwallis during the winter of 1780-81. Only Greene's starving, threadbare Continentals stood between Cornwallis and control of the South--and a possible end to the American rebellion. Burning their baggage train so that they could travel more quickly, the British doggedly pursued Greene's bedraggled soldiers, yet the rebels remained elusive. Daniel Morgan's stunning victory at Cowpens over a superior British force set in motion the "Race to the Dan," Greene's month-long strategic retreat across the Carolinas. In constant rain and occasional snow, Greene's soldiers bound toward a secret stash of boats on the Dan River. Just before Cornwallis could close his trap, the Continentals crossed into Virginia and safety. With a background section on the Southern theater in 1780, and a summary outlining the post-war lives and careers of its important officers, To the End of the World: Nathanael Greene, Charles Cornwallis, and the Race to the Dan is a carefully documented and beautifully written account of this extraordinary chapter of American history.

The 42nd Division, or "Rainbow Division" as it was known popularly, was composed entirely of unproven National Guard units hailing from twenty-six different states and the District of Columbia. For that reason, there were many who thought the division would never see combat when it deployed to France in October 1917. However, the division would spend 164 days in combat during World War I, a number exceeded by only two other American divisions. Despite the doubts of General John J. Pershing and many senior American officers regarding their ability to serve in combat, the division would come to be viewed by the Allies and their German opponents as one of the best combat divisions in the American Expeditionary Forces. As a result, the Rainbow Division was chosen to lead the American offensive in the Saint Mihiel salient, the first offensive planned and led by the American army in World War I. The division went on to play a critical role in the final offensive of the war in the Meuse-Argonne, where these battle-hardened National Guardsmen were the first Allied unit to finally break through the main German lines of resistance, the heavily fortified Kriemhilde Stellung, which had stopped assaults by three other American divisions. Approach to Final Victory: America's Rainbow Division in the Saint Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Offensives by historian Robert Thompson, chronicles the efforts of the Rainbow Division during these final two Allied offensives that were key to the ultimate Allied victory. Based on letters, journals, action reports, and unit histories, the challenges, set-backs, and accomplishments of the division stand as a fitting symbol of American valor and sacrifice during the "war to end all wars."

William and Benjamin Frank joined the Second Rhode Island Regiment in the spring of 1777, following the tradition of military service established by their father, a veteran of the French and Indian War. The brothers became part of a cohort of free Black soldiers serving in an integrated Continental Army. The Second Rhode Island saw action along the Delaware River in the defense of Fort Mercer and the battle of Red Bank, before falling back with the rest of the army to Valley Forge. Following the brutal winter of 1777-1778 and the pivotal Battle of Monmouth, New Jersey, in June 1778, veteran soldiers of color from the Second Rhode Island, including the Frank brothers, were transferred to the newly segregated First Rhode Island. This regiment was composed of Black and Native American soldiers, including enslaved men who were promised their freedom in exchange for service. Allowing formerly enslaved men to serve was reluctantly authorized by George Washington to address manpower shortages, but in exchange, he introduced segregation into the army. The "Black Regiment," as it became known returned to its home state, where it fought with distinction at the Battle of Rhode Island in August. While encamped near Providence in February 1780, Ben Frank deserted and ended up in British service. His brother William remained with his unit and served during the American victory at Yorktown, Virginia, where the Black Regiment once again demonstrated its effectiveness. William was honorably discharged and returned to Rhode Island, while Ben eventually relocated to Nova Scotia with other loyalists. In Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence historian Shirley L. Green takes the reader on a journey based on her family's history, rooted in its oral tradition. Putting together the pieces of this puzzle through archival research, interviews, and DNA evidence, the author authenticates and expands the family's oral history. In addition to providing context and substance to the Black experience during the war years, the author underscores the significant distinction between free Blacks in military service and those who had been enslaved, and how they responded in different ways to the harsh realities of racism. An original and important contribution to American history, Revolutionary Blacks presents a complex account of Black life during the Revolutionary Era and demonstrates that free men of color shared with white soldiers the desire to improve their condition in life and to maintain their families safely in postcolonial North America.

Understanding the Course of the War for American independence through Geographical Regions Identifying discrete geographical areas in order to better understand a conflict that moves across hundreds of thou­sands of square miles of land and water, such as the American Civil War and World War II, has been a valuable historical method. During this time of greater study of the war that made America, the authors of Theaters of the American Revolution take this approach for the first time. The result is a stimulating volume that will allow readers to see how the war flowed from region to region from 1775 to 1781, beginning in the Northern colonies and Canada, through the dark months in the Middle colonies, to a shift to the South and culmination at Yorktown. Simultaneously, the war raged up and down the western frontier, with the Patriots working to keep the British and their Indian allies from disrupting the main battle armies to the east. Equally important was the war at sea, where American privateers and a fledgling navy attempted to harass the British; but with the entrance of France to the conflict, the control of the sea took a much more balanced--and important-- aspect. With specially commissioned maps and colorful descriptions of eighteenth century American terrain, settle­ments, and cities, as well as key battles, Theaters of the American Revolution provides an ideal introduction to understanding one of the most important wars in world history in its totality. Contents Introduction - James Kirby Martin and David L. Preston The Northern Theater - James Kirby Martin The Middle Theater - Edward G. Lengel and Mark Edward Lender The Southern Theater - Jim Piecuch The Western Theater - Mark Edward Lender The Naval Theater - Charles Neimeyer

In May 1782, Colonel William Crawford led over 450 volunteers across Ohio to attack British-allied Native Americans who had been raiding the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia for years. An experienced yet reluctant commander, Crawford and his men clashed with a similarly sized force of British Rangers and Wyandot, Delaware, and Shawnee Indians on the Sandusky River in early June. After three days, the Americans were routed in one of the worst defeats American arms suffered on the frontier during the American Revolution. During the retreat, Native American warriors captured dozens of men, including Colonel Crawford. Many were horrifically tortured to death in revenge for the Gnadenhutten massacre earlier that spring, when American volunteers bludgeoned nearly one hundred unarmed and unresisting Delaware Indians to death. The Battle of Upper Sandusky, 1782 places military operations at the forefront of events in the waning months of the American Revolution on the frontier. Importantly, it gives long-deserved credit to Native American leaders, particularly Dunquat of the Wyandot and Hopocan of the Delaware, for their roles and commands on the battlefield. For over two centuries, their victory was attributed to the presence of British Rangers and a few officers, but Dunquat and Hopocan made the critical decisions before and after the battle while Native American warriors constituted the bulk of their army. The book also reconsiders the effectiveness of American operations. Crawford was an unenthusiastic commander who had to be talked into leading the campaign to help prevent a repeat of the Gnadenhutten massacre. Despite his long service on the frontier and experience in the Continental Army, Crawford failed to unite his ad hoc command, suffered from constant indecision, and could not put his own stamp on the campaign. The unprofessional nature of his army also contributed to its defeat as it lacked organization, experience, leadership, training, and standardization. The presence of Simon Girty, demonized by Americans on the frontier as a turncoat, and the gruesomeness of Crawford's execution focused stories about the campaign on those two individuals, rather than the military operations themselves or the Indians who won the victory. Myths were accepted as fact. Afterward, interest in the campaign and the combatants faded. The Battle of Upper Sandusky, 1782 gives Crawford's campaign its proper place as one of the largest battles between frontier forces and Native Americans during the Revolutionary War.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries European powers vied for control of the land and resources in the Caribbean and Latin America. Colonies made Spain rich through gold, silver, and gems looted from the Native cultures, along with rare and exotic goods such as tobacco, sugar, and dyewood, and even humble products such as hides. In rapid turn, other European monarchies and merchants sent out colonizing expeditions to the region to exploit the resources of the New World, but creating permanent footholds was perilous. All European settlements founded in the New World faced a variety of challenges, including food supply, inconsistent support from Europe, leadership, ignorance of the area colonized, irrational expectations, religious discord, relations with Native peoples, and violent national rivalries. Colonies that succeeded and those that failed faced the same challenges, although in differing degrees and circumstances. The margin between survival and disaster was always small--there were few chances to succeed and the risk of failure was never far away. In Neither Hee Nor Any of His Companie Did Return Againe: Failed Colonies in the Caribbean and Latin America, 1492-1865, historians David MacDonald and Raine Waters examine the European, and later American, failures to establish permanent settlements in the region. Beginning with Columbus's ill-conceived ventures, the authors discuss the efforts, from German claims in Venezuela and Scottish attempts in Panama to defeated Confederates fleeing to Mexico, Brazil, and elsewhere. For each colony, the primary source information is contextualized and evaluated. Along the way, the authors determine commonalities across these ill-fated colonies as well as underscore the fact that while Indigenous peoples of the region often vigorously resisted predatory European colonization, their numbers were decimated by relentless warfare, slave raids, and European diseases. As Indian populations declined, colonists imported African slaves in large numbers. The brutal treatment of slaves resulted in those who escaped creating their own settlements that existed in a state of endemic warfare with European colonists. An important contribution to Atlantic World studies, this volume reveals the fine line between colonies that thrived and those that failed.

The Loyalists who supported the British during the American Revolution have frequently been neglected in accounts of that conflict. Nevertheless, Loyalists made significant efforts to assist British forces in restoring royal control of the thirteen colonies. This was especially true in South Carolina, where backcountry Loyalists under almost-forgotten leaders such as Joseph Robinson and Euan McLaurin challenged the Revolutionary movement in 1775. Although their initial efforts were unsuccessful, Robinson, McLaurin, and hundreds of their followers eventually made their way to British East Florida, where they organized into a provincial regiment called the South Carolina Royalists. Operating in concert with British efforts, the Royalists were part of many notable actions from 1778 to 1781, including the defenses of East Florida and Savannah, Georgia, and the battles of Briar Creek, Stono Ferry, Musgrove's Mill, and Hobkirk's Hill. A second provincial regiment created in 1780, Major John Harrison's South Carolina Rangers, saw considerably action in operations against partisans under Francis Marion. When the British were forced to evacuate their backcountry posts in 1781, the Royalists, Rangers, and three troops of Provincial Light Dragoons raised earlier in the year withdrew first to Charleston and then East Florida. From there, many went to Canada at the war's end, with others dispersing to different British colonies to begin new lives after their strenuous but unsuccessful effort on behalf of king and country. In South Carolina Provincials: Loyalists in British Service During the American Revolution, historian Jim Piecuch provide the first comprehensive history of those South Carolinians who took up arms to assist the British during their attempt to quell the rebellion in the South. Based on primary source research including records rarely consulted, the result provides a much clearer picture of the American Revolution at the local level in Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas.

In March 1791 Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton shocked the western frontier when he proposed a domestic excise tax on whiskey to balance America's national debt. The law, known colloquially as the "Whiskey Act," disproportionately penalized farmers in the backcountry, while offering favorable tax incentives designed to protect larger distillers. Although Hamilton viewed the law as a means of both collecting revenue andforcefully imposing federal authority over the notoriously defiant frontier, settlers in Western Pennsylvania bristled at its passage. They demanded that the law be revoked or rewritten to correct its perceived the injustices, and begged their representatives to lobby Congress on their behalf. As the months passed however the people of Western Pennsylvania grew restless with the inadequacy of the government's response and they soon turned to more violent means of political expression. Treasury officers across the west were targeted for their involvement in the tax collection, and they were brutally attacked by armed bands of disgruntled locals. They were tarred and feathered, burned with hot irons, and whipped; their homes were ransacked and burned. Extralegal courts were established in a direct challenge to federal authority, and the frontier slowly drifted toward a state of rebellion. In response President George Washington raised an army of 13,000 men, one of the largest forces he ever commanded, to suppress the rebellion. No major battle ever occurred, but weeks of arrests, illegal detentions, and civil rights violations rocked the west. The event polarized the nation, and highlighted the dramatic differences between Washington's Federalist perspective and Jefferson's emerging Democratic-Republican Party. Two centuries later the Whiskey Rebellion stands as the second largest domestic rebellion in American History, only outdone by the Confederate States of America in 1861. In The Whiskey Rebellion: A Distilled History of an American Crisis, historian Brady J. Crytzer takes the reader on a journey through Western Pennsylvania following the routes of both the rebels and the United States Army to place this important event into context for the reader. Complete with images and maps, the author illuminates what visitors can still see from the period while providing a cogent and engrossing account of this crisis unfolded and how it was resolved.

One of the best-known quotes of the American Civil War is Admiral David Farragut's defiant order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" Farragut was not referring to a self-propelled underwater missile. By the time of the Civil War, the term torpedo was used for any unusual explosive device, including what today we call naval mines, land mines, booby-traps, or improvised explosive devices (IEDs). This war saw the invention, proliferation, and application of a remarkable variety of these weapons, with land- and water-based mines and other exploding devices used for sabotage and terror--notably against railroad bridges--all coming of age during the conflict. Confederate engineers and individual citizens were responsible for many innovations and applications of torpedoes since they were ideal for defence. The Union developed a range of countermeasures, from mounting "rakes" on vessels to driving livestock across mined fields, but to no avail as more Union ships were lost to torpedoes than all other means combined. Civil War Torpedoes: A History of Improvised Explosive Devices in the War Between the States identifies and categorizes, for the first time, the many and varied improvised explosive devices used during the war by both sides, providing a single source for the identification of these devices, their construction, their function, and the manner oftheir use. During the course of their research, the authors uncovered previously unknown torpedoes as well as critical primary sources of information. This major reference is an outstanding contribution to our understanding of how the Civil War was fought."This book provides a valuable contribution to a sparsely documented but critically important aspect of land and sea warfare...[The authors] illuminate many of the practical details of Confederate and Union experiences that bring this subject alive in a way that should be of interest to students of military history."--from the Introduction byWilliam Schneck, Colonel (USAR), US Army Corps of Engineers

The First English Translation of the Wartime Diaries of the Eldest Daughter of Nicholas II, the Last Tsar of Russia, with Additional Documents of the PeriodIn August 1914, Russia entered World War I, and with it, the imperial family of Tsar Nicholas II was thrust into a conflict they would not survive. His eldest child, Olga Nikolaevna, great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, had begun a diary in 1905 when she was ten years old and kept writing her thoughts and impressions of day-to-day life as a grand duchess until abruptly ending her entries when her father abdicated his throne in March 1917. Held at the State Archives of the Russian Federation in Moscow, Olga's diaries during the wartime period have never been translated into English until this volume. At the point Olga ends her writing in 1917, the author continues the story by translating letters and impressions from family intimates, such as Anna Vyrubova, as well as the diary kept by Nicholas II himself. Finally, once the imperial family has been put under house arrest by the revolutionaries, we follow events through observations by Alexander Kerensky, head of the initial Provisional Government, these too in English translation for the first time. The Diary of Olga Romanov: Royal Witness to the Russian Revolution is a remarkable document of a young woman who did not choose to be part of a royal family and never exploited her own position, but lost her life simply because of what her family represented.

Kenya has produced the greatest concentration of world-class runners, and fellow athletes have long been intrigued by their remarkable success. Toby Tanser has devoted much of his professional career living and training among Kenyan runners in order to better understand the unique status of East African athletes. In More Fire: How to Run the Kenyan Way, the author builds upon the success of his acclaimed Train Hard, Win Easy, the first book to provide insights into the Kenyan "magic" that so many runners and coaches had sought. Instead of special foods or secret techniques, Tanser found that Kenyan runners simply trained incredibly hard, much harder than anyone had realized. By adapting their training regime--which includes three workouts a day--and following their example, runners, whether novices or champions, are able to improve both their performance and enjoyment in running. For those training for a marathon or any other distance race, this book is both practical and inspirational. Divided into four parts, the book begins with a description of running in Kenya, the landscape, the physical conditions, and the people; the second part concentrates on details of Kenyan training camps, training methods, and their typical training diet; the third profiles individual runners and coaches from the past and present, with each explaining their approach to running so that readers can gain further insight into their methods. The book ends with a discussion on how the reader can adapt Kenyan training practices for their own running requirements. More Fire: How to Run the Kenyan Way is essential reading for runners of all levels and experience.